Flexible archive management with virtual media
With the "virtual media" concept in DOXiS Archive it is possible to bring about the optimum balance between performance and cost considerations in every individual customer situation. From the point of view of the archiving application, it is always a "virtual WORM" that is accessed. The virtualisation of archive units is always geared to the capacity of the smallest archive unit used. If, for example, MOD media with 4.3 GB capacity are used for secondary data storage, the memory space on a primary RAID system will likewise be split up into units of 4.3 GB. Implementation on the relevant physical storage medium is carried out by DOXiS Virtual Storage Manager transparently in the background. It determines how the data packages are distributed among the physical media.
The virtualisation concept makes the process of data archiving independent of the storage medium actually used. If, in the course of time, you decide on a new technology with higher capacity, the data will not have to be migrated from the old to the new medium in a time-consuming manner; it will simply be copied to the new medium. Revision of indexes is not necessary. Many different archive and back-up scenarios are possible with the "virtual WORM": for example data with a low frequency of use can be transferred to a cost-effective medium. In the same way scenarios such as the complete transfer from primary storage to secondary storage or the implementation of media-based HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management) are possible.
The benefits at a glance:
- Flexible choice of most cost-effective medium for long-term datasets
- Flexible choice of the best medium for data with high frequency of use
- Abstraction of the physical storage systems and media
- Secure investment – in the case of a change in technology – on account of a uniform view of "virtual WORMs"
- Automated media-based HSM
