Ask the Expert: Information life cycle management with InfoArchive

This discussion is now open for questions and comments. We look forward to an exciting and informative event!

Hi InfoArchive Experts,

To kick-off the discussion, can you share what's new with the latest release of EMC InfoArchive?

Hi InfoArchive Experts,

Will the system have capability to archive entire application RDBMS data? For instance we have requirements where the applications will be retired and the data has to be archived so is it possible to just connect to RDBMS (e.g. Oracle, MS SQL Server, etc) and archive the data into the system. Will there be built-in connectors for these DBs or we need to build custom connectors. Also is there a UI that can be used to retrieve the data when required (which won't be too frequent).

Also for archiving inactive data from systems like SAP, SIEBEL, etc are there connectors in-built or need some customization/coding?

Thanks,

Surya

Hi Surya,

>Will the system have capability to archive entire application RDBMS data?

We can archive structured and unstructured data from an RDBMS (such as Oracle, SQL Server, etc.). Unstructured data such as word, pdf, html, etc. docs could be stored in that relational database or referenced in a different store. We've retired content for customers that include both.

>Will there be built-in connectors for these DBs or we need to build custom connectors.

We have custom connectors that have been built based on custom applications and a library that we can use for the ETL process. However, we also use an ETL tools to facilitate the ETL process.

>Also is there a UI that can be used to retrieve the data when required (which won't be too frequent).

We have a configurable UI that is XForms and XQuery based that allows user interfaces to be configured quickly based on business needs. We can query across application data as well if that is desired, or segment the content seperately. Additionally, we have a JDBC driver to query content directly from the application retirement repository utilizing more familiar reporting tools such as Crystal, Jasper, etc.

>Also for archiving inactive data from systems like SAP, SIEBEL, etc are there connectors in-built or need some customization/coding?

Some of the ETL tools we use also include support for ETLing standard applications such as Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, etc.

If you need more information, please let me know and we can give you details as well as case studies.

Here's another question for our InfoArchive experts....

What are the key use cases that EMC supports with InfoArchive?

>What are the key use cases that EMC supports with InfoArchive?

There are two general use cases that we see with InfoArchive. Those are active archiving and application decommissioning (also know as application retirement).

Active archiving is a way that content can be archived from applications that are still being actively used within the enterprise. The content that can be archived includes structured data, unstructured data, print streams, etc. Most of the data in these operational systems is not actively updated, but is still necessary to retain for infrequent queries from users, auditors, etc. Unfortunately, as many applications get larger the cost to maintain them grows and their performance can also suffer. Actively archiving content provides a mechanism to lower costs by reducing the amount of high cost storage, servers, database licenses, and support operations.

There are other advantages to actively archiving your content with InfoArchive beyond improving performance of your applications and lowering your costs. One of those is being able to provide consolidated views of the archived data and content across multiple applications that are being archived and better manage the retention of this data.

Application Decommissioning is the other major use case with InfoArchive. Many organizations have applications that they still maintain, but that are no longer actively being used. The cost for maintaining the infrastructure, applications, and support costs can be extensive and take a lot of IT budget. These applications are not turned off because the data may be needed by the business for compliance or other reasons. Moving the application data into InfoArchive allows these applications to be turned off, but still keep the ability to query and report on application content. Retiring these applications can provide huge ROI savings. There are additional advantages with consolidating the data from multiple applications into a single archive.

Hi Katie

The first thing to understand is that InfoArchive (the solution formally known as EAS..Enterprise Archive Solution) is now a product and the formal GA date is 10th March.

These are the release highlights:

- Synchronous ingestion: What this allows is the archiving of information as and when customer requires (before we archived data in batches which were pushed to InfoArchive according to a fixed schedule i.e. every day or every week.). In addition we can support single record archiving (before information was pushed to InfoArchive in packages that contained many records).

- Very granular management of retention on records: Retention policies are applied to archive packages that are pushed to InfoArchive. This means if a package contains 1000 records, all 1000 records will have the same retention policy. As we can now support very small archive packages, including single record packages, we can also support retention right do to single record retention.

- SharePoint Connector: This connector enables content from SP to archived to InfoArchive

- Documentum Connector:  This connector enables content from DCTM to archived to InfoArchive

- Report & Printstream archiving: Working with our partner Crawford, we can archive report and print stream information. For those who might remember, this gives us similar capability to ASR product.

In addition to this we have made improvements in quality, stability and security of the product.

Finally it is worth noting that we are finalising a partnership with Solix that will allow us to use their data archive engine to archive structured data from business applications to InfoArchive. This will enable us to compete more effectively against companies like IBM and their Optim product.

Thanks

Alan

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the insights.

How easy/difficult will the data migration be when a new release of this product is available (in future) and current release is out of support, for data under retention? Will there be a way to preserve the retention?

Thanks,

Surya

That's one of the nice things about the standards based architecture of InfoArchive. Retired content is stored in XML. It can be easily moved to any environment. As far as retention goes, if you decide you only want to retain the content for a certain amount of time, you can configure time based or other business type retention policies on the retired content and it will be deleted.

This Ask the Expert event has now ended. Thanks to our experts and all who participated in the discussion!

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Cheers!

Hello Experts,

Please help me with below queries.

While we use Info archive for Oracle database, do we need RMAN license or any other license for archiving along with Info Archive?

Can we use Info Archive for CAD CAM application data?

Do we have any white paper for above two use cases?

regards,

rajat

Hi Rajat

In terms of archiving from an Oracle database you will not need any additional Oracle licenses such as RMAN.

You are able to archive CADCAM data to InfoArchive.

We do not have white papers specifically on these subjects but we will be happy to discuss your requirements in more detail and explain how they could be supported by InfoArchive.

thanks

Alan

Hi Info Archive Experts,

I have following questions regarding Info Archive

1. Can we use buldoser for ETL process for archiving data from SharePoint, Documentum, SAP, Oracle, SIEBEL application?

2. If yes, How we can compare buldoser with FME Info Archive Tool in terms of features, simplicity, limitations, and cost comparison including license cost etc.

3. Can we use SAN or NAS as storage of Info Archive. What are Pros and Cons of SAN and NAS for Info Archive

4. Any challenges while installing or configuration of Info Archive

Regards,

Guru

Hi Guru

I do not know Buldoser in detail but understand it is an ETL tool for unstructured content. Therefore in theory it can be used archive content to InfoArchive. The only thing that would need to be done is to configure the tool to generate the InfoArchive archive package (Submission Information Package) which has a standard template.

Again without detailed knowledge of Buldoser and its commercial details I cannot answer your question in detail. What I can tell you is that fme Migration Centre already generates the InfoArchive SIP package and is certified for InfoArchive so would be my recommendation if you are considering an ETL for unstructured content. The product supports a range of source applications and is widely used for content migration projects.

InfoArchive supports the same storage platforms as Documentum. You can consider that the pro's and con's of these platforms are the same as for Documentum. I would recommend a NAS platform such as Isilon which can offer low cost, compliance and also enable data in InfoArchive to be accessible via HDFS for "big data" analytics.

Thanks

Alan

Thanks Alan