Archiving

Should backup and archive be the same service? The GlassHouse general position is ‘no’, however every environment faces need for long term retention of data, and in lieu of a true enterprise archiving platform, backup data retention is the only option for many enterprises. In general, we see tape playing a valuable role for long term retention of data, and most vtl/deduplication vendors tend to agree with this position. Operationally, backup and archiving should be logically segregated, with archives treated clearly as the exception than the rule with a clear distinction made between server archives (to backup environments) and true archives, such as those found in email or database archiving systems.

-John Merryman, GlassHouse Service Director