Archiving

Backup Lifecycle Management (BLM)

Backup Lifecycle Management (BLM) manages data during all backup archiving processes, separating the data into varying levels of protected data: current critical data (which is permanently stored online for fast recovery) and archivable important data that may be needed at a later time but is not likely to be accessed in the near future. Backup data stored in an archive means it is not immediately retrievable like backup data stored online, but it is significantly more economical than storing it online.

BLM meta-tags the less critical or older backup data before it is archived offline, so that archived backup data can easily be restored to the online medium. BLM also intelligently manages the movement of data from the online storage to the BLM archive, whereby backup data which is no longer critical (i.e. not required day-to-day, older and perceived as less valuable) is automatically moved to the archive, but is still accessible. Customers benefit from a cheaper storage solution that manages the data for them and allows easy access to the archived data.

BLM shrinks the size of archive by monitoring and eliminating duplicate backup files.

BLM serves two main functions:

• Frees up storage used by online storage which is more economical to our customers.
• Creates a restorable point-in-time copies of backup sets to meet compliance objectives.