Information Life Cycle Management

ILM is much more of a process than a product or architecture. The idea is to establish a management framework for data from the instant it is created until it is eventually deleted or destroyed, including the destruction of backup and archiving media. ILM incorporates concepts from backup, SRM, HSM, and historical archiving technologies. The scope of the effort is enormous, and it is unlikely that the vision will be completed any time soon. More than likely, ILM development will move hand in hand with the development of other data management technologies such as tiered storage.

NOTE

For some time I've been saying that ILM is just dyslexic HSM. Lately I'm not feeling quite as cynical about the whole thing, because I see the value in the grand vision. That said, there will probably never be any solutions from individual vendors that completely encompass its scope. The storage industry, which seems to enjoy patent infringement lawsuits, is probably not up to the task of working out the interoperability necessities. Time will tell, however. Because this is one of the biggest "green field" opportunities in the entire universe of data processing, it will be interesting to see if industry leaders find ways to create broad solutions or try to circle the legal wagons around proprietary intellectual property.

The basic ideas inherent in ILM can be summarized as follows:

• Identify file and derivative versions as belonging to the same information expression. (A file can be modified and given a different name even though its contents and usage are basically the same.)

• Identify and catalog the location of files and all derivatives within an organization, including geographic, system, and file system location.

• Create file copies and automate the dissemination and tracking of files within the organization to meet redundancy policies and guidelines.

• Determine an expiration date for each file and its derivative versions; confirm all deletions and destroyed media.

• Record all known file life cycle actions.

The points listed here represent an enormous effort for any organization. There is no doubt that new automation of filing-level functions will be needed to provide a comprehensive ILM solution some day. That said, many existing technologies could be used as part of an ILM practice. Most of the familiar storage technologies could be borrowed to fit specific roles. For instance, snapshot technology could be used to create virtual views that other processes would use to scan data key identifiers from content addressable storage could be used to identify duplicate files with different names, and WORM storage could be used to permanently store reference copies of files.