An information repository is an easy way to deploy a secondary tier of data storage

Data storage device

thumb|200px|right|A reel-to-reel tape recorder .The magnetic tape is a data storage medium. The recorder is data storage equipment using a portable medium to store the data....

 that can comprise multiple, networked data storage technologies running on diverse operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

s, where data that no longer needs to be in primary storage is protected, classified according to captured metadata

Metadata

The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...

, processed, de-duplicated, and then purged, automatically, based on data service level objectives and requirements. In information repositories, data storage resources are virtualized as composite storage sets and operate as a federated

Federation (information technology)

A Federation is multiple computing and/or network providers agreeing upon standards of operation in a collective fashion. The term may be used when describing the inter-operation of two distinct, formally disconnected, telecommunications networks that may have different internal structures...

 environment.

Information repositories were developed to mitigate problems arising from data proliferation

Data proliferation

Data proliferation refers to the prodigious amount of data, structured and unstructured, that businesses and governments continue to generate at an unprecedented rate and the usability problems that result from attempting to store and manage that data...

 and eliminate the need for separately deployed data storage solutions because of the concurrent deployment of diverse storage technologies running diverse operating systems. They feature centralized management for all deployed data storage resources. They are self-contained, support heterogeneous storage resources, support resource management to add, maintain, recycle, and terminate media, track of off-line media, and operate autonomously.

Automated data management

Since one of the main reasons for the implementation of an Information repository is to reduce the maintenance workload placed on IT staff by traditional data storage systems, information repositories are automated. Automation is accomplished via polices that can process data based on time, events, data age, and data content. Policies manage the following:

• File system space management
• Irrelevant data elimination (mp3, games, etc.)
• Secondary storage resource management

Data is processed according to media type, storage pool

Storage Virtualization

Storage virtualization or storage virtualisation is a concept and term used within computer science. Specifically, storage systems may use virtualization concepts as a tool to enable better functionality and more advanced features within the storage system.Broadly speaking, a 'storage system' is...

, and storage technology

Data storage device

thumb|200px|right|A reel-to-reel tape recorder .The magnetic tape is a data storage medium. The recorder is data storage equipment using a portable medium to store the data....

.

Because information repositories are intended to reduce IT staff workload, they are designed to be easy to deploy and offer configuration flexibility, virtually limitless extensibility, redundancy, and reliable failover.

Data recovery

Information repositories feature robust, client based data search and recovery capabilities that, based on permissions, enable end users to search the information repository, view information repository contents, including data on off-line media, and recover individual files or multiple files to either their original network

Computer network

A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....

 computer or another network computer.

See also

• Archive
  Archive
  An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
  
  
• Backup
  Backup
  In information technology, a backup or the process of backing up is making copies of data which may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form is back up in two words, whereas the noun is backup....
  
  
• Computer data storage
• Data proliferation
  Data proliferation
  Data proliferation refers to the prodigious amount of data, structured and unstructured, that businesses and governments continue to generate at an unprecedented rate and the usability problems that result from attempting to store and manage that data...
  
  
• Digital asset management
  Digital asset management
  Digital asset management consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets...
  
  
• Disk storage
  Disk storage
  Disk storage or disc storage is a general category of storage mechanisms, in which data are digitally recorded by various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical methods on a surface layer deposited of one or more planar, round and rotating disks...
  
  
• Hierarchical storage management
  Hierarchical storage management
  Hierarchical storage management is a data storage technique which automatically moves data between high-cost and low-cost storage media. HSM systems exist because high-speed storage devices, such as hard disk drive arrays, are more expensive than slower devices, such as optical discs and magnetic...
  
  
• Information lifecycle management
  Information Lifecycle Management
  Information Lifecycle Management refers to a wide-ranging set of strategies for administering storage systems on computing devices. Specifically, four categories of storage strategies may be considered under the auspices of ILM.-Policy:...
  
  
• Magnetic tape data storage
  Magnetic tape data storage
  Magnetic tape data storage uses digital recording on to magnetic tape to store digital information. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive...
  
  
• Repository (disambiguation)
• Storage virtualization
  Storage Virtualization
  Storage virtualization or storage virtualisation is a concept and term used within computer science. Specifically, storage systems may use virtualization concepts as a tool to enable better functionality and more advanced features within the storage system.Broadly speaking, a 'storage system' is...
  
  
• Support wiki