Glossary of Terms

Autonomous Self Healing is a process which runs in real time on Databarrack's backend storage systems and continuously checks and validates incoming data.

B.L.M. allows data which is no longer current to be automatically archived to a lower cost enviroment whithin Databarrack's data centre for long term storage. B.L.M. allows data to be retrieved immiediately online whilst at the same time ensuring the amount of data stored is as cost effective as possible.

A 'Bare-Metal' backup/restore is the most effective way of backing up data to ensure the quickest possible restore time. 'Bare-Metal' as it implies takes the entire contents of a computer or server including all of it's settings, operating system and applications as well as data.

C.D.P. Allows for file and M.L.R. email backups to happen in near real time. Not only does this allow organisations to ensure that they are able to retrieve data that has been created during the day, but also means that scheduled nightly backups have as short a backup window as possible.

Running C.D.P. during the day does not impact on an organisations bandwidth usage, CDP allows other internet facing applications prioity.

As with de-duplication, common file elimination removes files that are duplicated across your data enviroment. Common File Elimination differs from de-duplication in so far as it is a common file used by all enviroments. It is useful, for example, when you are using 'bare-metal' backup on all servers but do not want to store multiple versions of an operating system. Common file elimination will remove all of the common .dll and other files that make up most operating systems and applications common in a wide number of organisations.

Arxcis has the ability to backup data to pre-determined retention policies. Simply put, this means that data can be stored for varying periods of time as with a traditional tape backup (Grandfather, Father, Son). This allows for Arxcis to be a direct replacement for tape, retaining data in the same manner as a tape rotation would.

Retention rules can be used alone or in conjunction with B.L.M. (Backup Lifecycle Management) or archiving to allow for organisations to comply with best practices and data retention regulations.

As with Autonomous Self Healing, Data Validation is a tool within the Arxcis software that checks for any corruption in the data sent for storage. Data Validation is a process that can be scheduled by the end user in the same way that a backup can.

Data de-duplication describes the method by which the Arxcis software removes data that has been duplicated throughout your IT infrastructure. De-duplication works on digital file signatures and ensures that data is not unnecessarily stored on Databarracks storage servers.

De-duplication works across multiple sites and on all data. For example if you have a large number of users in your organisation who all have the same word document in their local profiles, de-duplication would remove the copies and reduce the amount of storage used, leaving pointers to the data to replace the duplications.

A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure formed by conducting material, or by a mesh of this material. Such an enclosure blocks out external static electrical fields. Faraday cages are named after physicist Michael Faraday, who built one in 1836.

An external static electrical field will cause the electrical charges within the conducting material to redistribute themselves so as to cancel the field's effects in the cage's interior. This effect is used, for example, to protect electronic equipment from lightning strikes and other electrostatic discharges.

All Databarrack's storage systems are housed within Faraday Cages.

High Energy Radio Frequency (HERF) or High Power Radio Frequency (HPRF) weapons are weapons that use high intensity radio waves to disrupt electronics. They are a type of directed-energy weapon. They operate similarly to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) devices, by inducing destructive voltage within electronic wiring. They are often directional and can be focused on a specific target using a parabolic reflector. Faraday cages may be used to provide protection from some HERF and EMP effects.

Databarracks Data Centre protects against H.E.R.F. by housing all storage systems within Faraday Cages.

Hierarchical storage management or H.S.M. is the term used to describe the automatic moving of data from a higher cost storage medium to a lower cost one. Arxcis software uses H.S.M. in both the migration of backup data from Databarracks S.A.N. environment to a lower cost N.A.S. environment and ultimately after that to a choice of long term storage media.

A 'Hot Backup' is a backup of a database or other application whilst they are still operational. Arxcis  software is able to perform 'hot backups' on a wide variety of databases and applications to ensure that there is no down time for an organisation while the backups are running.

I.L.M. is a term used to describe the entire cycle that Arxcis uses to protect and manage data backup. Arxcis not only backs up data, but also manages it through it's life cycle. An example of this is as follows:

1. De-duplication of data
2. Backup of data
3. Retention of data
4. Archiving of data
5. H.S.M. (Hierarchical storage management)

Local Storage is an additional copy of data that is stored on-site. By default Databarracks will keep a local copy of data on-site which ensures that data can be restored at network speed in the event of a data loss or server loss.

M.L.R. or Message Level Restore is the process which allows Databarracks to backup email from M.S. Exchange, Lotus Notes, Groupwise and Outlook in a very granular manner. Most email recovery is single message and M.L.R. allows users to restore a single message, single folder or users mailbox back into the live email enviroment without interruption to the email server. 

M.L.R. can also be used as an effective way of managing an email archive within an enterprise email enviroment and keeping the individual mailbox quotas low.

RPO stands for Recovery Point Objective and describes the point in time to which a company needs  data recovered. For example, if a company run overnight backups, the recovery point objective will often be the end of the previous day activity.You can run backups more often to rule a tighter RPO.

RTO stands for Recovery Time Objective and it's the acceptable timeframe respected by SLA and to which certain business data needs to be restore after data loss, to avoid critical consequences to business disruption.
Different business applications can have different time objectives that should be respected during the data restoration process.

According to definitions from the Uptime Institute and TIA-942 (Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centres), a Tier 1 data centre is not required to have redundant power and cooling infrastructures. It needs only a lock for security and can tolerate up to 28.8 hours of downtime per year. In contrast, a Tier 4 data centre must have redundant systems for power and cooling, with multiple distribution paths that are active and fault tolerant. Furthermore, access should be controlled with biometric readers and single-person entryways, gaseous fire suppression is required, the cabling infrastructure should have a redundant backbone, and the facility can permit no more than 0.4 hours of downtime per year.