Automating data dependability

ABSTRACT

If you can't make your data dependable, then you can't make your computing dependable, either. The good news is that the list of data protection techniques is long, and growing. The bad news is that the choices they offer are getting more complicated: how many copies of data to keep? whether to use full or partial redundancy? how often to make snapshots? how to schedule full and incremental backups? what combination of techniques to use? The stakes are getting higher: web access means that services must have 24x7 availability, and users are willing to switch if services are unavailable. Finally, human administrators can (and often do) make mistakes. These factors compel us to simplify and automate data dependability decisions as much as possible.We are developing a system that will automatically select which data protection techniques to use, and how to apply them, to meet user-specified dependability (i.e., reliability and availability) goals. This paper describes our approach and outlines our initial descriptions for user requirements, failure characteristics and data protection techniques.

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