Data Archiving

Hi William,

This is taken directly from the Help Section on Data Archiving in v7.2:

You create a data archive to remove older data from active use within the RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle system, while retaining a backup of the data to adhere to internal data retention policies or for auditing purposes. Archiving data reduces the size of the database and the resources needed by the database.

When you create a data archive, data that meets the archive criteria is backed up to an Oracle Data Pump backup file and then purged from the system. As part of the archive process, archived data is completely removed from the system and cannot be accessed or seen anywhere within the RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle user interface.

You can archive data that meets the following criteria:

• Has been in one of the following states for the entire archive date range:

• Change request states:  Completed, Canceled, Rejected, or Error

• Violation states: Closed

• Review states: Completed

• Is at least 6 months older than the current date.

Once you create a data archive, data from all components is archived and purged at once.

Considerations for Data Archiving

When planning your data archiving strategy, consider the following:

• Data archives can be used only for auditing purposes. Data archives cannot be restored to the RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle system for troubleshooting purposes.

• Ensure that you are retaining enough active data in the system to meet your organization's policies and needs. For example, if you use the Review Analysis and Guidance feature, ensure that you maintain enough previous data for effective analysis. Data that is archived is no longer used in the analysis.

• You can only archive data that is at least six months old.

• Data archives may not have overlapping date ranges.

• Data archives use the data model and public views of the product version deployed at the time the archive is created.

• Only one data archive can be restored for auditing at a time. Multiple archives cannot be restored and merged together.

• Data cannot be restored to its original tables.

Recommended Practices

RSA recommends the following best practices for archiving and purging data:

• If your organization's policies permit it, maintain data from the most recent three years within RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle, and archive and purge data that is older than three years.

• When creating multiple data archives, begin with the oldest set of data, and work in order towards the most current data.

• Maintain the same archive date range for all data archives.

• Include the date range in the data archive file name for easier identification.

• Do not change the file name of the data archive after its creation.

• Consider storing the data archives off site for security and to conserve space on the database server. If the archives are stored off site, you must coordinate with the storage personnel to retrieve the file for an audit. RSA recommends storing a copy of the appropriate version of the RSA Identity Governance and Lifecycle Public Database Schema Reference Guide with the archive file.

I hope this is helpful.

Kind regards,
Craig