ORACLE DATA SHEET

ORACLE ILM ASSISTANT

October 2006

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

Oracle ILM Assistant is your comprehensive solution for managing

KEY FEATURES
• Define Data Lifecycles your ILM environment. Available to all Oracle Database Enterprise
• Report Storage Costs &
Edition users for free!
Savings
• Reduce Storage Costs by
placing inactive data on lower
Oracle ILM for Business Data
cost storage devices
• Get Advice when it is time to The Oracle ILM Assistant makes it easy to implement an Information Lifecycle
move data Management (ILM) solution using features available in the Oracle Database.
• View a Calendar of Data
Bringing together all of these capabilities, it enables data lifecycle management of a
Lifecycle Events
• Gives Partitioning Advice
single database from your browser, where it is possible to:
• Simulate Table Partitioning • define data lifecycles
• Run Security & Compliance
Reports • recommend when it is time to move data to a new storage tier
• Generate/Compare Digital
Signatures
• view cost savings of using partitioning and moving data to tiered storage
• Generates Scripts to perform
• generate scripts to perform recommended tasks
Tasks
• Implement without any • simulate impact and benefits of partitioning a table
application changes
• Based on proven and well
established Oracle technology
Describing the Data Lifecycle
ILM is concerned with managing data during its lifetime. In the ILM Assistant, a
lifecycle is described in terms of the stages where data will reside during its lifetime.
Where each stage describes the duration that data will reside on a storage tier, as
illustrated in Figure1, and a stage maps to a logical storage tier, which describes the
locations where the data will be stored. These lifecycles are then mapped to one or
more partitioned tables in the database.

Figure 1 Lifecycle Definition

Reduce Costs by Easily & Efficiently Moving Data

One of the significant benefits of implementing an ILM solution is that storage costs
can be significantly reduced, by keeping the minimum quantity of data on higher
cost storage devices. The ILM Assistant maintains a calendar of outstanding events,
both past and into the future, to allow planning of when data should be migrated to
lower cost storage devices. The ILM Assistant does not automatically move data,
thus allowing flexibility of scheduling these maintenance tasks at a convenient time.

1

RELATED PRODUCTS
AND SERVICES
• Oracle Database
Enterprise Edition (9i or
greater)
• Oracle Partitioning
• Oracle Advanced Security
• Oracle Label Security
• Oracle Enterprise
Manager Packs
• Oracle Content Database
PRE-REQUISTIES
Oracle Application Express
(formerly known as HTML
Db) v2.2 or greater must be
installed in the database
where the data to be placed
under ILM control resides
Oracle Partitioning
Oracle Database 9i Release
2 or greater
SUPPORT
Oracle offers a free online
community forum hosted
and monitored by Oracle
experts, available online at
http://forums.oracle.com/foru
ms/forum.jspa?forumID=250
FURTHER INFORMATION
To learn more about Oracle
ILM visit:
http://www.oracle.com/techn
ology/deploy/ilm/index.html
ORACLE DATA SHEET
The events identified by the ILM Assistant include:
• moving data to a new storage tier
• reporting data eligible for deletion or archiving
• reporting data which should be compressed or set to read only
Reports are also available which detail the cost savings resulting from moving the
data to these storage devices.
New to ILM – Need Advice
Designed so that anyone from novice to expert can use the ILM Assistant, scripts
can be generated for performing all tasks. Deciding whether to partition a table is
not always an easy decision for the database designer. Within the ILM Assistant the
following information is available to help make that decision easier:
• which tables are being accessed
• show how a table could be partitioned
• the cost savings that would result from using tiered storage
• simulate future events if the table were partitioned
Data is Safe & Secure
An important benefit of using a database as the platform for your ILM solution is
the ability to take advantage of its embedded security features. From the ILM
Assistant it is possible to view Virtual Private Database security policies, which
restricts who has access to the data, and it can prevent queries from scanning
excessive quantities of data. It is also possible to check the status of auditing and
query both database and FGA (fine-grained auditing) audit records. Digital
signatures can be generated & compared to verify data hasn’t changed and policy
notes can be defined to document compliance processes.
Managing the Data Migration Challenge
Implementing ILM using the Oracle Database requires no application changes, thus
ensuring rapid implementation with no impact upon existing systems. The ILM
Assistant solves the problem of knowing when it is time to move or purge data, thus
allowing the maximum quantity of data to be retained at the lowest possible cost.
Before implementing your ILM solution, it can be modeled in the ILM Assistant so
you can see the potential benefits. Using proven and well established Oracle
technology; the ILM Assistant facilitates easy deployment of an ILM solution, using
the Oracle Database.
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