January 2011 DAOS - IBM Lotus Domino Attachment and Object Service ZL TECHNOLOGIES White Paper
PAGE 1 What is DAOS Attachment Consolidation? In 2008, IBM Lotus Domino introduced a new attachment and object service, available with release 8.5, to allow customers to [store] all file attachments in a separate repository on the server and [retrieve] them by reference. 1 With this feature turned on, Lotus Domino no longer saves a separate and complete copy of every document attachment. Instead, the server saves a reference to each attached file in an internal repository, and it refers to the same file from multiple documents in one or more databases on the same server. When an attached file is large and a message containing it is broadcast to thousands of users, creating a separate copy of the message for each recipient could require several gigabytes of disk space. Multiple copies of the same attachment often also proliferate in mail threads with multiple replies. With DAOS enabled, disk space usage is substantially reduced. 2 Attachment consolidation is Domino s answer to single-instance storage. When it was first introduced, DAOS was simply a capability that other mail servers, such as Exchange, already offered. Beyond Email Attachments: File De-duplication DAOS is limited to the mail server and does not provide single instancing across servers and file shares. ZL provides true, global single instancing across Domino servers, data capture mechanisms (e.g. Domino Journaling, Mailbox Capture, SMTP Capture, etc.), file shares, SharePoint, Lotus Quickr, etc. The storage benefits of email attachment de-duplication, while significant, do not incorporate the extra savings derived by de-duplicating attachments against files and across servers. The World of Stubbing DAOS reduces storage on the Domino server, but has no impact on the size of the mail file*. With stubbing enabled, ZL reduces the size of the email on the mail file by replacing the content with an HTML link that references the original content on the archive. Users continue to enjoy seamless access, with the added benefit of further storage reduction. Furthermore, storing data on the Domino server is more expensive than using ZL Unified Archive. DAOS requires Domino server storage, namely Tier 1 storage. However, ZL does not have a restriction on the type of storage it requires, and typically operates on Tier 2 or 3 storage. 1 Peter, Dinny A. IBM Lotus Domino going green: The new Lotus Domino attachment and object service. <http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/domino-green/>. 2 Ibid.
PAGE 2 Figure 1 * Lotus Domino treats attachments stored using DAOS as though each user owns the entirety of the attachment file, and associates the full size of every message against the mail quota. In this case, the entire 5 MB will be counted against each user s mail quota, but on the server level, storage has been reduced from 10MB to 5 MB. **Using ZL, the original message is replaced with an HTML link, usually around 2KB, further reducing storage requirements. Backup Requirements Using DAOS does not significantly change an organization s backup requirements. During attachment consolidation, DAOS places a copy of the attachment on the server. To prevent data loss, the data on the server still needs to be backed up. In fact, on a global level an organization using DAOS will not reduce its backup requirements at all. Since DAOS does not de-duplicate across email attachments and files, multiple copies of the same document will continue to reside on the server and will require back up. On the other hand, an archive constitutes an effective recovery option and is ideally suited for quick restoration. By deploying ZL, relevant business data is removed from the server and is retained in the archive. This eliminates the need for further backups. In fact, backup is more efficient in an environment that has an effective archiving solution. Archives leverage the backup infrastructure for their own data protection needs.
PAGE 3 Managing Legacy Data Retroactive De-duplication DAOS attachment consolidation is an additional Lotus Domino functionality and can be easily switched on or off. However, de-duplication will not apply retroactively to older data, e.g. de-dupe multiple copies of an attachment already located on the Domino server. ZL Unified Archive de-duplicates all data, regardless of when single instancing is turned on. This enables effective management of legacy data. In turn, organizations can access and inventory their legacy data and commence scheduled destruction policies. Ingesting legacy data into the archive can further reduce the costs related to data restoration and cataloging, especially in the event of a litigation discovery, where the average cost of tape restoration ranges from $250 to $500. 3 Lifecycle Capabilities DAOS provides server-level storage savings, but does not provide any data management capabilities. De-duplication provides business value, but in the last few years this value has decreased along with the cost of storage. The ability to classify, manage, and retrieve data with set policies according to business value is more important than ever before. An archive can act as a distributed storage and data management platform, simplifying both storage infrastructure and lifecycle management. Regardless of whether an organization s data management objectives are driven by regulatory compliance or legal discovery, an archive is a versatile tool for policy setting. Archiving capabilities, such as data retention and legal hold application, can be used in a variety of real-world settings and applied on all types of data. These lifecycle capabilities are, in reality, the cornerstone of any effective data management strategy. Search & Access Organizations store data in a variety of disparate storage platforms. This results in the accumulation of multiple pockets of information, scattered across the organization. DAOS provides a great answer to storage minimization, but does little in terms of consolidating data to improve access and searchability. An archive, however, provides fast and intelligent access to archived data from a single platform. By centralizing information, organizations can effectively manage data for retention and long term access and retrieval. 3 Managing Legacy Data. <http://www.backthruthefuture.com/pdfs/managing_legacy_data.pdf>
PAGE 4 Figure 2 DAOS Capabilities Summary Enterprise Requirements ZL DAOS Explanation Attachment consolidation is transparent and does User Transparency not affect how users view their emails and attachments. Ease of Implementation An administrator can easily enable the feature for an entire IBM Lotus Domino server on the DAOS tab in the Server document. Storage Savings DAOS provides email attachment consolidation Email SIS and reduces server level storage requirements. DAOS does not de-duplicate across servers, capture methods, file shares, Overall Data SIS etc. User Quota Size Improvements Hardware Costs Backup Reduction Legacy Data Management & SIS Lifecycle Capabilities Search & Access DAOS associates the full size of every message against a user s mail quota. DAOS de-duplicates at the server level, requiring Tier 1 type storage. DAOS does not substantially reduce the amount of data that needs to be backed up, as it does not provide de-duplication across all data types. DAOS does not retroactively SIS files already on the server and does not provide a solution to legacy data management. Attachment consolidation serves only to reduce server storage and cannot be used to apply retention policies. DAOS does not allow organizations to consolidate their data and does not provide additional search capabilities outside the standard Lotus search.
PAGE 5 About ZL Technologies Established in 1999, ZL Technologies, Inc. (ZL) provides cutting-edge enterprise software solutions for e-mail and files archiving for regulatory compliance, litigation support, corporate governance, and storage management. ZL s Unified Archive, offers a single unified platform to provide all the above capabilities, while maintaining a single copy and a unified policy across the enterprise. With a proven track record and enterprise clients which include top global institutions in finance and industry, ZL has emerged as the specialized provider of large-scale e-mail archiving for E-Discovery and compliance. For more information, please visit www.zlti.com