Data Storage, Backup, and Protection

Overview

Academic data storage includes student data, official University statistics, and strategic analytics. 

• Short-term storage is for frequently accessed data with low latency requirements.
• Long-term storage is meant for rarely accessed data with flexible latency requirements.

Pricing varies based on: volume of data stored per month; data redundancy option selected; and quantity and types of operations performed, along with any data transfer costs. (Example: 3 TB, locally redundant storage, hot tier.)

Storage Tiers:

• Premium: Uses solid-state drives to provide high throughput and very fast response times. Low and consistent latency very fast response times.
• Hot: Data that are in active use or expected to be accessed frequently.
• Cool: Older media content not observed constantly anymore but is expected to be available quickly when accessed.
• Archive: archival data that needs to be stored for a long time and is hardly ever accessed.

Backup is a copy of production information which protects both your active and inactive data (all your production data). Your data still resides on the production storage systems themselves. Backups are meant for recovery from hardware failure or recent data corruption or loss. Backup data retention typically varies from 7 to 30 days.

Archiving is for space management, compliance, risk aversion, and long-term retention.

Overview

Academic short-term data storage options include:

• Cloud:
  • Azure Disk Storage: For use with Azure Virtual machines
  • Azure Blob Storage: Object storage for cloud native workloads
  • Azure Files: File shares in the cloud that are accessible via SMB and NFS protocols
• On-Premise Data Center:
  • PowerScale Network Attached Storage (NAS): File shares on premises that are accessible by locally hosted systems via SMB and NFS protocols

Get Started

To get started, submit an IT Resources for Researchers Consultation Request.

Resources

• Azure Disk Storage
• Azure Blob Storage
• Azure Files
• PowerScale Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Overview

Academic long-term data storage options include:

• Cloud:
  • Azure Archive Storage
• Hybrid On-Premise and Cloud:
  • Azure File Sync

Resources

To get started, submit an IT Resources for Researchers Consultation Request.

Resources

• Azure Archive Storage
• Azure File Sync

Overview

• Cloud:
  • Azure Backup: Protects Azure Virtual Machines, SQL and SAP databases, and Azure file shares
• On-Premise:
  • Enterprise Backup Solution Networker:
    • Database (Microsoft SQL, MySQL, Oracle, DB2, etc)
    • Virtual Server Snapshots (VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V)
    • File backups, supported operating systems (Windows Server all supported versions, RHEL, SUSE, CentOS, AlmaLinux, etc)
    • Backups are encrypted and replicated offsite
    • Optional Cyber Vault for critical-data backups

Get Started

To get started, submit an IT Resources for Researchers Consultation Request.

Get Started

• Azure Backup

Overview

UHealth data storage includes patient, clinical, and UChart data at the University and its health system.  

• Short-term storage is for frequently accessed data with low latency requirements.
• Long-term storage is meant for rarely accessed data with flexible latency requirements.

Overview

The Center for Computational Science maintains 400TB of storage for the Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). The storage may be accessed from Windows, Macs, and Linux from any University of Miami campus or off-campus via the UM VPN. This storage is configured for non-PHI data. This storage is fully integrated with CCS supercomputer Pegasus that enables users to perform computations on the supercomputer.

Get Started

To get started, submit a CTSI Allocation Request Form.

Resources

• Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)

Overview

The UHealth IT Department of Data Science and Research Informatics supports the research data needs for University of Miami clinical investigators. Secure storage of large data can be provisioned using approved cloud services. Storage capacity can be dynamically sized, with advanced features such as automated archival for lower costs.

Get Started

To get started, submit a UHealth IT Informatics Consultation Request.

Resources

• UHealth IT Informatics Services' Large Data Storage.