S 2.266 Regular replacement of technical archive system components

Initiation responsibility: Archive Administrator, Head of IT

Implementation responsibility: Administrator, Head of IT, Archive Administrator

Archive systems must comply with the current state of the art over long periods of time. In the past, in the field of information technology, standards for hardware and software, as well as data formats for digital storage only endured for short periods of time when compared to the envisaged periods of archiving. It must be assumed that this situation is not going to change in the future, since the standards are strongly characterised by technical progress.

Furthermore, hardware components are subject to wear and tear and therefore require regular maintenance and possibly replacement. Additionally, it must be taken into account that manufacturers unexpectedly discontinue their support of existing systems or are no longer able to provide long-term support, e.g. due to insolvency.

Therefore, it must be taken into account that the components of the archive will require regular replacement and that the entire database might need to be migrated to a new archive system.

This process is closely related to safeguard S 2.261 Regular market surveys of archive systems.

As a matter of principle, new hardware and software must be subjected to comprehensive tests before being installed into a running archive system so as not to endanger the stability of the existing system (see also S 4.65 Testing of new hardware and software). Compatibility with existing systems and data media must be ensured when installing new data media and drives. Before commissioning new components or implementing new data formats, a migration concept must be drawn up describing all changes and tests. The archiving concept (see S 2.243 Development of an archiving concept) may require adaptation. In the event of more comprehensive changes, the planning phase described in the module description must be performed again.

When changing formats, it must be checked whether the data must be additionally archived in its original formats when converting old data into the new formats due to legal requirements.

Review questions:

© Federal Office for Information Security. All rights reserved.