hierarchical storage management (SAN) (HSM)

Hierarchical Storage Management(HSM) is a concept for Data Lifecycle Management( DLM). It is a data backup software with which inactive files are marked and swapped out to a less expensive backup storage. These inactive files are managed according to various parameters such as frequency of access, date of generation and last access, file size, etc.

The storage medium used for swapping depends on these parameters, so depending on the frequency of use, certain files are swapped out first to hard disks, and later, for example, to optical storage, to tape drives or tape libraries. The swapped out inactive files are entered in the local file system and can be retrieved at any time. The active files, on the other hand, are stored on the more expensive mass storage device so that they can be recalled at any time. When a swapped file is called up, Hierarchical Storage Management copies the swapped file from the backup storage to the local file system and then continues the editing process.

HSM systems have a longer access time to the swapped files compared to other backup solutions.