Immortal Database Access

Overview: This project will research and develop tools and processes to decommission systems and relational databases (DB) and preserve these decommissioned systems/databases permanently on a physical immutable and long-term storage medium, piqlFilm, as well as online. What is preserved shall include tools for DB regeneration together with its search functionalities (i.e. one shall be able to search without the original database application/program). These tools and processes guarantee immunity to technical obsolescence, protect access and search functionalities for future users, prevent data corruption, avoid migration, exclude hackers, lower the CO2 impact from cloud, storage, ensure user access in the long term and serve as the "ultimate backup of last resort" for future generations. Challenges: Databases are preserved because their content has intrinsic value. Data needs to be preserved in a medium that can remain intact for decades or centuries. Preservation needs to include DB architecture and search tools that give the database functionality and operability. This project intends to use the open-source SIARD database format to decommission other proprietary databases (like SAP or Oracle) so that can later be restored and reintegrated into another DB management system in the future. SIARD can capture data and metadata. But it has limitations for very long-term preservation. It cannot future proof the database against technical obsolescence because it does not preserve information about the software application or the hardware that were employed to create, access, use and maintain the original DB. The tools developed in iDA will capture query functionalities for integrating them into query libraries, engines, API’ss and the simplified execution software virtual machine will be new outcomes that do not exist today, thus the issues related to preservation of a SIARD database above will be eliminated.

Overview: We will research and develop tools and processes to decommission systems that preserve their content permanently on a physical medium and online, including tools for DB regeneration together with its search functionalities. The tools and processes guarantee immunity to technical obsolescence, protect access and search functionalities for future users, prevent data corruption, avoid migration, exclude hackers, lower the CO2 impact from cloud, storage, ensure user access in the long term and serve as the "ultimate backup of last resort" for future generations. Challenges: Databases are preserved because their content has intrinsic value. Data needs to be preserved in a medium that can remain intact for decades or centuries. Preservation needs to include DB architecture and search tools that give the database functionality and operability. Users mainly use SIARD formats for decommissioning and can later be restored and reintegrated into another DB management system in the future. SIARD can capture data and metadata. But it has limitations for very long-term preservation. It cannot future-proof the database against technical obsolescence because it does not preserve information about the software application or the hardware that were employed to create, access, use and maintain the original DB. Nor does SIARD capture the key information on the query functionalities used to search, process and retrieve information when the database was active. SIARD cannot guarantee that the restored database will be used efficiently in the future. SIARD cannot deliver the ultimate "backup of last resort" that is future-proof, physically safe, offline and incorruptible. iDA development tools capturing query functionalities for integrating them into query libraries, engines, APIs and the simplified execution software machine will be new outcomes that do not exist today.