Data Storage Solutions for Transactional Systems

In the storm of constantly generated enterprise data, it is important to use systems that let your company organize and distribute data among people in different teams. Managing the production process, contacting clients, or taking care of the payroll – these are just a few examples that illustrate how a wide range of specific tasks need to be done to keep your company alive and let it prosper.

Before we get to know the data storage specifics for the transactional systems, let’s get a better understanding of their role in the companies’ and users’ operations and why it is so important to create a good data storage base for daily business processes.

The Role of Transactional Systems in Business Success

The transactional systems’ role is to provide a smooth flow of consistent information in the client-business relationship. They allow companies to receive, organize, and store data that is crucial for everyday performance, including the production process, warehousing, distribution, points of sale, and financial operations. Transactional systems also ensure a good, stable user experience, raising satisfaction, which contributes to clients’ loyalty to the products, services, and the company itself.

Business interaction nowadays is based on data, and that’s why it is so important to store it safely, as the consequences of data loss can be devastating. Starting from financial loss, customer dissatisfaction, and negative company reviews to legal implications, financial penalties, and the worst scenario – going bankrupt.

As you can see, transactional systems are present at each level of the companies’ and clients’ lives. Therefore, the data storage solution holding this data must be safe, reliable, and ready to cope with any threat to the precious information collected by the company. Only this way any system can run smoothly and be always ready to deal with the received information.

How To Ensure The Safety and Efficiency of Your Transactional Systems?

Self-healing of Data

Everything starts with data storage infrastructure, which creates a firm foundation for the systems your company uses daily. The system you use must provide a single source of truth that ensures everyone is on the same page to avoid needless actions, which lead to misunderstandings and chaos. To ensure that the data is always consistent and ready to use, you can utilize a ZFS-based system with a built-in self-healing feature that automatically checks frequently accessed data and corrects it when any error is spotted. It is highly recommended to also use the scrubbing feature to check the consistency of all the data you store, including those that are not accessed so frequently.

RAID & Mirror Configurations

The main problem with the hardware that holds the data is its lifespan. Each device will break at some point. To avoid losing your data in case of disk failure, you can utilize RAID and mirroring technologies, which let you create additional copies of the stored data and distribute it among other devices to gain more control over the inevitable hardware malfunction.

High-Availability of Data

RAID and mirror configurations are still not safe enough if they are the last line of defense, as losing too many disks in the array can lead to data loss. To deal with this threat you can create a high-availability cluster, by connecting two servers into a mutually responsive entity. If one of the servers fails, the other one can take over its actions and data resources. In effect, you avoid downtime. This is especially important for transactional systems, that need to be constantly up and running.

On- & Off-site Data Protection

Can you smell that? Yeah, it seems like your local server room is on fire! We would like to avoid this scenario and you can do that by implementing a backup server in a separate location. This way, even when your production system is burnt to the ground or swept away by the force of the hurricane, you can still recover the data from the backup you have stored in a different place.

How to undo the effects of a ransomware attack?

What about the hackers? These malicious individuals are working day and night just to make your life harder. One unfortunate click may encrypt all your data. Hopefully, there is light at the end of the tunnel (and it is not a train to bankruptcy). With the right data storage solution, you can revert unwanted changes in your system with a few simple clicks! That is the power of snapshots and retention plans. They regularly capture the image of your data storage system and keep it so you can go back to the previous system state if needed.

Efficient Workflow Is a Key to Company Growth

All of the aforementioned scenarios can be easily managed with our data storage software solution – Open-E JovianDSS! As you can see, many fields are dependent on the company’s data storage. Fortunately, you are the person who has a huge influence on its architecture and functionality. Download our free 60-day Open-E JovianDSS Trial Version and use the available features to ensure that all transactional systems used by your company have a good foundation for everyday tasks that lead to constant success and growth! Go, make a difference!