SharePoint storage is not unlimited and purchasing more is expensive. It can be up to 10x more expensive when compared with IaaS cloud storage solutions such as Azure Blob Storage.
Organizations often turn to lower-cost cloud storage solutions for archiving or long-term storage. However, these solutions lack the governance and security features implemented in Microsoft365 with Microsoft Purview.
SharePoint Online is increasingly used for managing information with long term retention, organizations MUST create retention and archival plans for information which will be become inactive as part of long-term retention and will continue to consume expensive Hot-tier storage in SharePoint.
Option 1: File-based retention (recommended)
Require files of value to be identified and labelled (=records retained according to big-bucket retention rules) to enable us to delete ROT or redundant, obsolete, and trivial files (=non-records/not labelled files deleted 3 years since last modified date)
- Option A: manual labelling with record labels. User manually apply record labels to records. Files without record labels are deleted 3 years after last modified date, and files with record labels are retrained according to proposed and verified retention rules.
- Option B: final folder with record category name and default record label.
Request form in provisioning ask types of records and set up folders, and files not in folder gets deleted 3 years since last modified date. Success requires users to move final files to final folders. Insights from files stored in folder is used to identity similar records in pre-existing dark sites. - Option C: automatic labelling using SITs, Trainable Classifiers and/or Syntex. Get biz reps to complete form listing their important record types and then use Purview to auto-classy records. Files without a record label gets deleted 3 years since last modified date.
Common approach:
- Get users or machines to label all information of value
- Use insights from manual labelling to identify opportunities for automating with SITs and Trainable classifiers
- Use SITs, Trainable classifiers, and Cold Scan to label files of value in non-active SharePoint sites / dark data
- Implement deletion policies for non-labelled information once all information of value has been labelled
Pros:
- Records (files of value) are retained while non-records (=ROT) can be deleted
Cons:
- It will take a lot of time and resources to classify all records in active and non-active workspaces before being able to turn on non-record deletion
- No big saving in SharePoint storage costs the next few years
- Require Corporate Records Retention Schedule that defines retention periods
Option 2: Workspace retention
Some companies have considered retaining the entire workspace as long as some of the files have business or regulatory value. If a workspace contains 20% files of value while 80% is redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT), then all of this be retained as long as the 20% files have business or regulatory value. And if 2% of the 20% files of value needs to be retained company lifetime, then the entire workspace needs to be retained company lifetime. With big-bucket retention categories, the result will be that many workspaces are retained for more than 10+ years.
Pros:
- No need to label files of value
Cons:
- Over-storage of ROT since this is kept as long as records
- No big saving in SharePoint storage costs the next few years
Option 3: Workspace expiry process (recommended)
A Group Expiry process asks workspace owners to confirm if Teams and SharePoint sites are still of value if no recent activity on the workspace. For inactive workspaces, ask owners to move all files of value to archive sites with folders with default record labels.
Pros:
- No need to label files of value
Cons:
- Require clear ownership of workspaces
- Workspace owners may decide all files should be kept to avoid extra work
Option 4: Infotechtion-ARM solution to extend Purview to Azure blobs (recommended)
Move inactive sites, files, videos, and/or large images to Azure blob managed by Infotechtion ARM solution (add-on solution to Purview) and then leverage Teams/365 Group expiry process for the remaining Teams/groups with owners. This would be the fastest approach to reduce storage costs.
Case study: Total cost of ownership example for an organization with 300 TB of allocated storage in SharePoint based on licensed users, and 10% YOY increase in data over the 300 TB.
- Age based archival to Azure: 59%
- Duplicate, obsolete archival to Azure: 23%
- Large files archive to Azure: 10%
Result: 48% reduction in SharePoint storage
Pros:
- Reduced storage cost per TB
- Leverage Purview to manage it all
Cons:
- 3rd add-on to Microsoft
Option 5: Microsoft Archiving
Archive inactive SharePoint sites with Microsoft Archiving to reduce storage costs. Admin-level search and Purview-based search will operate like normal. End-user search is not currently supported, but end-user search is on Microsoft roadmap. Sites will need to be restored before users can access files.
- SharePoint Archiving was developed for long-term storage of information, not as cheaper storage of dark data according to Microsoft engineering
- Storage for archived sites is metered and charged at a $0.05/GB/month rate vs. the normal standard storage rate of $0.20/GB/month. For more information, see Pricing model for Microsoft 365 Archive Pricing model for Microsoft 365 Archive – Microsoft 365 Archive | Microsoft Learn
- The site lifecycle management feature in SharePoint Advanced Management helps automate and orchestrate the movement of sites into the archive tier via admin-defined policies to remove manual operations. In other words, the site lifecycle management in SharePoint Advanced Management operates in conjunction with Microsoft Archive.
- Reactivating a SharePoint site is free within 7 days after you have archived it. After that, you will need to pay for the reactivation, which costs $ 0.60 per GB.
- Microsoft Archiving currently only do workspace archiving, but file-based archiving is on the roadmap
Pros:
- Reduced storage cost per TB
Cons:
- No search for users (but this is coming)
- Workflow required to restore sites
- Cost of restoring sites
Option 6: 3rd Party Archiving Solution
Move inactive sites, files, videos, and/or large images to 3rd party archiving solution and then leverage Teams/365 Group expiry process for the remaining Teams/groups with owners. The problem is that we then need to use 3rd party governance controls and features for managing the dark data in these workspaces.
Pros:
- Reduced storage cost per TB
Cons:
- New solution with different features for governance and auto-classification creates more complexities
Need Help?
Take control of your information today. Whether you need expert advice, custom solutions, or guidance through information management challenges, we’re here to help. Contact us at contact@infotechtion.com, to speak to one of our experts.
