Archival & Purging Process

  • Hi SQL gurus,
    I have a basic question. First, what is difference between data archival and data purging ? (As of now I believe purging means deletion and archival means moving the data from main table to other historical table) 

    Also please let me know the best possible approach to create a generic archival process .

  • Archiving means moving from one location to another for long term storage (possibly aggregation, possibly other stuff, that really depends on your business needs, I can't define this for you). Purging means removing it, period. Archiving involves both inserting/updating (possibly even deleting, again, your business needs define this) to the new location, and deleting from the old location. So purging is actually a part of archiving.

    As to a generic method, there sort of isn't one. You have to understand what your business wants out of this process, what all the requirements are. Those requirements will drive your decisions around building out the process.

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  • Thanks a lot Grant. So this means I had correct understanding. Seems lots of people have incorrect understanding of this slight difference between the two.

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