On 10/22/2009 01:23 AM, da...@lang.hm wrote: > On Thu, 22 Oct 2009, Junhao wrote: > >> Hi! >> >> At my workplace, I am in charge of data storage for my research group. >> These files are placed in a *NIX file server, and users authentication >> is through my corporate AD. Files are owned by individual users; other >> users from the same group can only read the files. As primary research >> data files, we basically expect these to be available forever. >> >> This system has worked well till several of my colleagues left. Their >> user accounts were promptly deleted from the corporate AD, creating a >> situation where their files are owned by invalid/unknown users. >> >> My workplace does not have a policy to handle this situation, so I am >> wondering how everyone handles this age-old problem. Any advice? > > I see this as your real problem, the issue of the files and their > ownership is a symptom of the problem. > > I would lock the user for some period of time, then archive the > files/e-mail/etc for some period of time, then delete them. > > time periods need to be decided by someone who can take the blame if > they are too short and you delete something the company needs, or if > they are too long and leave stuff around to complicate e-discovery > requests. > > David Lang
The catch is that I can't delete these files. As primary/raw research data, the time periods to publication of research papers are measured in years. Even after publication, we are expected to keep these data for validation by third-parties or even release into the public domain. It is really madness (to me, at least). And we are starting to face problems with long term data storage. But I digress... Regards, Junhao _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
