I second Adam's advice.  He mentions "the O'reilly book", but means "Unix Backup
and Recovery".  This book is an _excelent_ read for anyone doing _anything_ with
backups _at all_ (i.e, if you're in charge of backups, read it _immediately_; if
you're only incharge of doing restores and piddly backup stuff, read it _ASAP_).
The author goes into great detail about implementing backup solutions and 
disaster recovery plans (even how to write a proposal so good that your boss or
company's accountant can't say no! :).

Gabe

On Tue, Jul 18, 2000 at 04:43:39PM -0500, Adam Maloney wrote:
> hard drives for backup != backup solution...
> 
> You're just asking to get burned, there's too many "what-ifs" to list.
> Tape may be slow, but the shelf-life is unbeeatable and the cost is pretty
> low for what you get.
> 
> If your company relies on this data, you need to start talking about
> off-site storage, nightly, weekly, and monthly backups, a real solution.
> IMHO, if you feel the data is important enough to back up then you
> probably should use tape and have some sort of off-site storage.
> 
> Management is usually pretty open to spending some cash if you can prove
> how important the data is.  Normally the time lost recreating the lost
> data is more expensive then the cost of the tape drive and tapes.
> 
> The selection for a drive depends on how much data you have to back up.  I
> hate Travan, but it's probably the cheapest solution if you're talking
> about < 1Gb.  I've been quite happy with DLT if you need many Gb.  If you
> need lots of space you can get a Quantum ALT changer that can do more than
> 500Gb natively for ~ $10,000 (L500).  They also have the P-1000 that can
> do about twice that.  www.atlp.com
> 
> Don't forget - according to the O'reilly book, if the cost for the tapes
> doesn't cost more than the drive, you're doing something wrong!
> 
> Also, Amanda is your friend.  She's also a Vietnamese prostitute that goes
> by "Ming Lee"...
> 
> Adam Maloney
> Systems Administrator
> Sihope Communications
> 
> On Tue, 18 Jul 2000 rgoldber at d.umn.edu wrote:
> 
> > Hello!
> > 
> > I'm building a file/print server.  I'd like your thoughts.
> > 
> > The network (as of right now) consists of 10-12 win98 machines plus one
> > linux backup machine.  Right now the database for the key client app (and a
> > bunch of other important stuff) sits on one of the win98 machines.  Ick.  
> > Before I put the linux machine in (a p75 with 32mb, found in a closet),
> > they were depending on a guy switching out zip disks everyday.  Ick.  The
> > linux machine rsyncs the current file "server" every night, plus once a
> > week, so we can go back in time.  If the "server" fails, the backup machine
> > easily subs for it till things are righted, losing at most the day's work.  
> > Not good, but better than trying to restore a borken machine from zips,
> > losing the same amount of work.
> > 
> > I go into detail about the backup machine because I'm thinking of using it
> > instead of a tape drive.  Anyhoo, here's my plan:
> > 
> > New dedicated file/print server (running linux, duh)
> > 
> > pIII 450-600
> > 128mb ram
> > asus p3bf or abit bf6
> > 2-4 quantum fireball 10.2g LM series (ide)
> > 3ware ide raid card (2 or 4 port, doing raid 1)
> > dual hot swap power supply
> > maybe a tape drive
> > 
> > I somewhat expect to be beaten severely for using "ide" and "raid" in the
> > same sentence but...  Does anybody have any hands on experience with
> > 3ware's cards?  The sales rep put me in contact with a couple of people who
> > really like them...
> > 
> > This is a dusty environment, so I don't trust anything that moves.  
> > Redundancy is more important than performance.  So, raid 1, hot swap power
> > supplies, I feel warm and fuzzy like.
> > 
> > What I'm most interested in hearing about is how stupid/smart it is to use
> > the junker backup machine as an alternative to a tape drive.  Secondly, if
> > it's really stupid, I'd like some suggestions for sub $1000 tape
> > drives.  Of course, all other pointers will be appreciated.
> > 
> > This email turned out really long, sorry.
> > 
> > Thanks in advance!
> > 
> > -
> > 
> > Ryan 
> > 
> > 
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-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gabe Turner		X-President, ACM @ U of MN	     dopp at acm.cs.umn.edu

"I'm gonna hit ya, and you're gonna fall. 
 And I'm gonna look down, and I'm gonna laugh."
 						- Ren Hoek in "Sven Hoek"
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