jipping@cs.hope.edu (Mike Jipping) (05/30/90)
We just picked up an Exabyte 8mm tape unit. I'm wondering the BEST way to use as a backup system. I need a little advice. In our configuration, we have a 3/160 server providing all the home directories and doing lots of grunt work (news, mail host, etc). The rest of our units are SS-1s (with local disk for executables and swap). It seems that every vendor I spoke with puts Exabytes with SPARCstations, not 3/160s. SOOO...we are doing the same. We have a SS-1 as a backup server for the network, and every night, that unit backs up all the filesystems across the network that need to be backed up. Ok...but consider this. What happens when the server has a disk crash? Let's say that / and /usr are hosed. Now I want to retrieve them from backup. How do I do it? Does the mini-root have "rrestore" in its command set? And what if I'm using a non-standard dump/restore program, say, like "8mmbackup" (which uses "cpio") or "supersaver" (which uses its own format)? What then? Maybe I should dump off just / and /usr on the server... FYI: we're running SunOS 4.1. Thanks for the help. Send stuff to me and I'll summarize. Mike Jipping Internet: jipping@cs.hope.edu Hope College BITNET: JIPPING@HOPE Department of Computer Science Voice: Hey!
grenvill@trajan.uk.sun.com (Grenville Whelan - Sun UK) (06/01/90)
In article <8300@brazos.Rice.edu> jipping@cs.hope.edu (Mike Jipping) writes: >Ok...but consider this. What happens when the server has a disk crash? >Let's say that / and /usr are hosed. Now I want to retrieve them from >backup. How do I do it? Does the mini-root have "rrestore" in its >command set? In the event of a crash on your root file-system, why not just take your time, rebuild your root from install tapes, and then restore; alternatively make your own copy of mini-root WITH restore included. > And what if I'm using a non-standard dump/restore program, say, like > "8mmbackup" (which uses "cpio") or "supersaver" (which uses its own > format)? What then? Sounds like you need an alternative backup utility -- I have such a utility that performs network backups, supports multi-volume tapes and supports half-inch tape, QIC cartridges and ExaByte 8mm video. This utility is essentially a front-end to "dump", but all the operator need do is define the backup rota, and the rest is done for you -- a log-file is mailed on completion. If you'd like a copy, drop me a line. Hope this helps, Grenville Whelan, Sun UK, Hilton House, Lord St, Stockport, Cheshire, SK1 3ND [Tel. +44 061-477-3100, Email: gwhelan@sunuk.Sun.COM] "I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy!"