In comp.unix.admin Simon <simonf@simonf.com> wrote:
> Hi all,

> We have a centralized backup system of several dozen machines. My boss
> is cracking down on tape costs, so we are trying to come up with a
> strategy to recycle old backup tapes. The problem is that it's not
> easy to do it because the backup software (Time Navigator) writes
> files from different machines and from different dates onto the same
> tape. Thus, if I want to keep a full backup only of a certain subset
> of machines from a year ago, it's very time-consuming to track down
> the tapes involved.

I think you may save consideratly more money by firing the boss. Any
manager that tries to save money on backup tapes is well beyond
"best before" date.

> Obviously, the software allows to backup each host to a different set
> of tapes, but managing all this becomes hard very quickly, and it
> would waste tapes anyway. I can also set cut-off dates where I close
> all tapes and start anew, say, each month, but this also adds to the
> management time and tape wastage.

Optimizing backup's is like optimizing the unknown.

You don't know what data you will need to restore, you don't know
which tapes are usable. Failure to restore lost data might be
the last thing you do at that company.

> Has anyone run into this problem (ease-of-use vs precise
> accountability) with backup tapes, especially regarding tape reuse?
> This would probably arise with any kind of centralized backup
> solution...

Shure. We do consider minor things of less importence then major. Like
"Corporate policy for backup and archiving", a document describing
which data to preserve and for how long. This document should be
signed by the CEO and constitute the conditions for backups.

I don't see that you refer to such a document. If that's so you are
missing it. Does your CEO know that you have _NO_ policy for backup ??

> Thanks,
> Simon Ilyushchenko

--
Peter Håkanson
IPSec Sverige ( At Gothenburg Riverside )
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