Very well written !!! May I slightly improve it: 1. Mark diskpool volumes read-only. Migrate disk pools and mark all primary volumes read-only (or only ones which do not have copypool backups). Check out all read-only tapes. 2. Like your step 1 but take only one db backup. The rest as described in several copies. Do not forget OS and TSM documentation CDs (five years later several investigators were changed and none of them knows what TSM is and how to beat it - let them RTFM). 3. Mark diskpool volumes back to read-write. 4. Set up a test server. Disable expiration, restore the (only) DB backup, modify all mgmtclasses/copygroups/stgpools. Mark primary tapes (of backed-up "important" stgpools) unavailable. Backup the DB.
If cannot afford additional cartridges or investigation is supposed to be short-term - make few more DB backups; set reuse delay on production server's pools to 9999. "Non-important" primary volumes and "important" copypool volumes hold the data for both production and "investigation" servers. Sit and wait this to finish sooner. Skip steps 5-10, ensure step 11 is done and do not dream about step 12. If forced to keep the data long-term regardless the price: 5. Backup to copypool(s) even the "non-important" (non-backed up) storage pools. Check-in (read-only) primary volumes in production server's library and mark back to read-write (in production DB) for normal day-to-day operations. 6. Mark all primary volumes unavailable and restore primary pools on the test server (it now became DR test server :). 7. Return (production) copypool volumes to vault for normal DR. Delete volumes from DR test server and backup all affected pool to make copies for "investigation" DR. 8. Make additional copypool copies if necessary for very-long-term data retension. 9. Backup the DB several times. 10. As your step 2. 11. Get signature from Legal as Tab pointed that he/she understands how TSM is working and will not bother you to downgrade the production server. 12. Sit back and relax - you've done the task and covered your aZZ :) Zlatko Krastev IT Consultant Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent by: "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc: Subject: Re: Eternal Data retention brainstorming..... What kind of shelf life are you expecting for your media? Since they've discovered that optical has data decay, it's not even "forever"! I've seen some others on the list point at it, but how will you restore this data in 10 years? Here's what I'd look at doing: 1. Take about 5 dbbackups (or snapshots) and send them to the vault. Take a few OS level backups of your server (bootable tape images). Send them, too. Send volhist, devconfig, a prepare file, TSM server and client code, OS install code, everything else that makes your environment your environment, including the clients, offsite. This is DR - in the most extreme sense of the term. 2. Box up the vault. Seal the boxes, leave them there. 3. Start marking offsite volumes as destroyed (or just delete them) in TSM, and run more Backup Stgpools. They'll run longer, as you're recreating the old tapes. 4. Go back to step 1 and repeat once. If this data is really that important to have forever, make sure you can get it back! 5. Start sleeping - you're going to be WAY behind on that! Now, for the people making the requirement - they need to get a contract to have accessible like hardware to do the restores to. Not just the TSM server and tape library, but the clients, too. Having the data available is one thing, being able to restore it is another. Nick Cassimatis [EMAIL PROTECTED] Today is the tomorrow of yesterday.