Perhaps our situation is a little different than others, but our concern when a server is decommissioned is that somebody is going to come looking for that data, sometimes weeks later. It has happened before. Sometimes we have decommissioned a server, and an urgent request has come in to do a complete restore of a server the next day. (Craze I know, but sometimes communications fall through the cracks in a large company.) We have a policy to keep client data for 90 days after the server has been decommissioned.
One thing we DON'T want to do is have the active files become inactive, or have the inactive versions deleted. One of the previous responders in this thread said to just stop backing the client up, and "do nothing", because the data will still be retained. That will be true of the active version of the files, but the inactive versions will still expire as time goes by. After a couple of months only the active version will be left. While that might be OK, we know from experience that during the last days of the life of a server, data may be deleted or moved around, files may be open, or whatever, and the last backup performed may not be the one the customer wants restored. To us it is worth it to retain the inactive versions, too, so the customer can do a point-in-time restore. Our routine is: 1) We move the client to a special policy domain called "DECOM". This policy specifies 90 day retention of all versions. It also specifies copymode=absolute. 2) We then launch one more immediate backup. Because of copymode=absolute it is essentially a full backup. That gets all the active versions of the data onto the same media, so if anybody asks for a full restore we can do it quickly. 3) We put the clients name into a tracking file with the decommission date, so we don't forget when 90 days is up. 4) When 90 days is up, we delete all the filespaces for the client, then the client itself. If anyone sees a flaw in this scheme please let us know. Best Regards, John D. Schneider Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard Sims Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 9:53 AM To: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Decommissioned Servers On May 22, 2008, at 9:59 AM, Wimprine, Thomas wrote: > I have a system(s) that have been turned off never to return. I need > to set the backup data that was on them to inactive. Does anyone know > how to make this happen? ... One way is to perform a backup of a same-named, empty file system (which is easy to set up, a number of ways) on a same-type node which masquerades as the original node via Virtualnodename. Richard Sims This e-mail contains information which (a) may be PROPRIETARY IN NATURE OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED BY LAW FROM DISCLOSURE, and (b) is intended only for the use of the addressee(s) named above. If you are not the addressee, or the person responsible for delivering this to the addressee(s), you are notified that reading, copying or distributing this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender immediately.