Re: offsite strategies
At 01:59 PM 1/6/2003, David Lebel wrote: Quoting Darin Dugan ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > Donald's suggestion is precisely what we're doing here. We choose to send > the most recent (runspercycle * runtapes) set offsite, as it is the most > valuable. Others may choose to send an older set offsite so as to be able > to restore accidental-deletions from the most recent set. Choose according > to your environment. What are your values for the following: dumpcycle dumpcycle 1 weeks # the number of days in the normal dump cycle runspercycle runspercycle 5 # the number of amdump runs in dumpcycle days (We only run weekdays.) tapecycle x tapes tapecycle 15 tapes # the number of tapes in rotation (Exactly three weeks/dumpcycles worth.) And don't forget: runtapes 1 # number of tapes to be used in a single run of amdump (We use one tape per night.) So we rotate runspercycle * runtapes = 5 * 1 = 5 tapes off-site once per dumpcycle = 1 week. As I said before, we store the most recent set off-site as they are deemed the most valuable, and we don't restore too often. This has the side-effect of leaving the next dumpcycle worth of tapes on-site, so if you forget to switch things out, you still have the correct next tapes. Cheers. ? Ciao, ...David -- // david lebel // // http://www.lebel.org/ http://www.nobiaze.com/ // // pgp: 3633 6999 D47E 73ED 099F 4341 08A4 8E48 EF56 61D1 // Darin Dugan System Administrator Iowa State University Extension [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.extension.iastate.edu
Re: offsite strategies
On Mon, Jan 06, 2003 at 01:29:09PM -0600, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Suggest that you consider setting up a dump-cycle of 1 week, with a tape > cycle of three weeks (5 tapes/15 tapes for weekdays only, 7/21 tapes for > seven days-per-week cycles). This will permit you to send out a complete > set of backup tapes once per week (for example, sending out the previous > weeks tapes on Monday) and getting back the set of tapes from two weeks > ago in exchange. You then start reusing the three week-old tapes for the > current week. You will need to have three sets of tapes, in case it takes > more than a day to exchange the tapes with your offsite repository. > > WeekIn-Use Off-SiteTo-Be-Reused > > 1 Set3 Set2Set1 > 2 Set1 Set3Set2 > 3 Set2 Set1Set3 > 4 Set3 Set2Set1 > > > Because of the one-week dumpcycle, you will always have a complete set of > dumps of each file system in the off-site tape set. It will grow > increasingly out-of-date during the week, but storing your local collection > of tapes in a fire-resistant vault should reduce your risks to an > acceptable level. > A slight variation of this is a 4th set. You may have a need to recover very recent files and a need to keep a set off site. By not rotating off-site until a set has aged a week, you can keep the most recent set in-house at the cost of a week's older set off-site. -- Jon H. LaBadie [EMAIL PROTECTED] JG Computing 4455 Province Line Road(609) 252-0159 Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)
Re: offsite strategies
>I'm just doing my home stuff here, but with a dumpcycle of 5 and a >tapecycle of 28, I could move a considerable percentage of my tapes >offsite, *if* I had an offsite. :) Offsite could be as simple as your office (if you have one away from home), your mom's house, a bank deposit box, etc. When I worked at a certain small software company, offsite storage was me bringing home the .5" reels and stacking them in my closet 8^)
Re: offsite strategies
Quoting Darin Dugan ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > Donald's suggestion is precisely what we're doing here. We choose to send > the most recent (runspercycle * runtapes) set offsite, as it is the most > valuable. Others may choose to send an older set offsite so as to be able > to restore accidental-deletions from the most recent set. Choose according > to your environment. What are your values for the following: dumpcycle runspercycle tapecycle x tapes ? Ciao, ...David -- // david lebel // // http://www.lebel.org/ http://www.nobiaze.com/ // // pgp: 3633 6999 D47E 73ED 099F 4341 08A4 8E48 EF56 61D1 //
Re: offsite strategies
On Monday 06 January 2003 13:18, David Lebel wrote: >Hi! > >I'm new to Amanda; I'm more used to "traditional" solutions like >Networker or NetBackup. That being said, the setup I'm currently >administrating has been put in place by my predecessor and I'm > wondering if people are using Amanda in an "offsite" strategy, > where there is one "cycle" of tapes offsite (usually a few weeks > old) and another cycle residing onsite (ie. the current ongoing > cycle). > >My point is that I would like to be able to store a full cycle > offsite in case of a disaster so I can full rebuild all my > machines without the worries of having only partials full > backups. > >Any hints? > >Ciao, > ..>David I think what the schedule would look like would have to be determined by the dumpcycle and tapecycle values in the amanda.conf. This wouldn't be too hard to setup if you make sure cron nag-mails you on the days the tapes are to be exchanged with the offsite tapes. We as humans too soon forget a weekly chore. :( I'm just doing my home stuff here, but with a dumpcycle of 5 and a tapecycle of 28, I could move a considerable percentage of my tapes offsite, *if* I had an offsite. :) If you have amanda setup for a dumpcycle of 1 week, and at least 21 tapes in the tapecycle, you could have the middle weeks worth offsite with only one trip per week to exchange them. Since cleanliness is next to godliness, some sort of a well sealed carrier would be in order since autos are notorious for collecting trash. Here its not a huge problem. I keep them in their plastic bookpack carriers when not in the drives magazine, stuck in an oak pidgeonhole box on the wall I made a year or so back. Oak theoreticly isn't the best as its fumes have been known to attack blued gun finishes, but I've had no such problems here with the tapes coatings. Your trivia fact for the day. I haven't even had to run a cleaning tape in several months, so I must be doing something right :) -- Cheers, Gene AMD K6-III@500mhz 320M Athlon1600XP@1400mhz 512M 99.21% setiathome rank, not too shabby for a WV hillbilly
RE: offsite strategies
Donald's suggestion is precisely what we're doing here. We choose to send the most recent (runspercycle * runtapes) set offsite, as it is the most valuable. Others may choose to send an older set offsite so as to be able to restore accidental-deletions from the most recent set. Choose according to your environment. Cheers. At 01:29 PM 1/6/2003, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Suggest that you consider setting up a dump-cycle of 1 week, with a tape cycle of three weeks (5 tapes/15 tapes for weekdays only, 7/21 tapes for seven days-per-week cycles). This will permit you to send out a complete set of backup tapes once per week (for example, sending out the previous weeks tapes on Monday) and getting back the set of tapes from two weeks ago in exchange. You then start reusing the three week-old tapes for the current week. You will need to have three sets of tapes, in case it takes more than a day to exchange the tapes with your offsite repository. WeekIn-Use Off-SiteTo-Be-Reused 1 Set3 Set2Set1 2 Set1 Set3Set2 3 Set2 Set1Set3 4 Set3 Set2Set1 Because of the one-week dumpcycle, you will always have a complete set of dumps of each file system in the off-site tape set. It will grow increasingly out-of-date during the week, but storing your local collection of tapes in a fire-resistant vault should reduce your risks to an acceptable level. As always, "Your mileage may vary..." Don Donald L. (Don) Ritchey Unix System and Network Administrator E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: David Lebel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 12:19 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: offsite strategies Hi! I'm new to Amanda; I'm more used to "traditional" solutions like Networker or NetBackup. That being said, the setup I'm currently administrating has been put in place by my predecessor and I'm wondering if people are using Amanda in an "offsite" strategy, where there is one "cycle" of tapes offsite (usually a few weeks old) and another cycle residing onsite (ie. the current ongoing cycle). My point is that I would like to be able to store a full cycle offsite in case of a disaster so I can full rebuild all my machines without the worries of having only partials full backups. Any hints? Ciao, ..>David -- // david lebel // // http://www.lebel.org/ http://www.nobiaze.com/ // // pgp: 3633 6999 D47E 73ED 099F 4341 08A4 8E48 EF56 61D1 // This e-mail and any of its attachments may contain Exelon Corporation proprietary information, which is privileged, confidential, or subject to copyright belonging to the Exelon Corporation family of Companies. This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying, or action taken in relation to the contents of and attachments to this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail and any printout. Thank You. Darin Dugan System Administrator Iowa State University Extension [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.extension.iastate.edu
Re: offsite strategies
You could just rotate your older tapes offsite, making sure that you keep at least a dumpcycle's worth of tapes offsite. If you want something easier to restore from, set up a separate config that does fulls on everything(don't forget 'record no' or you'll confuse your regular config), run it weekly (or however current you need), and take those tapes offsite after each run. If you have two tape drives and plenty of tapes you could use the RAIT drivers in the latest version and mirror your normal backup tapes as you write them (has anyone actually tried this?). Frank --On Monday, January 06, 2003 13:18:42 -0500 David Lebel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi! I'm new to Amanda; I'm more used to "traditional" solutions like Networker or NetBackup. That being said, the setup I'm currently administrating has been put in place by my predecessor and I'm wondering if people are using Amanda in an "offsite" strategy, where there is one "cycle" of tapes offsite (usually a few weeks old) and another cycle residing onsite (ie. the current ongoing cycle). My point is that I would like to be able to store a full cycle offsite in case of a disaster so I can full rebuild all my machines without the worries of having only partials full backups. Any hints? Ciao, ..>David -- // david lebel // // http://www.lebel.org/ http://www.nobiaze.com/ // // pgp: 3633 6999 D47E 73ED 099F 4341 08A4 8E48 EF56 61D1 // -- Frank Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems Administrator Voice: 512-374-4673 Hoover's Online Fax: 512-374-4501
Re: offsite strategies
Hi, On Jan 06, David Lebel wrote: | I'm new to Amanda; I'm more used to "traditional" solutions like | Networker or NetBackup. That being said, the setup I'm currently | administrating has been put in place by my predecessor and I'm wondering | if people are using Amanda in an "offsite" strategy, where there is one | "cycle" of tapes offsite (usually a few weeks old) and another cycle | residing onsite (ie. the current ongoing cycle). | | My point is that I would like to be able to store a full cycle offsite | in case of a disaster so I can full rebuild all my machines without the | worries of having only partials full backups. i think that the easiest way is to have two amanda configurations: * one regular configuration with N tapes residing onsite * one configuration for weekly/monthly/.. level 0 dumps for offsite There are different ways to get this to work nicely together, i think. My second configuration has "dumpcycle" and "runspercycle" set to 0, a high value for tapecycle, and runtapes > 1 Additionally, i set "record" to no so that the regular config still does level 0 dumps.
Re: offsite strategies
[CC'ed to amanda-users] On Mon, Jan 06, 2003 at 01:18:42PM -0500, David Lebel wrote: > My point is that I would like to be able to store a full cycle offsite > in case of a disaster That's a good thing. > so I can full rebuild all my machines without the > worries of having only partials full backups. Ummm, I don't understand this. But anyway, I've seen people do what I think you want in two ways: 1) Assuming tapecycle=N*dumpcycle, keep N-1 dumpcycles worth of tapes offsite at all times, rotating the oldest dumpcycle in and the freshest out at the end of each dumpcycle. This can work pretty well if your offsite storage is convenient, flexible and reliable. If you burn the site down, you lose whatever you've got in the "current" dumpcycle. 2) Run two amanda configs; one "normal" that you run daily, and another 'dumpcycle 0'/'strategy noinc'/'record no' full-only type config that you run once per some-period and immediately send off-site. If you burn the site down, you lose all your "normal" tapes, but have your latest full-only tape(s). -- Jay Lessert [EMAIL PROTECTED] Accelerant Networks Inc. (voice)1.503.439.3461 Beaverton OR, USA(fax)1.503.466.9472
Re: offsite strategies
We have 55 tapes in our rotation. We normally use 2-3 per day, and they rotate off site the day after they're used. Every morning 4-5 tapes come in the door to be over written. Amanda always makes sure there's at least one level 0 for each server in the current set, but we normally have two. So yes, it works well. Plan a rotation for yourself that makes sense, then stick to it religiously, including testing your restores. Is that what you're looking for? LP
RE: offsite strategies
Suggest that you consider setting up a dump-cycle of 1 week, with a tape cycle of three weeks (5 tapes/15 tapes for weekdays only, 7/21 tapes for seven days-per-week cycles). This will permit you to send out a complete set of backup tapes once per week (for example, sending out the previous weeks tapes on Monday) and getting back the set of tapes from two weeks ago in exchange. You then start reusing the three week-old tapes for the current week. You will need to have three sets of tapes, in case it takes more than a day to exchange the tapes with your offsite repository. WeekIn-Use Off-SiteTo-Be-Reused 1 Set3 Set2Set1 2 Set1 Set3Set2 3 Set2 Set1Set3 4 Set3 Set2Set1 Because of the one-week dumpcycle, you will always have a complete set of dumps of each file system in the off-site tape set. It will grow increasingly out-of-date during the week, but storing your local collection of tapes in a fire-resistant vault should reduce your risks to an acceptable level. As always, "Your mileage may vary..." Don Donald L. (Don) Ritchey Unix System and Network Administrator E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: David Lebel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 12:19 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: offsite strategies Hi! I'm new to Amanda; I'm more used to "traditional" solutions like Networker or NetBackup. That being said, the setup I'm currently administrating has been put in place by my predecessor and I'm wondering if people are using Amanda in an "offsite" strategy, where there is one "cycle" of tapes offsite (usually a few weeks old) and another cycle residing onsite (ie. the current ongoing cycle). My point is that I would like to be able to store a full cycle offsite in case of a disaster so I can full rebuild all my machines without the worries of having only partials full backups. Any hints? Ciao, ..>David -- // david lebel // // http://www.lebel.org/ http://www.nobiaze.com/ // // pgp: 3633 6999 D47E 73ED 099F 4341 08A4 8E48 EF56 61D1 // This e-mail and any of its attachments may contain Exelon Corporation proprietary information, which is privileged, confidential, or subject to copyright belonging to the Exelon Corporation family of Companies. This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying, or action taken in relation to the contents of and attachments to this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail and any printout. Thank You.
offsite strategies
Hi! I'm new to Amanda; I'm more used to "traditional" solutions like Networker or NetBackup. That being said, the setup I'm currently administrating has been put in place by my predecessor and I'm wondering if people are using Amanda in an "offsite" strategy, where there is one "cycle" of tapes offsite (usually a few weeks old) and another cycle residing onsite (ie. the current ongoing cycle). My point is that I would like to be able to store a full cycle offsite in case of a disaster so I can full rebuild all my machines without the worries of having only partials full backups. Any hints? Ciao, ..>David -- // david lebel // // http://www.lebel.org/ http://www.nobiaze.com/ // // pgp: 3633 6999 D47E 73ED 099F 4341 08A4 8E48 EF56 61D1 //
