Although this does cover you in case of a disk failure, it doesn't save you in case if a bigger disaster where you loose the both servers. And therefore only doing this is not a good idea. At least run the db backup to tape on the days you send your other tapes offsite and send those backups with it. (or in the quest of saving money, stop sending tapes offsite)
regards
Otto Schakenbos System Administrator
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Roger Deschner wrote:
The procedure for doing this is documented in the Tivoli manuals. The answer is: run two copies of TSM server, and have them back up their databases to each other. It would be better if they ran on separate machines at least 10 miles (16km) apart, but they can run on the same machine, as long as either one can run without the other being up.
Each backs up its database to the other as a FILE device type, which the backup-receiving system then handles as ordinary Archives and migrates and tracks through its storage pools and database in the usual TSM way. The backup-sending system is an ordinary archive client of the backup-receiving server. (And then they take turns and switch roles.) As many are written to a tape as will fit, and you use the usual TSM policy settings to determine how long they are kept, when tapes are reclaimed, and so on. You can even establish a copy storage pool for offsite copies of your DB backups - just like for any other client data.
You design such a system to minimize the risk that you could possibly lose both databases, by having the two databases as far separated on different drives, controllers, etc. as your configuration will allow, even if you cannot separate them by physical distance.
This type configuration is described in the Tivoli Administrators Guide.
Do a test! Turn off one of your two servers and see how hard it is to restore the database from the remaining working one. If you know you can restore either database under such a configuration, then your resume need not be updated.
(IDEA: Wouldn't TDP for TSM Databases be nice?)
OTOH, my systems seem to always have a database that is about 1/2 the size of whatever tape technology I'm using at that time, so half-full DB backup tapes versus the default 50% reclamation threshold becomes a wash, and disaster recovery scenarious are simpler writing the DB backups directly to tape. Buy more tapes; sleep better at night.
Roger Deschner University of Illinois at Chicago [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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