>> On Wed, 4 Apr 2007 10:28:25 -0500, Bill Kelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
> We have a bunch of people who don't like/don't want to run scheduled > backups (don't ask me...we're a university), and who just do > occasional backups of C: drives and such via the GUI. These > people's filespaces *always* show null backup_start and backup_end > dates. Richard, I suspect this is what's happening occasionally at > your site. > These null date fields are a real pain for me; there's no good way > to determine whether such filespaces have been 'abandoned' (e.g., > old PC goes away, new PC comes in and filespace name changes) or > not. Amen! preach it, brother. At UF we have the same situation. (I try not to think of it as a "problem", it's just a style of work. Which seems nuts. To me. ) My response to this has been two-fold: customized tolerances for backup ages, and daily reporting. 1) I have a big XML config file, which includes on the server level, stuff like: [ massively excerpted ] <reporting> <default reportTo="[EMAIL PROTECTED]"/> <domain name="flr" reportTo="[EMAIL PROTECTED]"/> <node name="jerryw1" reportTo="[EMAIL PROTECTED]"/> </reporting <backupAges> <default tolerance="1"/> <node name="libsrvr" tolerance="7"/> <node name="old-wallaby.nerdc.ufl.edu" tolerance="12800"/> <node name="nslabun1.nslabs.ufl.edu" tolerance="30000"/> <filespace name="major.cns.ufl.edu:/boot" tolerance="30"/> </backupAges> This permits me to establish tolerances on a granularity as tight as per-filespace. Things that haven't had a normal incremental complete in that amount of time are deemed "Exceptions". Then, 2) I can send complaints about e.g. libsrvr to the admin of its' (node, domain, whatever). That way -they- see the complaint, and I don't have to. Though, being neurotic, I often skim my cc of everyone else's complaint mail. I find that this makes keeping up with it -their- problem, and the daily mail simplifies eventual unhappy conversations about stuff not being there when they reach for it. - Allen S. Rout
