> n Tue, Feb 25, 2003 at 03:31:09PM -0600, McKown, John wrote: > > I'm in the same situation, but I can answer some questions. > > > > 1) You cannot backup a LINUX disk to tape from outside of the LINUX system, > > if the disk (filesystem) is mounted in WRITE mode. This would result in a > > "fuzzy" backup since LINUX does not immediately write all disk updates to > > the filesystem. The backup would likely be no good. > > "No good" is a bit harsh. > > Files that are open at the time the backup is made may be corrupted. > The disk will look like it would if you yanked the plug on a running > system. This means that an fsck will certainly be required. It means > you *may* lose data. It means you really shouldn't rely on this as your > DR strategy. However, it's lots better than nothing.
Yeah. The files you are most likely to want are those most likely damaged. You can't even be sure that all those closed are okay as there could be unwritten data belonging to them still in cache. > > There are products which do a nice job of file-level backup of Linux/390 > systems. Most of the commercial ones require a z/OS server, alas. > However, Amanda doesn't, although L/390 tape support is pretty > rudimentary. If it runs on the guest you are mostly okay, but remember that backups of open files (particularly databases) are likely to be no good. In many cases the risk is worth taking - the fact a Word document is half written might be no worse than if you'd taken the backup just before the user prepared to write it. You need to understand what you're backing up and to allow for special cases, such as your database that's always open. > > Adam > -- Cheers John Summerfield Microsoft's most solid OS: http://www.geocities.com/rcwoolley/ Note: mail delivered to me is deemed to be intended for me, for my disposition. ============================== If you don't like being told you're wrong, be right!
