Re: Backup planning experience

Alex,

You have asked many of the correct questions. What needs to be backed up? How long if any amount of time is the database allowable to be unavailable? Specifically, what is the backup window? How much money is available for a backup solution? How big will the initial database be deployed as and what is the projected growth in the next few years? Is disaster recovery considered here? These questions, (as well as several others I am sure), will need to be asked and answered in the planning phase. Answers to these questions will determine what the backup solution should be both hardware and software. A single unit tape drive and some homegrown scripts is OK if you have a small database of minor importance and a tape person who wants to replace tapes each night, but larger databases call for autoloaders and tape libraries with the automated backup software. These solutions allow you to sleep and minimal instructions to the site to allow successful and dependable backups. If there is need and tolerance, a nightly cold backup allows many people to sleep. Absent the allowance for such down time, incrementals during the week and a weekly cold may be the answer. In the event of nearly no allowable downtime, a hot backup solution may need to be investigated. In cases where lots of data needs to be backed-up in a short time frame, a faster tape solution or backups of an offline mirror may be needed. These are only some of the considerations.

Good luck,

Miki Sarkozi Received on Wed Feb 21 2001 - 03:01:31 CST