> From: MICHAEL C. MILLER <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 7. april 1997 15.09
>
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I am in the process of evaluating and recommending a backup solution for
> our 3000.  I already have my own opinions, but I would like to see what
> your experiences have been with each product as well as their pros and
> cons.   You can email me directly with any information you have.  Thanks
in
> advance for your help!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



We've used Orbit's 'Backup/Plus' product for several years and have had
generally good experience with the product, and more than excellent
service from their technical support team.  Two downsides to the
product, IMHO, that I'll relate to you:

(1) the store directory is written to the last tape of the store set,
and if that's the only copy you have, your backup is irrecoverable
should that tape be somehow overwritten.  That's happened to us once,
and we were unable to recover any data from an 80+ tape backup.  We've
changed our backup procedures to write two copies of the directory to
the final tape, plus we write a copy to a protected file group on disk.
 These files are also PRIVileged, so they're not easy to just casually
purge.  You may also specify a separate tape for the directory, which
we used to do until we moved to DLT media.

(2) we have difficulty restoring large volumes of data from tape (we
have had this problem with all media formats, too), and we may have to
try a few times to get all files restored.  This usually occurs when
restoring most or all of our system (e.g., for a disaster recovery
test) - 90-160 Gb - and the offending files are almost always large
Image datasets.  The software attempts to verify that all data blocks
restored properly and purges any files for which this verification
fails.  This is not reported to the restore listing but to the $STDLIST
(and to the system console), so you must potentially look in two places
to verify that any restore succeeds if you're not monitoring the
console.

One particularly good feature of this software is its statistical
reporting - i.e., statistics for each tape, plus an overall summary of
the entire backup's performance, are reported.  This has been
invaluable to me for capacity planning.

Good luck!

Lee Gunter     [log in to unmask]
HMO Oregon

My opinions are my own and not those of my employer.