I'm using ADSM V1 server in an OS/2 environment to backup about 70 OS/2
Lotus Notes servers. Most of these Notes servers are running the ADSM V2
client.
We are interested in using the Notes Backup Agent to back up these Notes
servers and have seen the "Using ADSM to Back Up Lotus Notes" redbook.
But, I have a few questions that I hope that some combination of IBM and
other users of this product may be able to answer.
First, is there a separate charge for the Notes Backup Agent? If so, how
much? Is there a specific IBM product or feature number for this product?
Second, what versions of Notes does the Backup Agent support? We are
currently running Notes Server Version 3.3 but are planning to migrate to
Version 4.5. Are there implications to us for this upgrade or any other
future upgrade, to your knowledge? Or, are the APIs Notes release
independent?
We've seen the Redbook recommendation regarding the combined use of the
standard ADSM Backup Client and the Backup Agent (to do full and
incremental backups, respectively) and while that makes sense, we have some
concerns that some of you might have already handled.
Our first concern is the number of database entries. We've noticed that
some of our ADSM servers have higher database utilization than other
servers even they both back up about the same amount of data. That server
with the higher database utilization tends to perform more poorly than the
other servers. I've also seen comments on the forum about problems with
larger databases. We think this Notes backup strategy could cause a
significant growth in ADSM database utilization. Is this true? With
upcoming Notes Servers capable of supporting thousands of Notes databases,
we're concerned we might have to dedicate an Adstar server for every
several Notes servers.
Next, how are other customers handling the deletion of old documents, those
documents that are theoretically obsolete beause of the availability of a
more recent full backup? Since it appears there is no synchronization
between the standard client and the Notes agent, it appears that older
document versions might be retained long after a superceding full backup is
taken. This would essentially be wasted space in the database and in the
storage pools. Are you somehow able to delete those old document
versions? Or, are you allowing those old documents to continue to exist?
I'd appreciate any feedback you can provide on these topics as well as any
other experiences you might have regarding the Notes Agent.
Thanks,
Dennis Schaffer
Mutual of Omaha
|
