We initially implemented ADSM w/DRM employing the incremental ideology.
However, the cost of having a full duplicate set of tapes offsite for data
that is retained forever (in some cases) has become a strain on the storage
media budget.  The powers that be have requested (actually, it was a bit
stronger than a request) that I change our backup plan so that only the most
recent "full" backups are backed up to copy pool tapes and sent offsite for
DR.  We plan to continue our regular incremental backups for normal
recovery, with the existing retention parameters, so the "full" backups will
only be retained for 14 days.

I know that I have seen others interested in alternatives to the complete
duplication of the incremental storage pool for offsite DR planning.  I have
considered two plans of attack.  One is to activate a different policy set
prior to running full backups (the backup window could get to be a problem
here), and the other would be to employ archive functions (difficult to use
on all platforms).  Could I please get some suggestions from this group on
implementation of a new plan?  Any suggestions/experiences would be
appreciated.


BACKGROUND INFO

We currently run ADSM on a 3466 (AIX), and use it to backup SUN, UNIX, and
NT servers.  We also have connect agents that backup SQL Server databases,
Exchange databases, and SQL Backtrack for Oracle databases.  We currently
have 5 policy domains, 1 for collocation, 1 for Exchange databases, 1 for
SQL Server, 1 for non-collocation, and 1 for Exchange servers.  We currently
have archives that run on a monthly basis on select NT servers that are
retained for one year.

Debbie Weeks
University of South Florida
Information Technologies/Technical Support
*********
*Debbie AT admin.usf DOT edu
*(813) 974-6926   *  S/C 574-6926
Fax(813) 974-3054