Hello and sorry for my late reply.

Steven Pemberton wrote:
>
> Have you considered saving the DB backup to a local file 
> device class, then 
> later simply copy the DB backup file to Oz?
> 
> You could also compress the DB backup file before sending it 
> around the world.

Indeed, I thought along those lines. I'd prefer a simple
solution (i. e. TSM backup directly to the server in .au)
but I will use the method which proves to be the most
reliable one. I'll have a few months time to do some tests
while the second site will be assembled in Germany for
test setups. 

> If you're feeling brave, you might also consider using 
> "rsync" to send only the binary differential compared
> to yesterday's DB backup. 

I fear our client expects certainty, not bravery ;)

> Also, Full (weekly) + Incremental (daily) DB backups may be a 
> good idea due to your bandwidth constraints.

Right now I favour "logfile shipping"; it turned out I'll
have another MS SQL server down under. To me it seems best
to have a second instance on the server duplicate the productive
server in Germany and do only local backups. This looks like
the best solution wrt high availability as well.  

I'll report back with my experiences in late summer.


Thanks to everyone who replied and to all of you for
participating at this list. Your experience and advice
was always a good guide for me.

Happy new year!

Thomas