At 07:53 AM 12/13/2004, Gerhard Rentschler wrote:

Hello,
what is the best way to backup large Unix filesystems (5 TB or more) on a
Fastt storage system to TSM? Normal incremental backup would take too long,
especially with a large number of small files. Modern storage systems have
built in features like flash copy. How can this be used for TSM backup (and
not to forget: Restore)?
Best regards
Gerhard

Gerhard,

We are trying to solve a similar problem.  I have asked a similar question
on the list recently.  I can think of a couple of options:

1. Create a flash using either FAStT FlashCopy capability, or via AIX
JFS2's ability to create copy (I have no experience doing this).  Backup
this flash copy using an image backup.  Do this periodically (e.g., daily
if you can, or less often).
2. Run normal file-level incremental backups in parallel to image backups.

TO restore, you can restore the image (either TSM's restore image, or use
the Flash copy), then apply file-level incrementals to bring it current.

I think this will provide you with relatively fast full filesystem restore,
and also allow you to restore individual files.  Downside is that you need
extra capacity to store both image backups and file-level backups.

After attempting to restore a multi-million file filesystem using
file-level backups, we have been looking for faster restore mechanisms, as
you are.

Let me know what you find - As we go further with this, I'll let you know.

..Paul