I've got customers doing a few trans-atlantic backups.
TCP/IP is a pretty forgiving protocol; there really isn't much difference in
the issues doing a backup across 7K compared to 1K.  It's all about the
amount of data and the size of the pipe.

I assume they already have I/P connectivity to you at some level; find out
what kind of link they have - T1, T3, something better?  Figure out how much
bandwidth that gives you, compared to how much you need to back up per day
(and who else needs the bandwidth and when).

Use everything you can to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted; make
agressive use of excludes, turn on client compression, use subfile backup if
it's feasible on your client.

And figure out what you are going to do in case of a system failure.  If the
total client is many GB, how long will it take you to restore the whole
thing? Frequently on a WAN, incremental backups are practical, but full
restores aren't - a good strategy is to keep a spare server in your data
center; in case you need a full system rebuild, do it locally and then Fedex
the box to where it needs to go -- it will get there faster!


On 3/18/08, Zoltan Forray/AC/VCU <zforray AT vcu DOT edu> wrote:
>
> We at VCU (Richmond, VA) have a "campus" at Doha, Qatar  (approximate
> distance is 7K miles.
>
> We are discussing the viability/possibility of having TSM clients in Qatar
> backing up to our TSM servers, here in Richmond!
>
> Is this possible?  Feasible?
>
> What are the implication of such a long distance backup?
>
> Anybody else doing this kinda thing?
>
> I gather we would probably need to do things like encryption (who knows
> how many countries/routers the link would go through) as well as CRC
> checking!
>
> I also question the legality/licensing/export issue?
>
> Thoughts?  Ideas?  Suggestions?  War-Stories?
>