I did say this was a "crazy project".

I don't have a lot of details.

We certainly wouldn't backup lab computers, which use DeepFreeze to
refresh/reclone.

This would be for all of the faculy/staff as well as individual student /
dorm machines, so I guess the answer to your question would be, YES, they
are unique.

Not sure if we would be doing the OS.  At a minimum, the "My Documents"
stuff. Probably only keep 1 or 2 copies on a short leash (30-days?)

Probably couldn't backup everything, every day. Heck, we can't backup our
Notes/Domino servers every day......not enough time/bandwidth/LZ!

SLA?   Whats that???? ;----)))))

So, how does BU handle this?  Do you backup individual machines or only
servers?  Can I have a copy of your SLA?



Richard Sims <rbs AT BU DOT EDU>
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04/28/2008 02:21 PM
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Re: [ADSM-L] TSM server scaling/sizing for lots (>20000) nodes






My first thought would be: How much unique data is there?  This is to
say, if the PC disk was lost, would most of it actually be rebuilt
from a central reinstall image of some kind, rather than representing
unique data?  If so, a lot of stuff could be excluded as unnecessary.

I would then look into whether all these PCs actually store generated
data, as opposed to having all data worth having actually residing on
central file servers, where a single point of backup/restore would
prevail.

If all these PCs are unique and individually storing data, a better
approach to PC implementation needs to be looked at, as backup/
restore, network loading, and the overhead of fielding possibly
thousands of phone calls could be untenable...  As in, who the heck
came up with such a rag-tag deployment, anyway?

This is all going to make for an "interesting" service agreement...
one which will have to say that unless some kind of real-time backup
is put into place, data will inevitably be subject to
unrecoverability due to standard backup intervals.  Assure that those
served aren't expecting miracles, to avoid political calamities.

   Richard Sims