On Apr 28, 2008, at 2:42 PM, Zoltan Forray/AC/VCU wrote:

So, how does BU handle this?  Do you backup individual machines or
only
servers?

I do TSM, which is used for the backup of server systems, plus
related archive and HSM services.  Another group manages NetBackup
services for backups of various academic departmental systems and
workstations, but not personal office computers.  They recommend
segregating volatile and static data into separate file systems, and
avoiding the backup of data which is either cross-mounted or
otherwise redundantly represented on multiple systems.  And, as
always, exclude the backup of irrelevant (e.g., browser cache) data.
and infrequently go to back up file systems which see little change.

The big drawback in the wide deployment of commercial backup products
is the cost of licensing per client.  There is a lot of incentive to
utilize file servers, where storage integrity is more assured and
professional level management (including backups) is provided.  Our
mail services (including folders storage) are centralized for that
reason.

   Richard Sims