Tom,

Sounds like a story most of us are familiar with - "increase data
protection, but do it for free".

Based on your limitations, I can only think of a couple of options, none
of them quick/easy/simple/free:

1. Go ahead and use your LTO-2 tapes to make 2nd stgpool backups at the
end of the day and send the tape offsite.  You will need more tapes, be
wasting a lot of space on each tape, and reclamation will have to be
considered, but this is the most straight-forward method.

2. Invest in a small library using lower capacity tapes just for these
backups.  Send them offsite daily and don't reclaim at all, just wait
for them to roll off.

3. Use some type of data reduction tool to get the moved data size small
enough to work over a T1 pipe - check out vendors such as Data Domain,
Avamar, etc.  Some of these will work with TSM, others would not.

Good luck!
Steve Schaub
Systems Engineer, WNI
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
423-752-6574 (desk)
423-785-7347 (cell)


-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of
Kauffman, Tom
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 10:29 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Running tapes off-site multiple times in a day?

No backups, just Oracle redo logs -- but I can generate 20 GB of redo in
the prime shift window on a good day. We currently run the redo logs to
TSM every 15 minutes; two copies, to two separate storage pools, backed
up to two separate backup copypools. We have sites doing production and
shipment updates to SAP 24 X 7, with invoices being generated and faxed
multiple times per day. This is the activity we really don't want to
loose.

I have a dedicated p5-550 TSM server, all disk is ESS raid-5, and my
tape is LTO-2 in a fiber-attached 3584.

The 'safe' building is our hangar at the local airport -- 13 miles away
direct line. We've looked at the various fiber extenders, iSCSI, and all
the other options -- and can't make a business case for the cost. The
best option we've come up with was an Intel-based system, running linux,
with a local raid array and DAT tape -- but the monthly charge for the
circuit was a project killer.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of
Richard Sims
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 10:11 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: Running tapes off-site multiple times in a day?

On Jan 5, 2006, at 9:54 AM, Kauffman, Tom wrote:

> Our management wants to reduce the possible data loss in the event of 
> a disaster by taking copies off-site both in the early morning and 
> again at the end of first shift. ...

Tom - That implies that they are thinking of running backups and then
       Backup Stgpool during prime shift - something which isn't usually
done due to impact on production.  Not knowing all the factors, I might
think of using mirroring (perhaps even through FC to a disk array in a
"safe" building) for failure protection during the day, and stick with
conventional overnight backups for corruption, DR, and auditing reasons.

I'd encourage them to step back and look at the big picture, in
conjunction with prevailing technology opportunities.

   Richard Sims
Please see the following link for the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee E-mail
disclaimer:  http://www.bcbst.com/email_disclaimer.shtm