Hi Thomas

I have read somewhere about a US Air Force unit that  has a stack of
brand-new old machines, with brand new installation media and complete
instructions on how to set them up all shrink wrapped and ready for the
call to restore something old, which someone set up when they realized
the implications of constant technology change.

Other than going to that extreme, perhaps you could take the lawyer's
point of view, although that is  unpalatable to me and probably will be
to you too.  Look closely at the legislation,  with legal help and
determine whether the requirement is only to keep, or to restore.  If it
is only to keep, then do only that, and make the restore someone else's
problem.   By the time that needs to happen there may be a PA-RISC
emulator running somewhere that  can  do the job on then-current hardware.

As I say unpalatable, but then so are all the alternatives.

Regards

Steve

Steven Harris
TSM Admin.


Thomas Denier wrote:

I have a strange data retention question somewhat related to TSM.

We have an Oracle application running under HP-UX and using TSM
for Databases (or whatever the API-based add on is called this
week) to provide backup coverage. Over its history the application
has migrated from PA-RISC systems to Itanium systems. The
application is now subject to regulatory requirements not
considered in the original design. The currently favored approach
to cobbling up a solution for the requirements involves retaining
the TSM API backups for up to 25 years. Recent tests seem to
indicate that an Oracle backup from a PA-RISC system cannot be
successfully restored to an Itanium system. The restore process
reports successful completion, but the Oracle software will not
open the restored database. This raises the possibility that we
will be asked to keep a PA-RISC system on hand for the next 25
years.

I gather from what I have read about computer component service
life that a system kept in active service for 25 years would need
at least one set of replacement power supplies, several sets of
replacement internal disks, and an appalling number of service
calls to replace logic circuitry. Would a PA-RISC system last 25
years if it were kept powered down and stored in a controlled
climate for most of that time?
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