>> On Wed, 4 Apr 2007 10:28:25 -0500, Bill Kelly <KELLYWH AT AUBURN DOT EDU>
>> said:
> We have a bunch of people who don't like/don't want to run scheduled
> backups (don't ask me...we're a university), and who just do
> occasional backups of C: drives and such via the GUI. These
> people's filespaces *always* show null backup_start and backup_end
> dates. Richard, I suspect this is what's happening occasionally at
> your site.
> These null date fields are a real pain for me; there's no good way
> to determine whether such filespaces have been 'abandoned' (e.g.,
> old PC goes away, new PC comes in and filespace name changes) or
> not.
Amen! preach it, brother.
At UF we have the same situation. (I try not to think of it as a
"problem", it's just a style of work. Which seems nuts. To me. )
My response to this has been two-fold: customized tolerances for
backup ages, and daily reporting.
1) I have a big XML config file, which includes on the server level,
stuff like: [ massively excerpted ]
<reporting>
<default reportTo="open-systems-l AT lists.ufl DOT edu"/>
<domain name="flr" reportTo="yadda AT yadda DOT org"/>
<node name="jerryw1" reportTo="foo AT bar DOT baz"/>
</reporting
<backupAges>
<default tolerance="1"/>
<node name="libsrvr" tolerance="7"/>
<node name="old-wallaby.nerdc.ufl.edu" tolerance="12800"/>
<node name="nslabun1.nslabs.ufl.edu" tolerance="30000"/>
<filespace name="major.cns.ufl.edu:/boot" tolerance="30"/>
</backupAges>
This permits me to establish tolerances on a granularity as tight as
per-filespace. Things that haven't had a normal incremental complete
in that amount of time are deemed "Exceptions".
Then,
2) I can send complaints about e.g. libsrvr to the admin of its'
(node, domain, whatever). That way -they- see the complaint, and I
don't have to. Though, being neurotic, I often skim my cc of
everyone else's complaint mail.
I find that this makes keeping up with it -their- problem, and the
daily mail simplifies eventual unhappy conversations about stuff not
being there when they reach for it.
- Allen S. Rout
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