<snip>

> There are almost always exploits.  Don't forget to check for 
> variations of .. such as %2e%2e.

Good call. (this is the reason I submitted the idea to a public forum :)

>    If you are looking for the ability for users to be able to 
> self-restore, consider a snapshot filesystem for their home 
> directories (either one done in hardware (e.g. Network 
> Appliance filers), built into the OS (like Solaris' fssnap 
> utility) or homegrown (using various free scripts based on 
> rsync, etc.). Any of those would give users the ability to 
> instantly restore old files, although possibly not being able 
> to go as far back in time as your tapes.

Problem with that is that we have the tape system, but not the drive
space... Could be peculiar to us, could be common experience elsewhere
as well... Not sure.

>    One other problem you will quickly run up against is 
> contention for the tape drive. Since a restore can take quite 
> awhile, depending on the speed of your tape and how many 
> tapes are involved in the restore, the odds are good that the 
> users will step on each other and/or your amchecks and 
> amdumps, and if you don't have a library you will be very 
> busy shuffling tapes. There are also optimization issues if, 
> for example, two people need files restored from yesterday.  
> If you were doing it manually you could restore both at the 
> same time, but if it were user driven the tape(s) would need 
> to be read twice.

Very true. I think I'll jump this hurdle if and when i get to it :)

rr

-- 
Richard Russell
Yellow Goanna P/L
m: +61 412 827 805
e: richard AT yellowgoanna DOT com
w: http://www.yellowgoanna.com