We traditionally have off the week between Christmas and New Year's (an
academic tradition, apparently), but that doesn't prevent us from
running backups and making sure out data is secure. I've been here for
the past 8 Christmas seasons, and haven't gotten a full vacation yet.
I don't want to come off too smug, or arrogant, but have they really
thought this through?? Is your data not considered critical?? I just
can't believe that somebody would say don't worry about not performing
backups in this day and age. I see that you have concerns, as you
should.
In our case, we just take turns working from home. The vast majority of
time, it's not a big deal, but there are times when a tape might get
stuck, or something needs to get rebooted. We just chalk it up to
being part of the job. We don't get comp time, but then I've found in
most academic environments, most people aren't watching what time you
clock in anyway.
Best of luck to you - I don't envy your position. Personally, I find a
way to make sure backups are done - EVERY NIGHT. One thing that Katrina
taught us, was that you want to always have the most recent backup. And
while it isn't Hurricane season, there's always the chance of fire,
snow, rain, whatever kind of disaster you can think of, right around the
corner.
Happy Holidays!
David M. Browning Jr.
LSUHSC Enterprise Network Operations/Help Desk
-----Original Message-----
From: EMC NetWorker discussion [mailto:NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU] On
Behalf Of Stan Horwitz
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:28 AM
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] Holiday Shutdown?
On Dec 12, 2006, at 5:45 AM, Nancy Magers wrote:
> Hi Networker Listserv,
>
> My datacenter is requesting that we stop backups over the holiday
> break to
> facilitate minimal staffing. They don't want to have to be
> responsible
> for checking logs, making sure there are tapes available and
> logging calls
> on priority backup incidents. Has anyone ever had this sort of
> request
> before?
>
> I obviously have many concerns with this request and I'm interested in
> hearing feedback from the list on this.
This depends on each site's situation. For the first time in about
six years ago, we here at Temple University will have the week off
between Christmas and New Years as a holiday bonus and most of the
University will shut down.
I am the one who checks the logs and does everything else concerning
my data center's backups. I plan to continue doing backups as normal
during the holiday break even though we will run unattended. My
employer has invested a huge amount of money to do lights out
backups, so this really isn't an issue here. I do not handle our
mainframe backups and the contractor who does will be on site doing
that and shipping off tapes for off-site storage as normal over the
holiday, but most University employees including me will be home that
week. If I did have to go in to send tapes off site, I would simply
arrange comp time, which is what our campus policy and our hospital's
employees are doing.
Checking backup logs can wait. If a backup breaks, fixing it will
wait, which is more than what would happen if no backups at all where
done. Making sure tapes are available during the holiday period is
not an issue for my site because our backups are done to two large
tape libraries. Last week, I made sure that we have enough writable
tapes in both tape libraries to take me into at least the middle of
next month after I return from vacation. If I have time, I will open
up my NetWorker console remotely to see how things are going, but
unless there is a major problem, I will not take any action involving
our backups until January 3rd when I return to work. The same will
happen when I am away on vacation the following week. I live only
about 20 minutes from my office, so if I do have to pop in for
something unexpected, such as remove a stuck tape, its not a big deal.
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