how would a person back up Integrity systems?

[Steve Post]

Let's say I have two rx computers.   They are both hooked to a common, big fibre emc array.   I have about 500 gigs of data.   How do I back it up? 

I know WHY I back it up.   1.  disaster recovery.  2. restore a file that was deleted 9 months earlier.  

Now I can see some type of disk cloning or mirror imaging would help take care of reason number 1.  But what about number 2? 

Assuming I have no tape drive I would use ignite net recovery setup on both servers correct?  But if both get toasted at the same time, I really couldn't restore an ignite image that is pulled over the network from a dead computer.

How do people back up and restore their computers?

[Dennis Handly · Accepted solution]

>But what about number 2?

If these are user files, this is done by a tool other than Ignite.  You could back up to disk.

See this board:

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Virtual-Tape-Solutions/bd-p/itrc-616

>I would use ignite net recovery setup on both servers correct?

For system files, yes.

>But if both get toasted at the same time, I really couldn't restore an ignite image that is pulled over the network from a dead computer.

The files are not really on a computer, they are on a disk array.  If you can import this disk array onto a new computer, you can recover from there.  You should make sure you practice this.

[Steve Post]

Hmmm.... Virtual Tape Solutions is a nice fancy term that means have a bunch of virtual tapes on a disk array?  The "tapes" are imaginary?  The space is on the tape is the disk.  When I would back up a text file to a "tape", it would really go to a spot on a disk?

That makes sense.  Over the lifecycle of backing up stuff for a computer system.... I would have used so many tapes.  I would reuse most of them.   If the same space of the tape is on a big old disk?  I can see where the tapes are no longer needed.   And if this array is duplicated to another site?  I can see where this virtual tape thingy would be safer and faster.  I would not be calling up a tape to put into a slot.  We would already have the "tape".

And this would be a good reason why when I ask about tape drives I haven't really gotten too much for answers. 

Thanks.

[Dennis Handly]

> Virtual Tape Solutions is a nice fancy term that means have a bunch of virtual tapes on a disk array?  The "tapes" are imaginary?  The space is on the tape is the disk.  When I would back up a text file to a "tape", it would really go to a spot on a disk?

Yes.  Unless you also have D2D, deduplicate, where it detects you already backed it up.

>And if this array is duplicated to another site?  I can see where this virtual tape thingy would be safer and faster.  I would not be calling up a tape to put into a slot.  We would already have the "tape".

Right.  Though there should be options to actually write tapes.

>And this would be a good reason why when I ask about tape drives I haven't really gotten too much for answers.

You may be in the wrong board or it is a slow day.