Unix Backup Solutions
Date of last revision: 2/11/1998
We have two systems available for backing up Unix workstations:
- We can set up your system so that we can access your disks from one of our servers and dump the entire contents of your system to tape. This system should work with any Unix workstation. The disadvantage of this system is that we can only make complete system backups, which generally take several hours to complete. Because of this, we cannot offer these backups more frequently than once a week. These backups cannot be automated so we must run them during the day, which can decrease your system performance.
- Our preferred backup method is with Omniback II software from Hewlett-Packard which offers incremental backups. Omniback II backups are run by an automated system beginning at 8:00 PM each night. Unfortunately, Omniback II is not supported on all systems. It should work on HP workstations running HP/UX 9.0 or later and Sun workstations running Solaris. It works on some, but not all, Silicon Graphics workstations and Sun workstations running SunOS.
Unless otherwise stated, the rest of the information in this document assumes Omniback II backups.
Requirements
- The Omniback II software requires a few megabytes of disk space (the exact amount differs between machine types, but it isn't much space). If we cannot find enough disk space on your system, you will have to go with the non-Omniback II backup method.
- The workstation to be backed up should be up and running most of the time. We can work around an occasional down machine, but if a machine is frequently unavailable during its scheduled backup time it can cause problems with our scheduling and may cause the machine to get backed up less often than it should be. Daily incremental backups will not be made up unless several days are missed.
Scheduling
Our Omniback II backups run on a four-week cycle. This allows us to conveniently schedule backups to run daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or approximately monthly. We can also build custom schedules within the limits of our four-week cycle.
Backups are started at 8:00 PM each night, and run through the early morning hours. We attempt to minimize the number of systems being backed up each day so that backups will finish before systems start seeing use in the morning.
Click here to view the current schedule
Sign Up
Click here to sign up to have your Unix workstation backed up.
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