Discussion on:

Is the database tape backup dead?

Please share your backup strategy with the group so we can determine what the best practices are.

We currently backup files to external drive from which we burn weekly and monthly copies onto DVDs which we store in a different office. When we consolidate to our new office my plan is to backup to a backup file server and then from there store copies online at Elephantdrive. No current plans for tape at all. I welcome comments on this as it is still in planning stages.

you did not include "Both"

EDIT - Thank you for modifying the question to include both!!

To the person below:

Discussion - Post 3 of 5
And, your answers are?
Or, is it that you just like being a smart-ass?
Posted: 10/19/2007 @ 08:30 AM (PDT) (edited 10/19/2007 @ 08:31 AM (PDT))

deepsand 11
Job Role: IT Consultant
Location: Null, Pennsylvania
Member since: 09/18/2000

MY RESPONSE: My point was VALID - note how the question was CHANGED as a result!!!!!!

There is still a need to get the data off-site. If your Audit Committee says that an alternate data center is too close or disqualified for any reason to be considered off-site, then a removable media of some kind is required. Often times the qualification is that the data must leave the companies environment so that one copy of the data is not easily accessible protecting it from a disgruntled employee.

Tape, even behind the primary disk backup, is going to win for a while.

Both & NAS is my answer - as voted!

For me, tape has always been an expensive, short-lived unreliable medium that has always been two-steps behind my storage needs. All but the most saavy clients have resented the expense and labor involved in keeping a meaningful tape regiment going.

Today, backup to me usually means frequent transfers to other servers, regular comprehensive backups to removable media that is kept well off-site and daily transfers on-line.

The tape drive is good to keep around if you need to retrive some files from 1986. I use DVD's, a network storage system and a fire proof external hard drive. The DVD's get stored off site.

How many DVDs and what capacity do you use? I can't see replacing each of my 200 gig LTO tapes with a stack of 40 DVDs.

they are some magic Doovads the size of a round trampoline. It takes two of them to load the HUGE writer and transportation is comical. Who knows.

DVDs are not a reasonable alternative in my view either. The numbers get silly quickly. That's why I am planning on online storage. It gives me automatic geographical separation and their own backup of my data is also geographically separate plus multiple copies on that end as well. I still keep local backups on the backup server and the original data is on RAID 5. There are DVDs in the mix but only for bare metal restores where I need to get my base system running from scratch and then reload the data from either the backup server, or from online service. It makes sense to me, but I am always open to suggestions.

What does the blue flag stand for or mean?

Just curious.

Thanks
Alan

And don't recognize the South Carolina flag?

The sabal palmetto is the state tree. During the American Revolution, a fort was constructed of palmettos in defense against a British bombardment. The tree trunks proved so spongy, the cannonballs bounced off instead of shattering the wood. The crescent moon in the corner is the same as the uniform device worn by those defenders.

...shortly after it took more than a dozen to back up a system.

Without giving a dissertation on the merits of tape, the poll here being taken shows that less than 25% are not using tape.

Tape is not dead, or even close to it but it not the first
choice in every environment. For a small one office shop
of 7 users and no full time IT, Use a DVD or a set of
portable drives or flash drives if you want or just put a
DAT drive in the server with one-button IDR and have an
assigned tape changer. Have the logs sent to the
consultant. Larger shops, the industry has migrated to a
D2D2T system in many areas as NAS or SAN gives faster
windows for both backup and restore but then there is the
offsite issue. DVDs are more fragile than tape when
exposed to lots of moving, and at 4.7 GB they are useless
if you have a good amount of data. LTO 3 at 400/800 GB
per tape provides huge capacity, portability, and cost
effectivness. Yes the drive is expensive but depending on
compresion ratio that is .15 - .075 per GB. LTO 4 at
800/1.6 TB per tape is about the same. With real world
jobs running at 500 MB/min that is not too bad.

Bottom line is how much data the center has and what will
allow onsite, offsite, and even possibly 3rd party disaster
recovery storage.

Online storage is great in some situations but are you
going to take that 3 LTO3 tape backup and try to transfer
it online? I doubt it but again it is like so many things in
our business. It is grey, not black & white. Tape?
Sometimes.

Factors such as its size, its frequency of creation and/or modification and/or access, its sensitivity, the retention requirements, both practical & legal, all must be considered before determining the best media & recording methodology to be used.

I check my local computer shops the last time I lost the drive in the NAS box; no one has tape drives or tapes for retail to the home user market in my area.