l.s Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Hello, I have a litte trouble realicing the following concept: I need to run a full (recycling) backup to different tapes every day. Important would be, that it would not matter what tape (from a defined set of tapes if needed) is inserted, it should just be cleared and filled with a full backup from a defined source. At the moment I don't see how this can be realiced in Retrospect? Some words to the background: I realiced over the time that most of my customers are not relyably swaping in and out tapes - even when they they claim they will do it. So as consequence, I need to setup a fool proof concept. The only I can think of is either making them invest into a tape library (unlikely to happen in most cases) or make the tape switching as easy as possible. Before anyone worries. In most cases the tape would be only second line in the backup process with a nas array beeing the first one. Regards, Lars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l.s Posted October 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 No one has a idea how to implement this simplest of all backup aproaches? :confused2: Regards, Lars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted October 10, 2008 Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 Can't be done. Retrospect takes care to ensure that your backup sets are protected, and that a wrongly-inserted tape doesn't get overwritten by accident. You will have to first erase the tape in Retrospect so that the program knows that tape is available for re-use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l.s Posted October 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 (edited) Thanks for the answere. Should the first concern of a backup software not be that backups are actually recorded before it starts protecting the recordings? :rollie: Seriously I would need some solution for this. As currently the handling is totally unbearable (as there is to much room for human failtures) for several of my customers who happen to have a Retrospect licence but no autoloader. Considering the pricetags of an autoloader or an alternative backup software, I bet I know how they will choose. Which is quite a pitty as I can't say that I'm unhappy with the pricetag nor the featureset of the software. But as far as I can tell it totally lacks a fool proof runmode, where the customer has no interaction with the backup what so ever, but checking the confirmation/error emails and switching tapes. Regards, Lars Edited October 21, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 But as far as I can tell it totally lacks a fool proof runmode, where the customer has no interaction with the backup what so ever, but checking the confirmation/error emails and switching tapes. What you want requires an autoloader. We have been using Retrospect for years with exactly the fool proof runmode you want using our autoloader. Autoloaders aren't that expensive. For example, see: VXA-2 drive with 10-slot autoloader and tape barcode reader Perhaps your customers' data isn't worth $800 (USD) for a drive with autoloader. In that case, it's probably not worth backing up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l.s Posted October 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Autoloaders aren't that expensive. For example, see:VXA-2 drive with 10-slot autoloader and tape barcode reader Perhaps your customers' data isn't worth $800 (USD) for a drive with autoloader. In that case, it's probably not worth backing up. It is not my decision how much worth data are for a customer. I have to work with what is there and can make recomendations at best. In teh end the customer want it up and running. In regards if the pricetag. Well, a VXA-3 changer would cost around double the amount. Also not ever one uses DAT/AIT/VXA where the changers are comparetivly cheep, but might have allready invested in LTO or DLT Drives and Tapes. Which would rise the price tag even more. And in the end we are talking only about a software option. There is no technical reason to self restritc the software preventing it to overwrite tapes. But instead to leave the way of usage to the one setting up the software it seems to try forcing a certain routine on the user. Depending on the circumstances this can be a possible cause for failures or frustration. So at least in my opinion it should be optional and every one would be happy. Regards, Lars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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