Off-site backup storage Was: Managing PTF's...Strategy?

Alan,

>>>Regarding tape management, it is not generally so much more risky
>>>taking the tapes home (depending on where you live I suppose) than
>>>the potential disaster of have them and your AS/400 burn up, drown,
>>>or get stolen from work at the same time by leaving them there.  

I would like to toss my $.02 in here.  I am against having an employee
taking tapes home for the above scenario.  I once had a process where I
took tapes home.  Since I came in at 7am and left at 4pm the tapes were
still on site when a fire occured in the building at lunch time.  I was in a
different portion of the building and could not get to the tapes.  My
breathing restarted when I was told the fire did not affect the computer
room, but hey-you never know...   I now have a service show up at 7am
every weekday to pickup my tapes and take them away.

>>>Yes, a tape service could be an ideal solution, but I would be
>>>extremely interested in what they do with them!  

They typically store tapes in a climate controlled vault.  If considering a
tape archival vendor, make sure you take a tour of one of the facilities.  If
you see boxes, tapes, etc. just sitting on ordinary shelving, stay away. 
All magnetic media should be seperately stored in limited access vault.

PREACHING(*OFF)

HTH,
John

John W. Cirocco
Manager, Data Center Operations
Computer Task Group, Inc.
700 Delaware Ave.
Buffalo, NY  14209
Phone (716) 888-3566
Pager 1-800-283-2255 Pin 12029
John.Cirocco@ctg.com
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