RE: Save while active?

["Bale, Dan" <DBale@xxxxxxxx>]

For a rant, that was rather articulate!  ;-)

How do PTFs play into this?  It's been a long while since I've been
responsible for any save / restore issues, but I seem to remember that
applying PTFs meant that we had to do another SAVSYS & SAVLIB *IBM to keep
the recovery tapes current.  Any thoughts on that?

- Dan Bale

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Earl [SMTP:johnearl@400security.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 3:40 PM
> To:   MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject:      Re: Save while active?
> 
> Eric,
> 
> Eric Kempter wrote:
> > 
> > They're not when you consider a complete backup solution which would
> include your SAVSYS, etc..
> 
> You touched one one of my pet peeves, so don't take this
> personally, but look out.....    :^)
> 
> <rant>
> I've known many an operations manager who feel compelled to get a
> "complete" save on a daily or even a weekly basis.  For them a
> "complete" save included a SAVSYS, SAVLIB *NONSYS, SAVDLO and SAV
> (well actually, they often forget the SAV).  The problem that I
> have with this is that a SAVSYS and a SAVLIB *NONSYS require a
> dedicated system.  For many shops this means turning off access
> for _many_ hours.  IMHO, this is unconscionable, and completely
> unnnecessary!  
> 
> To start with, a SAVSYS saves the operating system.  How often do
> you need to do that?  Does your operating system change daily,
> weekly, or even monthly?  I submit that the answer for most shops
> is no.  If that is the case in your shop, you could do two
> SAVSYS's after each OS/400 (or major cum package) upgrade, keep
> one on site and one offsite and be done with it.
> 
> That leaves the SAVLIB *NONSYS.  The differences between a SAVLIB
> *NONSYS and a SAVLIB *ALLUSR are that *NONSYS backs up IBM
> Licensed Program Product Libraries, and *NONSYS requires a
> dedicated system.  If you were to do two SAVLIB *IBM at the same
> time that you did your two SAVSYS's (and store them with the
> SAVSYS's), you would eliminate the need for the SAVLIB *NONSYS
> because, again, how often do the IBM LPP's change on your system?
> 
> Everything else that you want to backup is now available to Save
> While Active.  And even if you don't do a Save While Active,
> eliminating a daily or weekly SAVSYS and SAVLIB *NONSYS will
> permit you to do a rolling application by application backup
> without taking your system down to a restricted state. As more and
> more shops move to 24x7 (which is a basic definition of an
> internet app, no?), eliminating the backup window becomes more and
> more important.
> 
> If you were to eliminate the SAVSYS and the SAVLIB *IBM from the
> regular backup schedule (because you have already saved them
> separately), your back up plan might then look something like
> this:
> 
> SAVSECDTA (used to be done for you by the SAVSYS)
> SAVCFG (used to be done for you by the SAVSYS)
> SAVLIB *ALLUSR (Get all non IBM libraries)
> SAVCHGOBJ (optional... as part of a daily backup)
> SAVDLO (if you are still using DLO's and still care)
> SAV (IFS and non QSYS.LIB file systems)
> 
> None of these commands requires a restricted state, and the
> SAVLIB, SAVOBJ, SAVCHGOBJ, and SAV commands all support the Save
> While Active.
> 
> The point of this rant is that a "complete" backup is often times
> done to the detriment of regular business functions.  If the
> system is "down' on a regular basis backing up stuff that will
> ultimately not be usefull in a restore, we're hurting business
> operations for no good reason.
> 
> After you have pieced a couple of systems back together from
> backup tapes you get a better idea of the true value of backups
> (that's why I always like at least two tape copies :).  My
> experience has taught me that a  weekly SAVSYS and SAVLIB *IBM is
> oftern overkill.
> 
> </rant>
> 
> jte
> 
> --
> John Earl                               johnearl@400security.com
> The PowerTech Group                     206-575-0711
> PowerLock Network Security              www.400security.com
> --
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