RE: backups on AS/400; part2

[Jim Damato <jdamato@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As a seasoned AS/400 bigot who has recently been asked to manage Unix
systems I find myself on the fence on these issues.  It drives me crazy that
every time we change a drive in our HP tape library my Unix Administrator
has to drop everything and reconfigure the backups.  The layered software
for configuring backups requires that we do it at the correct moment in time
-- it's not even possible to rewrite the backup in anticipation of changes.
And don't even talk to me about degree of training necessary to set up a
good Oracle backup.

On the other hand it's starting to surprise me how much we expect OS/400 to
do for us.  GO SAVE option 21 is just a CL program.  AS/400 documentation
provides a nice poster explaining the different levels of backups, and the
SAV* commands allow you to design backups from a conceptual (or object
based) point of view rather than chasing down disks, volumes, and
directories.  I don't think you have to be a certified AS/400 Sys Admin to
design an effective backup.  My relatively untrained AS/400-VMS Admin came
up with a good CL to save data libraries, including SAVACT in pretty short
order.

Maybe I'm biased because I've always worked in very large shops.  I don't
think it's unreasonable to expect customers to live within the constraints
of the canned options or write their own customizations.  The menu options
on the AS/400 evolved from next to nothing over the past decade or so.  I
always looked at them as "serving suggestions".


Or maybe I'm just cranky because it's been a long week.

James Damato
Manager - Technical Administration
Dollar General Corporation
<mailto:jdamato@dollargeneral.com>


-----Original Message-----
From: D.BALE@handleman.com [mailto:D.BALE@handleman.com]
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 12:13 PM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re: backups on AS/400; part2


Al, maybe you've been around the block way too many times to count on this
issue, but what's your take on the fact that a SAVE 21 type of save, one
requiring a dedicated system with all subsystems ended, must be run
interactively from the system console?  I find it ridiculous that, after all
these years, IBM still has not given us a solution to this gaping hole.  Do
others feel that way?  Most shops I know of can only do a dedicated system
backup (which, IMHO, is the only sane way to do a backup; your comments on
SWA
considered) off hours in the middle of the night, and the only way I've been
able to figure out how to accomplish this is to sign on to the console prior
to leaving for the day and start the backup application that waits until
late
at night to start the ENDSBS *ALL and run the backup.  Most AS/400 shops
aren't big enough to be able to justify the expense of a night operator.
The
so-called way to secure this is to lock the console using the key on the
display.  It would seem to be a no-brainer (well, consider who's talking
here,
o.k.?) to allow a batch job to run from the controlling subsystem in a
restricted state.  But what do I know?

I have taken a renewed interest in this pet peeve of mine, considering my
new
responsibilities.

- Dan
Dan Bale says "BAN DALE!"
IT - AS/400
Handleman Company
248-362-4400  Ext. 4952
D.Bale@Handleman.com
  Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
  (Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)
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