RE: Network backups -- MIDRANGE-L

Glenn

that is already part of the equation...

I am dealing with a client that has a large physical site; they are running a number of machines and will be mirroring two of them "backwards and forwards" i.e. each production machine will hold a copy of the other machines production data replicated by a HA tool.

The client wants one of the machines only if possible to be used as the machine that has tapes changed, as the other machine is located in a remote part of the site. Thus one machine will backup the local replicated copy of the remote machine to a local tape drive, and also backup the remote replicated copy of its own data back across the wire onto a local tape drive.

At this stage we are investigating whether it is feasible to do what they want to do, as they come from a unix background and like the idea of rmt tar across systems; this could be a show stopper for the AS/400s as it is something the client feels the AS/400's should be able to do.

BRMS has been touted as a possible solution, but the more likely solution in my view is TSM... (I can't say I want to go there - I hope it has improved immensely since last time). I can't find where BRMS actually performs a backup across the network although I keep hearing people tell me it has a "network feature"; my reading of the books (and I HAVE actually read them and set up BRMS a couple times in the past) is that the network feature allows for a number of machines to use a central policy and tape management database rather than save to another tape across the wire. If you want that I believe you set up BRMS as a TSM client and save to a TSM server.

I can't say this is what I would do (or even what I recommended) but before I go back to the client for more discussions I want to go armed with more information and understanding of what the implications are of what they are asking. Hence my question.

I'm trying to keep an open mind on this one as the client is a unix bigot in an AS/400 shop; we have replaced one AS/400 already (probably a reasonable call) and are now in the process of upgrading some other AS/400s. We do need to establish that the AS/400's can "do the simple things that the unix boxes can do" and this is one of them :)

Hope this sheds more light on what we are doing.

Life is interesting when customers are involved ! :)

Regards
Evan Harris

Evan, Why not use one of the High Availability products like Data Mirror i Cluster to create a DR 400 sight on the other end of the Network and get more value out of what you are doing?

        Glenn
Glenn Ericson

OS Solutions International
NYC Phone (718)898-9805  Fax 718 446 1150
http://www.os-solutions.com
mailto:gericson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----

From: Evan Harris [mailto:spanner@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 3:04 AM
To: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Network backups

Hi all

I have been asked about doing backups over a network connection from an
AS/400 to another machine; can be an AS/400, but we also have a pSeries
running TSM on the network as another option. The AS/400's will be running
V5R2. Bandwidth should not be a problem as we are talking fibre and gigabit
ethernet (or so I'm told).

I keep hearing that BRMS can do this, but can never locate anything that
tells me how; all I can find indicates that BRMS network feature allows
machines in a BRMS network to share policies, tape pools and the like. I
figure that BRMS involvement in this scenario is most likely as a client to
a TSM server.

Any and all opinions welcomed plus any experiences and advice :)

Regards
Evan Harris