Backup Policy Standards

[halomerchant]

I work for an insurance company and we still have multiple Novell 4.11 file servers we are in the process of migrating to active directory. As it stands most of the servers have 500GB+ in files stored on the server. Has anyone been in a formal team in creating a backup policy stating how long inactive files can be stored on the network? We're trying to develop some sort of archiving way of removing old files off the servers and storing in a DVD type library so the data is available however is not taking up the real estate on the server. Can anyone help with this? I'm looking for general backup policy umbrella type information or documents that can keep my department free of responsibility and yet provide recoverability if needed.

Thanks.

 

[Mag0007]

Usually its organized like this (respectivly)

Policy Domain
Active Policy sets
Management Class

Where you actually set the way your data is backuped is, Policy domain + Active policy sets. You associate your server/node with the management class.

is this what you are looking for?

 

[Yrrk]

It sounds like you're not asking a TSM question but rather a generic backup policy question on what kind of retention policies one might follow in practice given file server data.

I think you have a few options to consider..

1. Implement HSM (near line storage). This will leave behind stub files for all files on your file servers. It has very flexible configurable capabilities but essentially it would allow you to move files to less expensive storage like tape for files that aren't accessed as often. The file still appears to be on the server and if accessed, is automatically retrieved by the HSM solution and restored to the server. The user/application just experiences a delay.. Where it stores those files is up to you since TSM is hierarchical in nature and thus could then be disk, tape, optical, worm tape, whatever. I can't recall if HSM will also delete files from the file server given certain prerequisites and the desire to do so.

2. Archive - you could periodically take an archive of the server(s) and store that in any storage pool of your choosing which could again be any kind of media. Archive retention settings are seperate from regular daily backup retention settings. e.g. you may decide you want all data, or even certain types of data (.docs or whatever) archived for 7 years. No problem.. run an archive once a month or however often and archive it under the appropriate arhival retention setting.

3. Backups - TSM has very powerful retention settings that can pretty much accomplish any need you can think of at any level of granularity (by path, file type, etc). Since you can also have TSM automatically run a scipt or command at the beginnign and end of any backup job, you could have a post-backup script that deletes any data of a certain age knowing the TSM server has backed it up.

But as to your original question, I can't sit here and advise you on what your SLA's should be as far as retention goes on your file servers. That depends on your company's requirements and requirements vary from company to company.

 

[halomerchant]

Yrrk,
Thats actually what I was looking for and as far as retention policies from company to company, I think backup is a different animal from retention. I just want to get an "IDEA" of what best practices are for data archival, how long and if files are not accessed or touched for x amount of time to relieve file servers. I think the best method for archival would be tape or a dvd solution in which I could provide a department with a piece of media in hand as well as a duplicate sent offsite. I don't really know how to approach this matter but am looking for ideas that could help develop a backup policy that would be strict for users to maintain there files on a regular basis. I would like to free up resources for longevity.