Backup Specifiction

[SimonJL]

Hi,

I am trying to put together a backup specification to go out to tendor and I'm getting no where fast. Has anyone ever done this and do they have any advise or a template that they have work from?

I am currently backing up Unix, Novell, NT, Win2K env. to a StoreageTek 9710 using DLT7000's and Sun's Soltices Backup (Legato Networker). Total number of servers 50.

Any advise would be most welcome.

regards

Simon

 

[gwichman]

What do you mean by a backup specification? I'm not familiar with that terminology.

 

[SimonJL]

I am looking to put a new corporate backup solution in and I would like to give any supplier a detailed list of my requirements. I suppose I meant a tender specification.

 

[gwichman]

Ah.. I don't have a template but really you just need to layout your requirements on paper. The focus for someone who hasn't done it before tends to be on backup requirements and expected backup timeframes because thats what you deal with day to day more often. But really the focus of your document should really be more on restore times and requirements. In the event of a server requiring a complete restore, what are your expectations? What if the whole farm bites it or a large chunk? Often it's more difficult to restore a server if the hardware is different vs if the hardware is the same. What are your requirements in terms of disaster recovery including offsite storage? You should detail expected timeframes of everything. Do users need access to backups and restores or will everything go through one of the administrators?

Think big picture.. think timelines and expectations. Consider backing up and restore servers (OS) as well as applications (DB's and other). Consider any archiving that might need to be done. Retention expectations of all data. Growth expectations in the amount of data that will need backing up (adding new servers and when? How fast as the data been growing in the past on the present servers? etc). Tons to think about and sort out.

 

[SimonJL]

Many thanks gwichman.