DB Copy Question

[deejay33]

Hello All,

We are currently backing up our Groupwise 6.5.7 (running on Netware 6.5) to tape which is hung off or our files server (also NW 6.5). We are using the TSAFS with the GW switch to do it. It is running fine but we are planning to purchase a new file server and upgrade NOS to OES2. We will also be switching the backup software. Our consultant is recommending switching to using dbcopy and then backing up the copy to tape.

It will of course have to be done prior to the backup which I do at night. I see many people just doing the backup during the day because the copy is not being accessed, but in my case, I backup all of the servers to one LTO4 tape at night and would like to keep it that way. So there is a timing issue to work out which is fine but I don't want to find out too late that dbcopy takes so long, the backup starts late and is running into the day and affecting server and network performance.

So my basic round about question is, does anyone know how long a dbcopy would take on a 58GB PO? Once the initial copy finishes, could I just do incremental from that point forward? I would test but have no server with room to back it up to until I get the new file server in and setup.

Thanks for your help,
Daniel

 

[marvhuffaker]

I don't like DBCOPY because it is very inefficient and takes a long time to go through your system, even just to copy new data. It still has to look at each file/folder and determine whether to copy it or not. Since most files are very small, this whole process is very time consuming and takes a long time to process. It will most likely take several hours, but you'll have to try it a few times and guage it and make a decision from there.

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
A Novell Platinum Partner

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[deejay33]

What do you recommend doing as an alternative to dbcopy? Using the TSAFS or another product?

Daniel

 

[marvhuffaker]

The problem is there isn't really any other good tool. You just need to figure out how long it takes on a daily basis and schedule around that.

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
A Novell Platinum Partner

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[terry712]

i am curious why your guy is recommending dbcopy. personally i've never liked it but hey ..

 

[deejay33]

He likes it for a couple of reasons.

1. Using DBCopy to create a second copy of the PO and Domain gives you a "Restore Point" for GW. That way users can access yesterdays mailbox from their client if they accidentally deleted something.

In my opinion though, that restore point would be very limited backup because it will only be as of the day before. Anything older and I am going to tape anyway.

2. It gives you a disaster recovery option if things were to go horribly wrong in the PO. It would be a simple change in GW's configuration to be back online with yesterdays PO.

Those two reasons are enough for him to justify the backup space used by dbcopy. Now a day's disk space is really cheap. My PO is only about 55GB at this point so the $ for an additional 55GB is very small.

In our case, we are going to stay with the TSA while we have GW on Netware and then when we upgrade to GW7 on Linux we will then make the change.

Daniel

 

[terry712]

ok fair enough. he has clearly thought it out

i prefer that the backup is restored to the recovery area as that test's my backup as well - as you say though you have the tape and you have the day's before - if you have the time and disk space then multiple caution steps are better than fly by the seat

seems resonable enough

 

[thule]

Your initial run of DBCopy will take a long time (49 gig took 12+ hours), each incremental will only take about two hours to run. The biggest problem is your "backup" will grow in size as deleted messages are not purged using DBCopy (or at least I have not found a way). The nice thing is it can be scripted as a cron job and you are not obligated to put it in the todo list.

 

[brichr]

49gig = 12 hours, that cannot be correct. I have two PO's one is 500gig and the other is 400gig. It take 8 hours to back up the 400 gig po and about 11 hours for the 500 gig po.

I have netware servers with isci volumes being used as the target dbcopy volumes.