[rescue] backups?

[vraptor at employees.org]

On Tue, 6 Aug 2002, Dave McGuire wrote:

>On August 6, Linc Fessenden wrote:
>> > > Home LAN.  Linux, HP/UX 10.20, NetBSD, SCO OSRV, Solaris soon.
>> > > DDS2 tape drive hanging off a Sparcstation.
>> > > should I use cpio, dump, or tar?
>> >
>> >   I suggest dump.  I like it...it's easy to use, has good incremental
>> > support, and can keep tape drives nice & busy.
>>
>> Gotta use those tape drives for something right?
>
>  Yes...but what I meant was that it keeps them streaming.  Many tape
>drives exhibit big delays when the data flow stalls and they have to
>stop & start up again.

Not keeping the datastream maxxed out to DLT's or LTO's or AIT's
is the biggest contributor to tape and head wear (tape ends up going
back and forth, ad naseum over the head).  One of the big focusses
in my Veritas class was maximizing throughput to the tape drive(s).
The major advantage to having a net-attached tape device--no host bus
getting in the way--except that you might have to build a second
backups-only network should you saturate your primary net and kill
other required traffic. :-)

=Nadine=