Thanks to Tom Webster and Arun Sanghvi for the replies.
My original question....
>> We have an Alpha2000 server running DU3.2c with Pathworks
>>v5.0g. We are currently investigating ways of storing old files ( > 1 year)
onto
>>some sort of tape archival system, that can be retrieved automatically when
>>needed.
>> We've had a look at the Polycenter HSM system, but have heard (is this
>>right?) that at present the archival system for DU must be optical platters,
>>which is not suitable for a database of our size.
>> Does anyone know of any other alternatives??!!
Reply from Tom Webster:
Yes this is right. The current Polycenter HSM product only works with
optical disks as the secondary storage media (tape is only used as a
migration point from the optical drives and can't be used directly).
There is a rumor that the current HSM product is nearing end-of-life and
may be replaced with another product that can support tape directly.
In the meantime, I'd urge you to look at the Archiver drop-in for NSR
(esp if you are already using NSR for backups). It may well be able to
get you over the hump until DEC comes up with something better. It
requires that the users request the block of files be archived and
un-archived as an explicit action, but for a lot of uses that is close
enough.
If you can't wait for DEC, I think the only other vendor I am aware
that is producing an HSM product for DU is Cheyenne. Make sure you
ask if you need to use their backup product (to prevent it from
triggering a mass de-migration of files when the backups hit file stubs),
or if NSR and/or the normal UNIX tools (tar, vdump, dump, cpio, etc)
can be used.
---------------------------
Arun Sanghvi (sanghvi_at_proto.wilm.ge.com) expressed his disappointment with the
HSM product... " we are using HSM and are not very happy with it. Let me know
what you find out."
---------------------------
I checked the internet web pages for cheyenne (http//:www.cheyenne.com)
and Networker Save and Restore product
(
http://www.sresearch.com/search/113002.htm)
The information concentrated only on the optical platter system of HSM. It looks
like we'll have to wait for DEC to come up with something.
David Shaw
System Administrator
United Energy
bcn_at_ue.com.au
Received on Thu Aug 29 1996 - 08:07:19 NZST