[OpenAFS] will OpenAFS serve my needs?

[Christopher D. Clausen]

F. Even <openafslists@elitists.org> wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 4:15 PM, Christopher D. Clausen
> <cclausen@acm.org> wrote:
>>  Some sites actually still use a TSM client for native AFS backups.
>>  The older TSM 5.1r17 or 5.1r18 client still supports AFS "buta"
>>  file level backups.  Although you have to run the TSM backups from
>>  an AIX client machine.
>
> That shouldn't be an issue.  As of right now all the servers in the
> environment are AIX which are clients to AIX TSM servers.  But
> yes...some method of reliable and replicatable backup is necessary.
> Business continuity/disaster recovery needs to be a consideration
> also.

You might want to read this thread:
http://www.openafs.org/pipermail/openafs-info/2005-September/019570.html


Some sites are using AFS backup volumes (BK) for the case when a user 
deletes a file.  These volumes are a Copy-on-Write snapshot of a volume 
at a certain point in time (usually run at night.)  End-users can 
directly access backup volumes and can generally copy the files out 
themselves to restore accidentally deleted files.  There is only one 
backup replica per volume though.

There are other methods of doing DR / BC instead of restoring from 
backups.  There are ways to create volume replicas or copies and simply 
point clients at a different server if something catches on fire and 
burns to the ground.

In backup industry jargon, what are your Recovery Time Objective (RTO) 
and Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_Point_Objective
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_Time_Objective

Of course, a more traditional backup method for restoring files that are 
no longer in the backup volume are probably wise.

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