RE: "Go Save" backup question -- MIDRANGE-L

Rick,

Here are the save commands executed by Option 21:

SAVSYS
SAVLIB LIB(*NONSYS)
SAVDLO DLO(*ALL) FLR(*ANY)
SAV DEV('/QSYS.LIB/media-device-name.DEVD') +
   OBJ(('/*') ('/QSYS.LIB' *OMIT) +
   ('/QDLS' *OMIT))1 UPDHST(*YES)

Here's Option 42:

SAVLIB LIB(*ALLUSR)

My first reaction to your strategy is that you may have some *nonsys
stuff in either the DLO or the non-QSYS portions of the IFS.  If this is
the case, you should look closely at what you do; you may not be saving
some fairly dynamic user objects.

For disaster recovery purposes you should have (at a minimum) a savsys
tape which coincides with the application of cumulative PTF's.  This
will include your security information, user profiles, and configuration
objects.

Perhaps the most pertinent question for someone in your position to ask
is "Do you have the opportunity to perform an option 21 save on a
regular and automated basis?"  If you need to maintain close to 24x7
availability, then a dedicated save becomes something to be negotiated
with the user community.  If you have an automated tape library (or if
your system will fit on one tape) and if you have the ability to
dedicate your system for the duration of an option 21 save, then do it.
You can use some programming to schedule the execution and you'll sleep
better knowing that you have everything on one backup.

Here are some questions that might be helpful in designing a backup
strategy:

If you were to come into work tomorrow and find the system dark and your
storage trashed, do you have a plan for what you will do after your
Customer Engineer repairs the system?  Do you know where the tapes are
and the proper sequence to load them to bring your entire system back as
it was before the most recent backup?

Can you backup your entire system without manual changing of tapes?

Can you take the entire system down periodically for a long save?

Do your users use file systems other than QSYS?

What is your reasoning for wanting to keep system stuff segregated from
application-related data?

You would not necessarily do a complete backup every night, or even
weekly.  Some of the functions performed by the SAVSYS portion of the
option 21 save can be done using the SAVSECDTA (Save Security Data) and
SAVCFG (Save Configuration) commands without dedicating the system.
These could be incorporated into your nightly saves.

Regards,
Andy Nolen-Parkhouse




> On Behalf Of Rick Rayburn
> Subject: "Go Save" backup question
>
>
> Currently, we are using option 42 from the "Go Save" menu to complete
our
> *nonsys* backup requirements.
>
> What should we use to backup our "system" data...user profiles, object
> authorities, device configurations, qsys...etc.
> I've heard option #21 backs "the world up", but we would rather have
the
> system stuff segregated on a separate tape from the application -
related
> data.
>
> Thanks for your time and help.
>
> Rick Rayburn