Forcing good backup procedures

[Jay Ts]

In article <1694 at chinacat.Unicom.COM>, chip at chinacat.Unicom.COM (Chip Rosenthal) writes:
> In article <867 at zeusa.UUCP> hendrik at zeusa.UUCP (Hendrik Vermooten) writes:
> >A customer of mine has about 20 XENIX sites, with *low* level operators.
> >Making backups is a problem [...] What I'm looking for is some
> >program/script/anything that will check if the correctly labled tape [...]
> 
> You've got a bigger problem than getting backups made - you need to fix
> an attitude problem.  I would recommend a letter to the manager of the
> facility.  I do not suggest that this letter beat them up over bad
> practices, but rather suggest a positive course of action and clearly
> explain the benefits to be obtained.

I usually use the reverse approach with my clients:  tell them in no uncertain
terms what it costs to NOT have backups *when* (not "if") the disk crashes.

I tell them if they don't protect their data, it's only a matter of time
until they lose it.  I'm consulting in central Florida, where high-energy
lightning strikes are as common as small businesses running UNIX/Xenix
without UPS's, surge protectors or even one good tape backup.  The first thing
I usually tell a new client is to correct these same deficiencies.  If they
don't wise up, I simply stop working for them, and let nature take its course.

Somehow, they have to learn.  I want to help them, but I'm not going to put
myself in legal jeopardy by being "the last consultant to touch the machine
before we lost everything".  I figure if they don't care enough to take care
of, and protect, their equipment and data, they are not good to do business
with.

> This is on a SCO
> XENIX system, which has multiscreen capability (i.e. the equivalent 12
> tty's on the console).  She didn't know about that.  Just this week, they
> ran out of disk space because nobody watches the df's.

I've heard from SCO-related sources that Xenix is not guaranteed to run
reliably (i.e., not lose files) when the disk is more than 85% full...
 
> The price they've paid this last month on unnecessary equipment and lost
> productivity would more than pay for two people to attend a XENIX training
> class.

Or RTFM...

> I strongly advise you to address the attitude problem.  A tape labelling
> program would indeed be a handy tool, but that's going after the symptoms.

I agree, but must add that a really good piece of software, and a FAST
tape backup system make a LOT of difference.  A lot of the reason why
backups are not made is due to the inconvenient nature of performing them.

I've had good luck by writing simple shell script backup systems, customized
for each site and manager's likings, and installing it in their login menus.

In my experience for Xenix and UNIX/386, the DC600 tape drives are much
faster than the QIC drives, and this is a very important factor.

> Unless you fix the real problem, clients like this can become lots of
> headache and little reward.
> -- 
> Chip Rosenthal  <chip at chinacat.Unicom.COM>

Well said.

				Jay Ts
				Metran Technology
				Tampa FL
				uunet!pdn!tscs!metran!jay