Re: Backing Up 100 Terabytes of Data

[Christopher Jones <Christopher.Jones () UFV CA>]

I agree.  No solution will or should be "cheap."  Maybe the first thing that should be determined is just how much is 
that 100TB and 30 years of data worth?  How many man years of research does it represent?  What is the value of that 
data in dollars?  Viewed from that perspective, if the data is worth anything at all, it is probably worth spending the 
likely significant amount of money necessary to properly back it up and protect it.  That being said, my recommendation 
would be to start looking at solutions from Data Domain.
 
Christopher Jones
IT Security Administrator
University of the Fraser Valley
Abbotsford, British Columbia

> > > "F.M. Taylor" <fmtaylor () PURDUE EDU> 06/29/2009 11:33 AM >>>
Ok, you want to do it on the cheap, speed is not really an issue, neither is 
the media type as long as you don't have to resurrect some old dead tech to 
recover it. 

For software I suggest that you use AMANDA.  It is free, requires very little 
configuration, will use native tools on the OS to dump the data, and can 
backup to any media of your choosing.

Granted, anything except tape or disk would require massive amounts of media 
(like 26000 DVDs), but its a choice.  First choice would be LTO4 tapes at 
about 30-40 each for 100 of them ($3000), second choice would be disk at 
about 100-150 each for 100 of them ($10000), or if you really have money to 
burn and want to punish some grad students, DVDs for $1 each ($26000), I 
figure it would take about a year to back it all up to DVD's if you ran 2 
shifts a day every day on a single DVD burner.

Bottom line is no matter how you do it, its not going to be free.


On Monday 29 June 2009, Sarazen, Daniel formed electrons in this pattern:
> Thanks Joel,
>
> This is the exact scenario. 30 Years of research, stored on multiple
> servers/desktops.
>
> Most of the data can be backed up once and stored (not including
> updating the storage media as technology evolves), with more frequent
> back-ups for the new, accumulating data.
>
> My REAL problem? The researchers don't want to pay a lot for back-up
> systems and storing. They want every dollar possible devoted to
> developing new data, so I'm trying to find the most cost effective
> solution.
>
> And yes, the backups would be solely for DR purposes.
>
> Thanks,
>
> PLEASE NOTE: Effective June 17 my office phone number has changed to
> 774-455-7558. My fax number is now 774-455-7550
>
> :: Daniel Sarazen, Senior Information Technology Auditor
> :: University Internal Audit
> :: University of Massachusetts President's Office
> :: 774-455-7558
> :: 781-724-3377 Cell
> :: 774-455-7550 Fax
> :: Dsarazen () umassp edu 
>
> University of Massachusetts : 333 South St. : Suite 450 : Shrewsbury, MA
> 01545 : www.massachusetts.edu 
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv
> [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Joel Rosenblatt
> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 8:52 AM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU 
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Backing Up 100 Terabytes of Data
>
> Hi,
>
> You did not say anything about the nature of the data.  Many researchers
> have large amounts of data that is relatively static - they collect it
> over time and
> the older data never changes - they just keep on adding data to the end
> of the collection.
>
> If that is the case, then backup speed is not all that important - you
> will need to do one massive backup at first, and then small incremental
> backups of the
> additional or changing data from then on.
>
> The assumption in this case is that the backup is purely for DR and not
> for online access.
>
> Another thing to look at is the type of data - many times, the data is
> sparse and can be highly compressed.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> Joel Rosenblatt
>
> Joel Rosenblatt, Manager Network & Computer Security
> Columbia Information Security Office (CISO)
> Columbia University, 612 W 115th Street, NY, NY 10025 / 212 854 3033
> http://www.columbia.edu/~joel 
>
>
> --On Monday, June 29, 2009 7:33 AM -0400 "Sarazen, Daniel"
>
> <dsarazen () UMASSP EDU> wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> >
> >
> > I have researchers with over 100 terabytes of data. Any back-up
> > suggestions that would include being able to store the back-up data a
> > reasonable distance away from the data center?
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
> >
> > PLEASE NOTE: Effective June 17 my office phone number has changed to
> > 774-455-7558. My fax number is now 774-455-7550
> >
> > :: Daniel Sarazen, Senior Information Technology Auditor
> > :: University Internal Audit
> > :: University of Massachusetts President's Office
> > ::
> > :: 774-455-7558
> > ::
> > :: 781-724-3377 Cell
> > :: 774-455-7550 Fax
> > :: Dsarazen () umassp edu 
> >
> > University of Massachusetts : 333 South St. : Suite 450 : Shrewsbury,
>
> MA
>
> > 01545 : www.massachusetts.edu <http://www.massachusetts.edu/>
>
> Joel Rosenblatt, Manager Network & Computer Security
> Columbia Information Security Office (CISO)
> Columbia University, 612 W 115th Street, NY, NY 10025 / 212 854 3033
> http://www.columbia.edu/~joel 



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