---------------------------------------------------------------------- NVSFTIII.DOC -- 19961206 -- Email thread on System Fault Tolerant vIII ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Feel free to add or edit this document and then email it back to faq@jelyon.com Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 14:15:40 -500 From: Jon Dustin - UCT Subject: Re: Tape backups on SFTIII servers I have been running two pairs of SFTIII servers for about six months; we are very happy with the results so far. (comments follow) >>I'm about to purchase (in the next few weeks) a pair of servers running >>Netware 4.11 and SFT III. >> >>I intend to back up to a DAT Drive with a 4-tape hopper using either >>Backup Exec or Arcserve. >> >>I've checked the FAQ which says that Arcserve 6 doesn't work and my >>reseller says that Backup Exec is very slow. Don't believe your reseller. We have Backup Exec v7.01b running on a v3.12 Pentium 75, with an Adaptec 2940 PCI SCSI card, connected to a Quantum DLT4000 tape drive. Very speedy indeed! (even for remote servers across the wire) We backup one SFTIII pair at 20 megabytes/minute (1.8GB backed up in 1.5 hours) Key to remote server tape backup speed are two issues: network topology/speed, and tape unit/scsi adapter. I currently have our backup server connected to a dedicated port of a 3com LS1000, and the SFTIII pair is using the 100TX ports. *VERY* fast backups. >>Is this correct ? Can I do tape backups of my SFT III servers? >> >>What would you recommend ? Buy a DLT tape drive. The tapes are expensive, but you will have *much* greater capacity (20 GB native on the 400 series, 35 GB native on the 7000, multiply by 2 for compressed). Make *sure* the SCSI card you use in your backup server can handle the load (I like the Adaptec 2940, other people like other models). Connect the servers with as fast a connection as you can (perhaps creating a dedicated backup network is worth the cost?) >My research discovered that no server-installed tape backup solution is >supported on 4.x SFTIII. Period. Do it over the wire. My discussions >with Cheyenne's product manager (ongoing) communicates a dedication to >having a supported product. It will likely be available for the 4.11 >platform first. Initial beta-testing should begin soon. > >This status killed our SFTIII deployment as high-throughput tape backup is >required. Ya know mission-critical apps tend to have alot of data... I >feel this is a huge failing. It's implied that Novell's changes to 4.11 >will allow a more stable implementation of a server-based backup. Time >will tell. True, server-based backup is faster, but how much data are you backing up? If time is *that* critical, make a dedicated 100TX network (maybe even switched?) for the SFTIII pair and the backup server, and watch your backups fly... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 15:53:14 -0600 From: "Lindsay R. Johnson" Subject: SFTIII Rumor... According to a statment from a major PC manufacturer SE which was repeated to me: As of this summer Novell will not be recommending nor supporting SFTIII. I'll follow up when I hear more from someone who can officially confirm or deny... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 15:31:41 +1000 From: John Tufts Subject: SFTIII backup Concurring with one reply I have seen on the digest already, there is nothing that will backup SFTIII server with any speed, unless it is accross the wire. We finally have Arcserve 5.01g going on 3 pairs but there are probably not many sites in the world that have managed this. I know one large site that struggled for quit a while and then scrapped it. Sbackup works, Arcserve6 accross the wire works and is FAST. The only other possibility I can think of is using Cheyenne Jetserve (High speed, seemed to work but i tried only the demo) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Dec 96 07:33:55 -0000 From: Randy Grein To: "NetWare 4 list" Subject: Re: SFT III patches >This may be a dumb question, but I have to ask it anyway. There are lots >of TIDs and patches for SFT III 4.1 at http://support.novell.com/ (if you >do a search on SFT III). My (probably stupid) question is, do these apply >to SFT III 4.11 (ie: IntraNetWare) as well, or have the "bugs" been fixed? >I don't see any TIDs that specifically say SFT III 4.11 (only 4.1). I'll >be upgrading a 4.11 network to SFT III 4.11 this weekend and need to know >whether I should download the patches or not. The short answer is no! With 4.10 and above SFTIII is part of the core NOS; not a separate product. 4.10 patches don't work on 4.11, ergo don't download SFT III 4.10 patches for SFT III 4.11. ------------------------------