ArGest® BRU Server™ Example Workflow as Used by TOLIS Group, Inc.

We are frequently asked about our recommend workflow for BRU Server™.  While there are many workflows that ArGest® BRU Server™ can manage depending on your particular needs, this is an example of one used by TOLIS Group for our internal corporate backups. 

The purpose of this workflow is to create jobs that properly mitigate a disaster should it happen.

 

We use an ArGest® LTO-6 TGL2240 internally for our business backups.  Each full backup takes 2 tapes.  We also have 40TB of RAID 5 disk for Staged D2D in our bruAPP™ Backup Appliance.

 

In the BRU Server™ environment, we have the destinations in our ArGest® TGL2240 set up as follows:

 

 Week A - Slots 1-2

 Week B - Slots 3-4

 Week C - Slots 5-6

 Week D - Slots 7-8

 Monthly Offsite - Slots 13-14

 Quarterly Offsite - Slots 15-16

 

As sub-jobs and destinations, the engineering data all fits on a single LTO-6 tape, so we have

 

 Engineering A - Slot 9

 Engineering B - Slot 10

 Engineering C - Slot 11

 Engineering D - Slot 12

 Engineering Offsite - Slot 17

 Engineering Quarterly - Slot 18

 

Slots 19-23 are for emergency jobs - both backup and restore - while slot 24 is the cleaning cartridge

 

This layout means that the tapes in the left magazine are pretty static while the tapes in the right magazine are the ones being swapped in and out.

 

Our backup rotations work this way:

 

Each Friday night, the full job for all client systems run to a Week destination on a 4 week rotation schedule.

 

The first Saturday of each month, a separate full job for all client systems run on a monthly schedule with each set being taken offsite to one of the employees' houses where it is rotated back in every 6th month.

 

The last Sunday of each quarter, a separate full job for all clients is run to the Quarterly Offsite destination and then taken to our bank's safe deposit box and never brought back in.

 

Every day at 12:30 and 18:30, an incremental job of all pertinent systems is run to the server's Disk Stage and that environment is set to a 91 day max stage age - meaning that the system automatically removes any incremental jobs from the disk as soon as they are 92 days old keeping the disk stage automatically groomed.

 

The engineering schedules are similar, except that the quarterlies are stored by our law firm for software code escrow for customers that have a code escrow agreement with us.

 

This process keeps 4 weeks of full archives in-house, 6 months of full archives offsite, but rotating back in for overwriting, and a set of legal full jobs for business purposes that are never overwritten.  The incremental archives are not needed after a new full job, but we keep them around for 3 months for "oops" coverage.

 

Again, there are many workflows that we are able to discuss and support, this is simply one example.

 

Additional helpful ArGest® BRU Server™ usage links:

 

Excluding Files from Your Backup

 

Setting up Pre (before the backup) and Post (after the backup) Job Tasks

 

 

 

Any guidance or direction TOLIS Group provides to you will only be based on the information provided by you to us as our customer. Many factors in your environment are unknown to TOLIS Group and can affect advice, problems, outcomes, or recommended solutions. TOLIS Group cannot and will not accept any culpability or responsibility due to potential omissions. Also, be advised that technology changes. As a result of these changes in technology, products you are using might be affected both directly and indirectly. TOLIS Group cannot and will not be responsible or liable for any consequences that can occur due to any change in technology, or in conjunction with the use of information provided by TOLIS Group under these circumstances. Proceeding with communications, orders, and interactions between yourself and TOLIS Group is indication that you understand and agree with this statement.   For complete warranty, legal, and return policy notices, please visit http://www.tolisgroup.com/brulegal.html

 

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