Server Backups

User data files on the central filservers are backed up to a tape library every night.

Individual workstations are not backed up since workstations do not contain any userdata. See also on the workstation pages for each supported operating system.

The large disks present in most modern workstations, are used to store the operating system and application software.

Scratch Diskspace

Any diskspace left after software installation is available to the user (as /scratch on UNIX systems, or the d: drive on PC's). Note however, that this scratch space is never backed up! So do not use /scratch, or d: drive on Windows systems for data that is expensive to rebuild.

Hardware

Backups are done onto a tapejukebox system, placed at a co-host location at SARA to ensure backup tapes are nowhere near our central fileservers. The jukebox has a capacity of 350 TB.

Backup schedule and retention

Currently we use a retention cycle of three months, meaning that data as old as three months can be recovered. Backups are performed each night, starting at 22:00.

In a worst case scenario, when a disksubsystem on a server completely dies just prior to a backup run, we can lose at most 24 hours of work.

Things not backed up