The University of Pennsylvania's Online Computing Magazine
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April 1994 - Volume 10:6 [Printout | Contents | Search ]
By Michael W. Kearney What a winter! If an unprecedented combination of ice, snow, sleet, rain, and arctic temperatures weren't enough, the burst water pipes, heating failures, and rolling blackouts they caused certainly ought to have satisfied our need for adventure several times over. For those who use desktop computer systems, such adventures are particularly unwelcome. Protecting against data loss caused by routine mechanical failure, software bugs, and human error is hard enough without having to deal with the additional obstacles mother nature sends our way. Protecting your desktop computer data is a chore, but it doesn't have to be an onerous or time-consuming one -- not since the ISC introduced PENNback. PENNback allows you to back up and archive the files and data residing on your personal computer or workstation over the campus network, PennNet. A program running on your system, called the client, sends copies of selected files to a second system, the PENNback server. In the event a file is lost, it can be retrieved from the server simply by reversing the process. Since its official introduction in January, 1993 (see Penn Printout, March 1993, page 4 ), the PENNback archive has been growing steadily and currently holds over 3/4 of a million files and approximately 30 gigabytes of customer data. Mark Keintz, Computer Core Director for the Population Studies Center and one of many satisfied customers, says: Computer data is a critical asset of my organization. Its loss or corruption could have serious consequences for our research. As the person responsible for the integrity of our data, PENNback has made my life a lot easier by giving me a uniform, reliable, easy-to-use way to protect the data stored on our AIX and OS/2 systems. The fact that the backup data is physically remote provides protection against building-wide disasters as well as computer crashes. Access to the data over PennNet is an added plus." New serverGiven PENNback's success, we have moved forward to improve and expand the service. In early March we upgraded the PENNback software running on the server to use IBM's Distributed Storage Manager (ADSM). While many of the new server features are not readily visible to PENNback customers -- a large number of them are there to make the server easier to manage behind the scenes -- there are two important exceptions. First, PENNback now provides a mechanism for performing automated backups. A scheduler client, which runs continually on your system, automatically backs it up at a preselected time and frequency. Once you configure your system to invoke the scheduler client at startup, it will be backed up at the selected times without requiring any further action on your part. Second, PENNback can now provide much broader flexibility for how your backup data is managed. Before the changeover, the PENNback server was configured to retain up to 10 versions of customer files for a maximum of two months. This rule, while quite adequate in most cases, necessarily applied to all customers. The new server allows us to set up customized rules for your data -- we can keep more (or fewer) versions for longer (or shorter) periods of time if our default rules do not meet your requirements. Updated clients, new platformsA more obvious benefit of PENNback's software upgrade to ADSM is the addition of support for several new client platforms. In addition to the previously supported client platforms (Macintosh, IBM PC/compatibles running DOS or OS/2, Sun, and RS/6000), PENNback has added clients for MS-Windows, Novell NetWare (3.11), and Hewlett-Packard HP-UX systems. IBM has announced DEC Ultrix and SCO UNIX clients, but they will not be available until after this article ap-pears. Upgrades for both NetWare 3.12 and 4.00 are also planned for the coming year. All supported client platforms provide the full range of PENNback services, including automated scheduling. The software upgrade on the server side does not require a corresponding upgrade of client software. As a result, our existing PENNback customers can choose to upgrade their software to get the new features or simply continue to use their systems as before -- no changes are required. The futureWhat does the future hold for PENNback? The migration of the software to ADSM places us in a position where we have considerably more flexibility in selecting a server platform. Right now, the server must run on the UDC's IBM 9121 mainframe, either under the VM or MVS operating systems. This platform provides a stable, high-performance environment for the core PENNback service. However, IBM has announced that the server will also be made available on both IBM RS/6000 and Sun workstation platforms. We plan to look very carefully at these alternatives over the coming year. Second, ADSM supports writable optical disk as a storage medium. Use of this random access, high-capacity medium would allow us to extend the current service to provide 24-hour, seven-day-a-week restoration and, at the same time, significantly reduce the amount of tape activity the current setup requires. The result? Better and more responsive service for PENNback customers. Watch PennInfo and Penn Printout for more information as these options play themselves out. For more informationIf you have questions about PENNback, contact Michael Kearney at 898-1153, FAX at 898-1729, or e-mail to michael@penndrls.upenn.edu. You can also check PennInfo for more information. (keyword "pennback").
MICHAEL W. KEARNEY is Associate Director for Academic Services, University Data Center. Sidebar: Client platforms supported by PENNback To use PENNback clients you should run the following software on your computing platform. The software release levels noted are minimum requirements; later releases are also supported unless otherwise noted.
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