Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!hybrid!scifi!bywater!uunet!tron!rtaylor
From: rtaylor@tron.UUCP (Randy Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Hp/Apollo OmniBack software
Message-ID: <705@tron.UUCP>
Date: 22 Feb 91 16:30:22 GMT
Reply-To: rtaylor@tron ()
Organization: Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Lines: 79

Hello world ! :-))

Does anyone out there use HP/Apollo's OmniBack product ? OmniBack is our main
backup tool here at Westinghouse for our 140+ node network. It does backups
fairly well, but I have some, IMHO, serious gripes about restores. I'd
like to voice the gripes here in order to see if I'm being unreasonable
or if HP/Apollo is at fault. 

Here's a description of the situation :

   Backups can be scripted and run unattended via cron. Restores can't be
   done in a similar fashion. Why not ???

   Why do we want unattended restores, you ask ?

   When we upgrade the O.S. around our network from 10.1 to 10.3, we 
   backup all of our data, INVOL the disk at the new O.S. level and then
   restore the third party software and our data. The reason we go to all 
   that trouble is because we've been burned more than once by attempting
   to upgrade an O.S. using the update procedures HP/Apollo suggests.

   After the O.S. install has been completed, we restore the data on a 
   group of nodes via OmniBack. The problem is that it takes 6 hours to
   a full 2 Gigabyte restore and I find my self forced to sit there while
   the restore runs because OmniBack won't allow (to my knowledge) an
   unattended restore ! What a pain !

   You see, we're pretty security conscious around here. While it is true 
   that I could script the individual nbsrestore commands and dump them
   into a DM shell, I still have to deal with the dialog screen that
   comes up asking for the "go" command. Yes, the "go" can be patched into 
   the shell dump as well, but if I leave and go home, I leave an
   unattended workstation, which is a security violation. :-(( Yes, there
   are screen locking programs, but a crp and sigp -b kills the screen
   locking every time.

   Wouldn't it be much easier if OmniBack could do a restore the same way
   it does a backup ? Is this too much to ask of HP/Apollo ?

   Ok, you ask, why didn't you go with another vendor of 8mm products ?

   We started out with Workstation Solutions 8mm drives back in the 9.7 days.
   They've been in the shop more than they've been on-line. "In the shop"
   means pack'em up and ship 'em back to New Hampshire because there is
   no local support.
   When HP/Apollo came out with OmniBack, we were so happy to be rid of the
   Workstation Solutions headache, we just didn't research all the details
   of OmniBack software. We were just happy to see a product that could
   be supported locally. 

   I submitted an APR two months ago in the naive belief that I would actually
   get a response. Ha ! Nothing, zip, el-zilcho. No acknowledgement 
   whatsoever. 

Well, what does the sys-admin/user community have to say ? 

Does anyone have a way to make the OmniBack restore process run safely in 
the background ? Does anyone else need unattended restores ?

Is there another vendor that produces reliable, security-conscious 8mm
hardware/software that has local support ?

I am humbly seeking opinion/commentary and help on this issue. 


Many thanks in advance and warmest regards :-)

Randy Taylor
Westinghouse Electric Corp.
Baltimore, Maryland



   
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