The Latest News From EZ-Backup

On Sunday morning April 27th 2008, the EZ-Backup server was upgraded from version 5.3 to version 5.4 of Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM). From our research, we have discovered no particular problems when using older versions of the TSM client with the new server version; however, since the vendor only supports client versions back to version 5.3, we encourage users of older versions of the client software to upgrade to the currrent version. This will enable us to provide you with better service.

Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) is pleased to announce that EZ-Backup software is now available for Macintosh Leopard. Version 5.5 of Tivoli Storage Manager for Intel and Power-PC Macintosh computers running OS X 10.5 is available for download from the EZ-Backup Leopard installation instructions page. Version 5.5 of the EZ-Backup software will not install on computers running previous versions of the Macintosh operating system.

In addition to the installation instructions provided in the link above, help installing this software is available for a fee from CIT OnSite Solutions. For specific prices, call 254-3535 or send an e-mail to cit-onsitesolutions@cornell.edu.

New EZ-Backup TSM v5.4 client software is now available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. The new software includes fixes to address 2 potential security exposures. Please read this announcement to determine whether your systems are potentially vulnerable, and what you should do. There is a brief list of new features in v5.4 and v5.3 at the end of this announcement. Even if your system is not vulnerable, we encourage you to consider upgrading your TSM client software to the latest version available for your system, at your convenience, in order to keep current.

Potential Security Exposure:
The exposures are due to buffer overrun conditions in the TSM Client Acceptor Daemon (CAD) and the "prompted-mode" scheduling code. These exposures were found in a lab, and there are no known exploits at this time.

The exposures exist only in systems that use the TSM Client Acceptor Daemon (CAD) or use "prompted scheduling mode". Because Windows systems are not configured to use these features (when following the EZ-Backup installation instructions), these systems are NOT at risk from these exposures. The default Windows configuration at Cornell uses the "TSM Central Scheduler Service" and "polled scheduling mode", which are NOT at risk. However, MacOS systems, and some Linux and Unix systems, may be at risk.

EZ-Backup systems that may be at risk are:

• Mac OS X systems using TSM clients 5.2-5.4 that were set up per EZ-Backup installation instructions (because they use the CAD)
• Linux systems that were set up per EZ-Backup installation instructions (because they use the CAD)
• Other Unix (Solaris, AIX, etc.) systems that were configured to use the CAD (dsmcad process)
• Windows systems that were configured to use the CAD instead of the default TSM Central Scheduler Service
• Any system that was configured to use "prompted" schedule mode

We have developed web pages to assist you in determining whether a particular system is at risk, and if so, remedies that are available. Remedy options range from changing the client configuration to upgrading the client. These are located at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/techsup/swg21268775_at_Cornell.html>.

IBM's announcement regarding this security exposure is at http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21268775

As always, if you have questions or need our assistance, please email us at mailto:ezbackup@cornell.edu.

New features in TSM v5.4:

• Memory efficient backup option for very large file servers
• Windows Vista support
• MacOS 10.4 support & support for Intel Macs
• Web Client support for MacOS

New features in TSM v5.3:

• Include-exclude "preview" capability
• Ability to delete individual backup files
• Performance enhancements
• Ability to limit sizes of error log & scheduler log
• Enhanced encryption (128-bit AES)

We are pleased to announce new lower rates for CIT's EZ-Backup service.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based, automated, remote backup/archive/storage service that will automatically back up your workstation or server, and allow you to restore them yourself. More information on the service can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu. (EZ-Backup is currently only available for billing to University account numbers.)

The EZ-Backup business plan is reviewed yearly to ensure that it complies with guidelines in Cornell policy which require that rates be based on costs and that surpluses must be used to lower rates. This year's review has been completed, and the following new rates take effect on July 1st of this year, and will be reflected in the bills that are generated on August 1st. The rates were reduced by approximately 25%.

Listed below are the old and new monthly rates. More detailed information can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates.

	Old Rate	New Rate
Base rate (per system):	$ 6.50	$ 6.50
Base rate (>50th system) 1:	$ 4.50	$ 4.50
Compressed storage included in base rate:	4.80 GB	6.00 GB
Additional storage rate (next 15GB):	$0.80/GB	$0.60/GB
Additional storage rate (>15GB) 2:	$0.53/GB	$0.40/GB
Static Data Rate for add'l storage >100GB 3:	$0.27/GB	$0.20/GB

¹Departmental Discount: Departments managing >50 systems with the same support staff will be charged a discounted base rate of $4.50 per system for the 51st and subsequent systems.

²Departmental Discount: Extra storage (above 6.0G) on multiple systems within the same department and managed with the same support staff can be aggregated to qualify for the storage rate above 15GB. For more info, refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_15GB.html.

³The Static data rate is intended for long-term backup of static reference data that almost never changes. For more info refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_100gb.html.

Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) is pleased to announce that EZ-Backup software is now available for Windows Vista.

To install and configure EZ-Backup for Vista, go to http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/techsup-v5.4/cu/install/windows/index.html

If you are on a departmental network, please consult your technical support staff first.

This software is version 5.4.0.2 of Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM). For details on this version, see the frequently asked questions link at the bottom of the web page.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based service that automatically backs up files on computers and servers and allows you to restore files yourself. It is available for Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, Linux, Novell, and other operating systems. Find out more at http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/

CIT Onsite Solutions can install and configure EZ-Backup software for departments upon request. Email onsitesolutions@cornell.edu or call 254-3535. There is a fee. Find out more at http://www.cit.cornell.edu/onsite/

Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) is pleased to announce that version 5.4 of Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) is now available for the Macintosh. This new version supports both Intel-based and PowerPC Macintosh computers running OS X version 10.4.7 and higher.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based, automated, remote backup/archive/storage service that will automatically back up your workstation or server files and allow you to restore them yourself. EZ-Backup uses software called TSM, which runs on Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, Linux, Novell and various other operating systems.

To install EZ-Backup for the first time or to upgrade to EZ-Backup version 5.4, visit http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/techsup-v5.4/cu/install/mac/index.html. Answers to frequently asked questions are also available from this link.

If you need help installing this new software, contact CIT OnSite Solutions (http://www.cit.cornell.edu/services/onsite/). For specific prices, call 254-3535 or send e-mail to onsitesolutions@cornell.edu.  

The TSM server software was upgraded to version 5.3.4.1, per IBM FLASH request.

The TSM server software was upgraded to version 5.3.3.4, to enable some new functionality in server-side management.

The TSM server software was upgraded to version 5.2.8.2, to correct some minor bugs.

We are pleased to announce new lower rates for CIT's EZ-Backup service.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based, automated, remote backup/archive/storage service that will automatically back up your workstation or server, and allow you to restore them yourself. More information on the service can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu. (EZ-Backup is currently only available for billing to University account numbers.)

The EZ-Backup business plan is reviewed yearly to ensure that it complies with guidelines in Cornell policy which require that rates be based on costs and that surpluses must be used to lower rates. This year's review has been completed, and the following new rates take effect on July 1st of this year, and will be reflected in the bills that are generated on August 1st. The rates were reduced by approximately 25%.

A new Discount is being introduced this year for Units that that have more than 50 systems being backed up and supported by the same support staff. The discount will lower the monthly base rate from $6.50 to $4.50 starting with the 51st system.

Listed below are the old and new monthly rates. More detailed information can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates.

	Old Rate	New Rate
Base rate (per system):	$ 6.50	$ 6.50
Base rate (>50th system) 1:	n/a	$ 4.50
Compressed storage included in base rate:	3.8 GB	4.80 GB
Additional storage rate (next 15GB):	$1.05/GB	$0.80/GB
Additional storage rate (>15GB) 2:	$0.70/GB	$0.53/GB
Static Data Rate for add'l storage >100GB 3:	$0.35/GB	$0.27/GB

¹Departmental Discount: Departments managing >50 systems with the same support staff will be charged a discounted base rate of $4.50 per system for the 51st and subsequent systems.

²Departmental Discount: Extra storage (above 4.8G) on multiple systems within the same department and managed with the same support staff can be aggregated to qualify for the storage rate above 15GB. For more info, refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_15GB.html.

³The Static data rate is intended for long-term backup of static reference data that almost never changes. For more info refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_100gb.html.

IBM is currently developing a TSM client which will be compatible with the new Intel-based Macintoshes. Until the new client becomes available to the public, we are very pleased to announce the development of a work-around. This solution requires a clean install of version 5.2.5.0 of TSM for the Mac and an additional line in the root crontab file. Please refer to FAQ-MAC-33 for specific instructions.

Beta testing for the Intel-Mac TSM client is scheduled to begin at the end of July, 2006. Please email us at ezbackup@cornell.edu if you are interested in joining the beta test.

New EZ-Backup software for MacOS X:

We are pleased to announce version 5.3.2.1 of TSM for the Macintosh. This new version supports MacOS X (10.3.9 and higher) and does not include support for the new Intel-based Macintoshes. Refer to FAQ-MAC-33 for current support information for Intel-based Macintoshes.

Depending on whether or not your Macintosh already has a version of TSM installed on it, refer to the Install or Upgrade instructions.

There are a couple of issues to be aware of:

1. There has been a change in the way the new TSM client reads directory paths. TSM now uses the Unix method of slashes (/) to delimit the directories instead of colons (:). If you have customized any options in a previous version of the client, such as the include/exclude options, you MUST rename the TSM User and System Preferences files (found in /Library/Preferences/Tivoli Storage Manager) before configuring the software. You can then open these files in a text editor as references when you customize the new client.

2. Like version 5.2.3, this version supports Unicode filenames. That an upgrade from version 5.1.5.13 and earlier will result in a full backup of your node. Please refer to FAQ-GEN-22 for more information.

(Updated April 21, 2006 for Intel-Mac non-support)

We are pleased to announce new lower rates for CIT's EZ-Backup service.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based, automated, remote backup/archive/storage service that will automatically back up your workstation or server, and allow you to restore them yourself. More information on the service can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu. (EZ-Backup is currently only available for billing to University account numbers.) Please note that the rate information on our web site has not yet been updated. We wanted to announce these rates ASAP and we will update the web pages to reflect these new rates as soon as we can.

The EZ-Backup business plan is reviewed yearly to ensure that it complies with guidelines in Cornell policy which require that rates be based on costs and that surpluses must be used to lower rates. This year's review has been completed, and the following new rates take effect on July 1st of this year, and will be reflected in the bills that are generated on August 1st. The rates were reduced by approximately 44%.

Listed below are the old and new monthly rates. More detailed information can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates.

	Old Rate	New Rate
Base rate (per system):	$ 7.50	$ 6.50
Compressed storage included in base rate:	3.00 GB	3.80 GB
Cost of storage above base up to 15GB:	$1.89/GB	$1.05/GB
Cost of storage above 15GB (*1):	$1.26/GB	$0.70/GB
"Static data rate" for storage >100GB (*2):	$0.63/GB	$0.35/GB

(*1) Departmental Discount: Extra storage (above 3.8G) on multiple systems within the same department can be aggregated to qualify for the storage rate above 15GB. For more info, refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_15GB.html.

(*2) The "Static data rate" is intended for long-term backup of static reference data that almost never changes. For more info refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_100gb.html.

May 22, 2005
New IBM p5 570 added

A new IBM eServer p5 570 running AIX has been added to the TSM server environment. This second AIX platform, combined with our existing IBM eServer model M80, will add additional throughput, performance, and availability to our TSM environment.

The TSM server software was upgraded to version 5.2.4.3, to correct some minor bugs.

We are pleased to announce new lower rates for CIT's EZ-Backup service.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based, automated, remote backup/archive/storage service that will automatically back up your workstation or server, and allow you to restore them yourself. More information on the service can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu. (EZ-Backup is currently only available for billing to University account numbers.) Please note that the rate information on our web site has not yet been updated. We wanted to announce these rates ASAP and we will update the web pages to reflect these new rates as soon as we can.

The EZ-Backup business plan is reviewed yearly to ensure that it complies with guidelines in Cornell policy which require that rates be based on costs and that surpluses must be used to lower rates. This year's review has been completed, and the following new rates took effect on September 1st of this year, and were reflected in the bills that were generated on October 1st. The rates were reduced by approximately 10%.

Listed below are the old and new monthly rates. More detailed information can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates.

	Old Rate	New Rate
Base rate (per system):	$ 7.50	$ 7.50
Compressed storage included in base rate:	2.70 GB	3.00 GB
Cost of storage above base up to 15GB:	$2.10/GB	$1.89/GB
Cost of storage above 15GB (*1):	$1.40/GB	$1.26/GB
"Static data rate" for storage >100GB (*2):	$0.70/GB	$0.63/GB

(*1) Departmental Discount: Extra storage (above 3.0G) on multiple systems within the same department can be aggregated to qualify for the storage rate above 15GB. For more info, refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_15GB.html.

(*2) The "Static data rate" is intended for long-term backup of static reference data that almost never changes. For more info refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_100gb.html.

The EZ-Backup TSM server software was upgraded to v5.2.3.1.

The EZ-Backup TSM server is now making use of a new, faster, disk subsystem. The new disk subsystem consists of two IBM FAStT-900 disk systems incorporating 15,000 rpm disk drives. The new disks will enhance performance.

The EZ-Backup TSM server software was upgraded to v5.2.3.0

The EZ-Backup TSM server software was upgraded to v5.2.2.5.

The EZ-Backup web server was moved to a new and faster server.

The TSM server was upgraded to add an additional 8G of RAM and 4 CPUs.

The TSM server software was upgraded to version 5.2.2.1. This version provides performance and management enhancements.

January 18, 2004
IBM LTO-2 Tape Drives

The main tape library for the EZ-Backup server is now making use of IBM LTO-2 tape drives. These tape drives have twice the capacity and performance of the LTO-1 tape drives that they will be replacing.

The TSM server software was upgraded to version 5.1.8.0, to correct some minor bugs.

We are pleased to announce new lower rates for CIT's EZ-Backup service.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based, automated, remote backup/archive/storage service that will automatically back up your workstation or server, and allow you to restore them yourself. More information on the service can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu. (EZ-Backup is currently only available for billing to University account numbers.)

The EZ-Backup business plan is reviewed yearly to ensure that it complies with guidelines in Cornell policy which require that rates be based on costs and that surpluses must be used to lower rates. This year's review has been completed, and the following new rates took effect on August 1st of this year, and were reflected in the bills that were generated on September 1st. Because of the continued growth in use of the service, we were able to significantly reduce rates this year (by up to 50%).

Listed below are the old and new monthly rates. More detailed information can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates.

	Old Rate	New Rate
Base rate (per system):	$ 7.50	$ 7.50
Compressed storage included in base rate:	1.35 GB	2.70 GB
Cost of storage above base up to 15GB:	$4.20/GB	$2.10/GB
Cost of storage above 15GB (*1):	$2.80/GB	$1.40/GB
"Static data rate" for storage >100GB (*2):	$1.40/GB	$0.70/GB

(*1) Departmental Discount: Extra storage (above 2.7G) on multiple systems within the same department can be aggregated to qualify for the storage rate above 15GB. For more info, refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_15GB.html.

(*2) The "Static data rate" is intended for long-term backup of static reference data that almost never changes. For more info refer to http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_100gb.html.

The TSM server was upgraded from 4GB to 8GB of RAM.  It was also connected to a Storage Area Network (SAN) so that additional disk storage can more easily be added to it.

The EZ-Backup Tape Library SDLC management software was upgraded to v2.4. The Tape Library gripper firmware was upgraded.

The TSM server software was upgraded to version 5.1.7.1, to correct some minor bugs.

Some TSM Server network tuning parameters were adjusted to enhance network performance.

The EZ-Backup Tape Library was expanded from 700 to 1200 tape slots.

We are pleased to announce the availability of a new version of EZ-Backup's TSM client software for Linux.

The new version has support for newer filesystems, such as EXT3, as well as other enhancements and bug fixes. IBM is no longer supporting TSM v4. Users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest version at their convenience.

Instructions for downloading and installing the new TSM client software for Linux can be found on the EZ-Backup web site at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/techsup. Just follow the link for "Linux". Please be sure to read the README file for any caveats that may apply to your particular flavor of Linux.

We are pleased to announce that a new version of the EZ-Backup TSM client software is available on our web site (URL provided below) for the following operating systems:

• Windows NT 
• Windows 2000 
• Windows XP

We encourage an upgrade to this version at the earliest convenience. Tivoli has dropped support for several earlier versions still in use at Cornell, and we want to ensure the best possible support to our valued clients. In addition, there are several bug fixes as well as some nice new features which are detailed below.

Benefits of version 4.2.1.30 include:

• Full support of SYSTEM OBJECTS backup (resolves problems with earlier versions which prevented bare-metal restore) 
• Unicode support 
• Performance improvements 
• Improved memory use

The installation instructions can be found on our web site:

   http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/techsup/

Just follow the link for Windows NT/2000/XP. These instructions also contain links to the installer, the new dsm.opt file, and the TSM README. Please review the README for information which may be pertinent to your operation.

The ADIC Scalar 10000 automated tape library used by EZ-Backup had it's firmware and software upgraded.

We are pleased to announce a new version of TSM for the Macintosh. It is version 4.2.1.1, which fixes some bugs in version 4.1.2.15. The most significant bug was processing includes and excludes backwards. (Note, this bug only affected users who modified their include and exclude statements. To learn more about the Macintosh 4.1.2.15 bug, see FAQ-MAC-99.) To get the newest Cornell-supported client software, see the EZ-Backup Mac v4.2.1.1 client install page. Also check out the Frequently Asked Questions section for version 4.2.1.1 for the Macintosh.

This version should NOT be used under OSX, but instead run under Classic MacOS (OS9.x and OS8.x). For more information about TSM and OSX, see FAQ-MAC-4.

The TSM server was successfully upgraded on Sunday morning, September 22nd. The following upgrades were performed:

1. AIX operating system software was upgraded to handle the hardware upgrade, bringing it up to AIX v4.3.3.m10.
2. Firmware upgrades were performed.
3. Server RAM was doubled from 2GB to 4GB.
4. Server CPUs were upgraded from 2 500Mhz RS64 III SMP processors to 4 750Mhz RS64 III SMP processors, effectively tripling the server's computing power.

These upgrades will provide additional throughput and improved performance.

We are pleased to announce an additional rate decrease for CIT's EZ-Backup service. This is the SECOND rate decrease this year. (Our first one this year was in January 2002.) The reason for two rate changes this year is to get the rate revisions on the same schedule as other CIT services.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based, automated, remote backup/archive/storage service that will automatically back up your workstation or server, and allow you to restore them yourself. More information on the service can be found at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu. (EZ-Backup is currently only available for billing to University account numbers.)

The EZ-Backup business plan is reviewed yearly to ensure that it complies with guidelines in Cornell policy which require that rates be based on costs and that surpluses must be used to lower rates. This year's review has just been completed, and the following new rates will take effect on August 1st of this year, and will be reflected in the bills that are generated on September 1st. Because of the continued growth in use of the service, we were able to significantly reduce rates this year. The new rates will provide a 12.5% rate reduction for all users.

Listed below are the old and new monthly rates. More detailed information can be found at the EZ-Backup rates page.

	Old Rate	New Rate
Base rate (per system):	$ 7.50	$ 7.50
Compressed storage included in base rate:	1.20 GB	1.35 GB
Cost of storage above base up to 15GB:	$4.80/GB	$4.20/GB
Cost of storage above 15GB (*1):	$3.20/GB	$2.80/GB
"Static data rate" for storage >100GB (*2):	$1.60/GB	$1.40/GB

(*1) Departmental Discount: Extra storage (above 1.35G) on multiple systems within the same department can be aggregated to qualify for the storage rate above 15GB. For more info, refer to 15GB Extra Storage Discount page.

(*2) The "Static data rate" is intended for long-term backup of static reference data that almost never changes. For more info refer to 100GB Static Data Discount page.

Brand new batteries were installed in the UPS that serves EZ-Backup secondary servers. With these new batteries, we will gain an estimated 17 minutes of coverage in the case of a power outage. A big thank you to EZ-Backup team member, Jennifer Moore, and to Bill Biata, a member of CIT's facilities team. 

The technician from the UPS system arrived. He discovered that the UPS that serves secondary machines for EZ-Backup needed all it's batteries replaced. These secondary machines do not impact the EZ-Backup service should they loose power. The batteries have been ordered and are expected within the coming weeks.

Recently, we have been experiencing network and power problems at CCC, where the EZ-Backup server is housed.

Network technicians have been looking into the problem, and applying fixes where they deem necessary. Currently, the network problems are still not resolved, but we have a temporary workaround in place. Unfortunately, this has impacted some user backups. We regret any inconvenience. We will keep you posted as updates become available.

We are also experiencing power problems to CCC. A plan is being devised to address the power issues. A technician for the UPS system is expected to be onsite Wed, July 3rd.

1. Installed 128MB SSA write-cache DIMMs. 
2. Upgraded TSM server to v4.2.2.6 to improve expiration performance. 

Also, additional disk capacity was added to the server at this time.

In May 2002, we installed a new ADIC Scaler 10K library. It has 10 LTO tape drives. LTO tapes are much bigger than our older DLT tapes. And LTO technology is much faster. Read more about LTO at www.lto.org or www.lto-technology.com). Over the next few months, we will be migrating data from our old tape library to the new ADIC Scaler 10K. When this is done, each node will have data on only 1 or 2 tapes, instead of the multiple tapes that exist now. This will improve restore times. Here is a slideshow of the installation.

The TSM Server software was successfully upgraded to v4.2.1 on Sunday morning. This upgrade was done to address a server stability problem, and also to add support for a new automated tape library that we will be installing in the Spring.

We are very pleased to announce new lower rates for CIT's EZ-Backup service.

EZ-Backup is a fee-based, automated, remote backup/archive/storage service that will automatically back up your workstation or server, and allow you to restore them yourself. More information on the service can be found at the main EZ-Backup web page. (EZ-Backup is currently only available for billing to University account numbers.)

The EZ-Backup business plan is reviewed yearly to ensure that it complies with guidelines in Cornell policy which require that rates be based on costs and that surpluses must be used to lower rates. This year's review has just been completed, and the following new rates will take effect on January 1st of this year, and will be reflected in the bills that are generated on February 1st. Because of the continued growth in use of the service, we were able to significantly reduce rates this year (by up to 20%).

Listed below are the old and new monthly rates. More detailed information can be found at the EZ-Backup rates page.

	Old Rate	New Rate
Base rate (per system):	$ 7.50	$ 7.50
Compressed storage included in base rate:	1.00 GB	1.20 GB
Cost of storage above base up to 15GB:	$6.00/GB	$4.80/GB
Cost of storage above 15GB (*1):	$4.00/GB	$3.20/GB
"Static data rate" for storage >100GB (*2):	$2.00/GB	$1.60/GB

(*1) Departmental Discount: Extra storage (above 1.2G) on multiple systems within the same department can be aggregated to qualify for the storage rate above 15GB. For more info, refer to 15GB Extra Storage Discount page.

(*2) The "Static data rate" is intended for long-term backup of static reference data that almost never changes. For more info refer to 100GB Static Data Discount page.

All 12 tape drives in our main libraries were upgraded from DLT7000 to DLT8000 drives, improving tape performance.

This was a patch level upgrade to correct bug which caused the server to occasionally crash.

The EZ-Backup server software was upgraded to Tivoli Storage Manager v4.1.2. This new server code enables additional features for backing up windows workstations, and also provides performance and reliability improvements.

The EZ-Backup server hardware was upgraded from an RS/6000 model R50 to an RS/6000 model M80, providing substantially more throughput and better performance for backup and restore operations.

EZ-Backup is in the news. See today's edition of the Cornell Chronicle. The article appeared in the @cornell.edu column. Below is the article.

All hard drives will fail. Even the most well-designed computer components will eventually succumb to the combined effects of environmental stress and use. Virus infections and user error compound the likelihood of data loss. It is not a question of if computers will fail, but when they will fail. The best way to protect data is to back up files frequently and regularly.

To provide campus users with a safe, convenient, and easy-to-use method of backing up their data, Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) offers EZ-Backup, a fee-based, automated, remote backup service that provides scheduled automatic backups of campus workstations or servers. The service is available for systems using Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, Novell and other operating systems, and allows individuals to restore data on demand.

On October 1, 2000, the EZ-Backup service rates were significantly reduced. Discounts are available for university departments and for long-term archiving of over 100 GB of static data. The service is currently only available for billing to university accounts; it is not available to students at this time. For more information about EZ-Backup, visit http://ezbackup.cornell.edu/. Rate information is at http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/.

We are very pleased to announce new rates for CIT's EZ-Backup service.

The EZ-Backup business plan is reviewed yearly, to ensure that it complies with guidelines in Cornell policy which require that rates be based on costs and that surpluses must be used to lower rates. This year's review has just been completed, and new lower rates will take effect on October 1st of this year. They will be reflected in the bills that are generated on November 1st. Because of the continued growth in use of the service, we were able to significantly reduce rates this year.

Listed below are the old and new monthly rates. More detailed information can be found at the EZ-Backup Rates pages.

	Old Rate	New Rate
Base rate (per system):	$ 8.50	$ 7.50
Compressed storage included in base rate:	500 MB	1 GB
Cost of storage above base up to 15GB:	$15/GB	$6/GB
Cost of storage above 15GB (*1):	$10/GB	$4/GB
"Static data rate" for storage >100GB (*2):	$5/GB	$2/GB

(*1) Extra storage (above 1G) on multiple systems within the same department can be aggregated to qualify for the storage rate above 15GB, as long as those systems are being supported by the same technical support person(s).

(*2) Individual systems storing more than 100GB of very static storage in EZ-Backup are eligible for a Static Storage Discount. This discount is intended for long-term backup of reference data that almost never changes. For more info on static data, see http://www.ezbackup.cornell.edu/rates/rates_100gb.html.

The operating system software on the EZ-Backup sever was upgraded from AIX v4.3.2 to AIX v4.3.3. This upgrade was necessary to prepare for new hardware. We have ordered a new IBM M80 server, which requires AIX v4.3.3. Stay tuned for news about our new server.

The ADSM server software was upgraded to version 3.7.3.6. This upgrade provides performance enhancements and enables some new functionality.

We are very pleased to announce the addition of Jennifer Moore to the EZ-Backup project team, effective June 26th. We are very fortunate to have Jennifer join the group and look forward to her help in supporting the EZ-Backup service.

A new set of EZ-Backup web pages are now available at http://ezbackup.cornell.edu. The new pages have a brand new look and feel, more, FAQs, a place to submit questions, and documentation and installation instructions for a new version of ADSM. Special thanks to Mark Sincock, of CIT/ASDT, for helping us out with the new look and feel. Please update your bookmarks, and give us your feedback.

IBM has just announced a Windows 2000 client for ADSM. We are looking for volunteers to help test it in the Cornell environment. If you are interested, email us at ezbackup@cornell.edu.

We are hiring!!!! Come join the EZ-Backup team. See post of January 21, 2000

Stay tuned for the rollout of version 3 of ADSM and our new production web server. ETA is late March 2000.

Paul and Karen will be attending SHARE, the IBM User's Group Conference in Anaheim, CA from March 5th - March 10th. There is a track especially for ADSM.

Paul and Karen will be still answering your email remotely. Be sure to send questions, etc, with EZ-Backup to ezbackup@cornell.edu. In case of emergencies, please contact the Network Operations Center at 607-255-9900.

The EZ-Backup team, of Cornell University, has the following job opening available. Cornell is located in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York state.

Working Title: ADSM/EZ-Backup Support Specialist Programmer/Analyst III/Senior/Specialist; Band F/G; Exempt

Position level & compensation dependent upon experience & skills.

Support Cornell's EZ-Backup enterprise-wide, production-level backup/archive/storage service used throughout the University. Responsibilities include maintenance of ADSM backup servers, problem analysis, diagnosis & resolution, preparation of ADSM client software for distribution, supporting & training users, & working w/vendors.

Requirements: Bachelors degree or equivalent combination of education & experience. 2-7 years additional related technical experience. Possess expertise with ADSM, Tivoli Storage Manager, or similar storage management software, AIX system administration, hardware technologies (e.g., SCSI, SSA, DLT, RS/6000), & various flavors of operating systems for client support: Windows (all flavors), Macintosh, NetWare, & Unix (esp. AIX, Solaris). Experience with programming languages such as Rexx, HTML, SQL & JAVA preferred. Requires off-hours work & rotating on-call support. Looking for a self-motivated, tenacious individual who works well in a team. Strong interpersonal & communication (written & verbal) skills are necessary.

Cornell University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer & educator.

Inquiries, cover letters and resumes should be sent to:
  Sue Gorton
  Cornell Information Technologies / IBSC
  200 Computing & Communications Center
  Ithaca, New York 14853
  sjo1@cornell.edu

Installed two additional tape drives in the ADSM DLT Tape Robot.

Archiving enabled.

On Saturday, November 20th, the ADSM server's database became corrupted. Since that time, we have been taking steps to (1) re-enable backup protection for your systems, and (2) repair the database corruption to allow you to restore your older backup and archive data.

ADSM is once again available for backups and restores. You should run an incremental backup on your system. If you use the ADSM Scheduler, it will run an incremental backup on your system tonight. This backup will ensure that all files on your system have an active backup copy in ADSM which you can access should you need it.

Should you need to restore an older backup file and not be able to see it in ADSM, please contact us at mailto:ezbackup@cornell.edu. Some files, particularly those backed up or archived between Thursday morning, November 18th, and Saturday morning, November 20th, may not be available to you until after we finish running a database audit of the ADSM database, which we are running now to regain access to these files. Until this audit completes, you will not have access to archive files (note that "archive" is different than "backup" - most folks do not use "archive", so this may not apply to you).

We apologize for the length of this outage, and the inconvenience it has caused you.

-- technical detail --

1. A "shadow" ADSM server has been setup to run backups on. This shadow server has read-only access to the files in the production server. You do not need to re-configure ADSM to use the shadow server - it is defined at the same TCP/IP address (and port) as the production server. The database for the shadow server was loaded from a database backup made on Thursday afternoon. This means that any files that were stored in ADSM after Thursday (about 2PM) will not be visible from this shadow server. Additionaly, some files stored before Thursday may not be visible from this shadow server. If you are trying to recover a file and it does not appear to be there, please contact us. If you need to recover files stored after 2PM Thursday, or files which you think should be in ADSM but are not visible, you will need to contact us, and may have to wait until the repair process has completed on the primary server (see next). We will be able to determine if the file in question is one which we cannot access until after the database audit has been completed on the production server.

2. We are also in the process of performing a full database audit on a copy of the ADSM Server's production database to locate and repair the corruption, in order to regain visibility to stored files. While this repair process is running, the "archive" feature of ADSM will be disabled, except by first contacting us at mailto:ezbackup@cornell.edu. This applies to "archiving" only - you can "backup" data now. The purpose of running the audit is to regain access to the remaining data which was previously stored in ADSM. If you have a dire need to "archive" data (not back it up), please contact us so that we can enable you to archive data. This is necessary so we can make arrangements to more easily merge the newly archived data with the old archive data, once we regain access to it. Most folks do not archive data - they only use the backup/restore capability of ADSM. If you do not use the archive capability of ADSM then you do not need to worry about this.

3. Once the database audit has completed, we will re-enable archiving and make all files available again.

The ADSM server is currently unavailable due to a software problem. We are working with IBM to correct the problem, but the ADSM server may be down for awhile. Please pass this along to others who need to be aware of this. If you haven't done so already, you may want to subscribe to the ezbackup-announce-l@cornell.edu list, which is where we normally announce things like this.

We're sorry for any inconvenience this may be causing you.

ADSM server RAM was doubled from 512M to 1G.

The ADSM Server's operating system was upgraded over this past weekend. Some problems were encountered during the upgrade, resulting in a longer server outage than expected, and a couple of server interruptions on Saturday night and Sunday. (The operating system, as well as ADSM, are now both at Y2K-compliant levels.)

One problem with the server upgrade resulted in the EZ-Backup mailbox, ezbackup@cornell.edu, being put out of commission from Saturday morning at 8am until today (Monday) at 2pm. Any mail sent to ezbackup@cornell.edu during that time period was lost. It is now working properly. If you sent any mail to ezbackup@cornell.edu during that time period, please resend it.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Paul Zarnowski and Karen Durfee attended the ADSM Symposium at Oxford University from Septemmber 29 - October 1, 1999. The symposium was a three-day event featuring 39 speakers and presentations from IBM and various educational institutions and businesses from around the world. Over 150 people attended the event. 

The symposium was a great opportunity to meet and collaborate with other colleagues from around the world and interact with some of the ADSM developers. Paul and Karen got a chance to experiment with the newest release of ADSM and to learn about the future directions of the product. In addition, they had an opportunity to present their ideas and feedback directly to the ADSM developers and product planners.

Below are Cornell reps, Paul, Karen and Ruth Mitchell, Systems Programmer at the Cornell Theory Center, with the hosts of the symposium, Alex Reid, Director of Oxford University Computing Services, and Sheelagh Treweek, ADSM Administrator at Oxford University Computing Services.

We are pleased to announce new, lower, rates for CIT's EZ-Backup service. The new rates represent a substantial drop in price. The lower rates are made possible by continued increasing use of the service. The new rates also include Static Data Discounts and Departmental Discounts. The new rates are described in more detail at the EZ-Backup Rates web page.

To meet university and federal guidelines, the EZ-Backup service is designed to break even over a three year period. Rates will be reviewed at least annually and adjusted accordingly. We expect that as use continues to grow, we will be able to achieve greater economies of scale and the rates should continue to decrease. The last rate change occurred in October, 1998.

The ADSM Server was upgraded to version 3.1.2.40. This version enables long filename support in version 3.1.0.7 of the Novell NetWare ADSM backup client.

Summer's here and so is our new look! Gone are those scarey frames and in their place you'll find shorter URLs which you can bookmark and return to day after day. We invite you to stay awhile and look around the site. If you have any comments good, bad, or otherwise we'd love to read them -- simply click on the comments link found at the bottom of every page. With the new look-and-feel in place we're not sitting back and resting. In the next few weeks you can look forward to seeing a rate drop for EZ-Backup Services, a rollout of the next version in client software, a shift over to our own industrial strength web server, some very cool additional site functionality, and much more. So keep checking in with us and if you haven't already done so we suggest that you subscribe to one of our mailing lists found in our Tech Support section.

The ADSM Server's network connection was changed from a 10Mb ethernet network to a 100Mb switched ethernet network. This change can improve data transfer rates to the ADSM server significantly, depending on factors such the speed of your local network and computer system.

A new automated tape library has been installed on the EZ-Backup ADSM server. The new library has a capacity of 11.7 TB, and has 6 DLT 7000 tape drives. The library is expandable, both in terms of tape capacity and number of drives. The new library is manufactured by ATL Products, Incorporated (a Quantum Company) and is a model P3000. It has many high-availability features built into it. The expandability of the library should help us keep our costs down as we add more capacity in the future.