User`s guide

Back up and restore Meridian Mail data 15-13
Disk backup or tape backup
Standard 1.0 System Administration Guide January 1998
Disk backup or tape backup
Introduction
Meridian Mail offers two types of backups, disk and tape.
Disk backup
Backup to disk can be either partial or selective. To use the
backup-to-disk feature, the disk-to-disk option must be
installed. Full backups cannot be done to disk and must be
backed up using tape.
On multi-node systems, the backup-to-disk option copies
selected information from the first hard disk to the second hard
disk on the system. This allows for data to be copied from one
disk to another in order to allow for recovery after a single disk
failure. Backup to disk can be done frequently with relatively
little effort, and reduces the need for frequent and time-
consuming backups to tape.
Backups to disk do not completely eliminate the need for tape
backups.
Tape backup
Backup to tape allows for the backup of the entire Meridian
Mail system including voice and data on all volumes. This
provides you with a full backup copy of all information needed
to restore your system to full working order in case of failure.
All Meridian Mail systems have a tape drive capable of reading
and writing industry-standard 1/4-inch data cartridges.
CAUTION
Risk of data loss
If a disk failure occurs in the middle of a disk-to-disk
backup, the copy will not be consistent and recovery
from this backup copy will not be possible. For this
reason, disk-to-tape backups should also be performed
periodically.