Backup Schedule

Weekly filesystem snapshots are performed on Sunday night at 10:00 pm. We keep about four weekly snapshots at a time. A weekly snapshot reflects the content of the files prior to the time of the creation of the previous monthly backup tape. Incremental changes to files can be recovered on a weekly basis from subsequent weekly backup tapes for up to five weeks.

Monthly back-ups are performed on the first Sunday night of each month between the hours of 5:00pm and 12:00 midnight. Monthly backup tapes are retained for six months before being rotated on a new cycle. A monthly backup tape contains all user data.

Requesting File Restoration

Contact to request file restoration. You need to supply the following information:

  1. The absolute pathnames of each file/directory you want restored, e.g. /accounts/projects/foobar, or just ~joe/pathname if you are user joe and the pathname is in your home directory.

  2. The date and time they were deleted.

  3. The date and time the files were last modified (very important).

Usually the restorations can be done within 24 hours of the request. The files can usually be reconstructed to their state prior to the last backup which was done before they were destroyed. Since backups are done once every day, it is possible to lose whatever work was done during the previous 24 hours.

There is a $20 service fee (and if applicable, the cost of media) to recover files from any account that has been closed.

Policy

In the event of a catastrophic disaster, for example, damage resulting from either an earthquake, fire, or bomb, access to the computing facilities and/or entry to Evans Hall may be prohibited on either a temporary or permanent basis. Users must be aware that the EML does not store information off-site. (outside of Evans Hall) If a user has a need for that level of protection, the user is responsible for maintaining their own backups.