Emerging Technologies

Abstract

Powerful but nevertheless easy-to-operate systems for backing up and reconstructing data from clients are necessary in a distributed heterogeneous environment. The concept of the Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme (SNI) AG is based on a clientherver model. It runs under the control of a SINIX server and includes backup clients for various UNIX systems, PCs such as those with MSDOS/Windows, and PCs in the Novell NetWare network. Logical data backup and restore actions for any file or disk partition in a UNIX system and for any file in a PC system can be performed automatically and at defined times during an operation. The backup media are tapes, DAT cartridges, magneto-optical disks, and associated autochangers and jukeboxes. Backup and storage system The backup and storage management solution at SNI for all SINIX V5.41 systems includes base technology from Legato Networker@. Networker supports heterogeneous clients in a open distributed environment. Clientherver concept Networker, which is based on a client/server concept (see Figure l), provides networkwide backup and recovery capabilities. In this concept, the clients are all machines in the network, whose data need to be protected against accidental loss or deletion. The server normally is equipped with the backup devices and automatically ensures backup and restore actions at utmost performance for all files in the network. The Networker server is based on SINIX V5.41. At SNI, the server runs on all RISC and CISC machines, such as RM600s, RM~OOS, MX300s, MXSOOs, and PCs. Available clients are: all SINIX systems; the UNIX systems from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM, ICL, SCO, SGI, Sony, Sun Microsystems, and Univel; PCs such as those with MSDOS/Windows; and PCs in the Novell NetWare network. Networker is the de facto industry standard for UNIX network backup. Further backup clients for example, those for OS12 and Windows-NT will soon be available and, because of the standardized communication protocol, may easily be added to any Networker server. To send and receive data, the client and the server use remote procedure call (RPC), an industry-standard networking protocol.