Hafwhit   630 pts.  |   Jul 15 2009  6:08PM GMT

You cannot have too many backups. I have restored client systems without a system save and this can be a major ordeal. They usually don’t have a tape backup and cannot find the system software and have no idea of what software they did have on the system. We send out letters informing them they need to do a backup but some don’t heed the warning. If you do any PTF installs after a system save you will need to reinstall the PTF’s if you need to restore from the tape. If you have to use the CD’s then you will have to install all PTF’s. You should have a system save that is stored off site so that if a major disaster hits your computer system you will have a way to restore to a new system. We suggest that more than one set of tapes is used just in case a tape will not restore.

How is your data being backed up? We do a nightly backup and the tapes are taken home by the VP when he leaves at the end of the day. (We are a small company by the way.)

A little extra time spent doing backups can keep you from spending days doing a recovery.

Splat   1050 pts.  |   Jul 17 2009  3:07PM GMT

Every six months? I do a full system save every two weeks - and if it was feasible I’d do it weekly. I have a procedure executing a RTVSYSCFG weekly.

Slack400   1165 pts.  |   Jul 24 2009  4:11AM GMT

You need to have this conversation with the system owners.
As a rule of thumb you want to perform a system save before any major updates to your system.
There’s many different backup strategies to look into but it should really come down to what’s practical in your environment and what’s best for your user community.