I've recently inherited the task of managing our backup enviornment which consists of 1 Data Protector server (6.11), 1 large ESL E-Series LTO5 tape library (8 drives, over 200 slots), and two smaller MSL6060 LT04 tape libraries. We backup roughly 250 clients (Window, Linux) and the number of files to be backed up is huge. Because of the massive amount of files we can only keep 2 weeks worth of catalog data and only Directories (not files) are logged. If I get a restore request for anything outside of the 2 week window it's a nightmare because I have to load the catalog data from the tape(s) which can take hours--often not finishing before next backup group kicks off so I have to reserve a tape drive for the catalog restore.
I'm looking at how I can better manage the IDB catalog. Can you split the IDB catalog into more than one and have different clients log to different IDB catalogs? Or would it make sense to simply have more data protector cell managers , each with it's own IDB catalog and clients (Can different cell managers share the same tape libraries though??).
Is there anyone out there who had a similar situation and, if so, how did you deal with it? I'm looking at bringing in a D2D solution (HP StoreOnce 6200), but if I still have to use Data Protector as the front-end to the StoreOnce 6200 I'll still be in the same boat as far as being able to easily browse file level detail for restores.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice