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14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
The only book of its kind.Dec 25, 1999
By Benjamin J. Feen
Backup and recovery can be -- let's face it, IS -- a miserable responsibility, and there's never been a way to learn how it's done in the real world, let alone multi-terabyte enterprise environments. This book provides several critical features for anyone whose responsibilities include data storage management:1. It's huge. A vast range of backup and recovery topics are covered. 2. It covers the theory and practice of network-based backup in large environments, whereas most technical guides assume you're dumping a few gigs to an 8mm. Even if that's the case, this book will help you do it right and show you how to plan for the future. 3. It's full of anecdotes and personal experiences, and it's written in a friendly style. Backup and recovery is not exactly the most engaging topic, but the conversational tone and the real-life horror stories in sidebars make it far easier to absorb than your average vendor manual. 4. It covers hot database backups without assuming you're a DBA. 5. It's an O'Reilly. If you're a sysadmin, buy it. It'll serve you well for the rest of your career.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
The Ultimate Backup ReferenceApr 02, 2000
By Elizabeth Zinkann
Backup and recovery are the quintessential thankless jobs. If you complete them successfully, no one notices. However, any mistakes (whether the fault is yours, a mechanical failure, or some other disaster) will create more attention than a "Wanted" poster on the Internet. It's a well-known fact that every computer system should be backed up regularly. However, the guidelines are a little vague. No one tells you how to backup, what to backup or when to backup. It's your responsibility as administrator. You are the one who somehow has to form a policy, make sure that it works, and be able to recover the computer data and setup in case of a catastrophe. Finally, someone has put the procedures in a readable, practical guide. W. Curtis Preston's UNIX Backup and Recovery shows you how to determine backup plans and procedures. He even describes the common (and the not-so-common) problems with recovery. He discusses the elements of backup policies and describes commercial products that your company may prefer. Preston illustrates how to backup your company's data, its databases, and more importantly, demonstrates how to recover that data from its backup media. Every system administrator needs this book. It's not a luxury; it's a necessity. Preston has written a guidebook for the dreaded tasks of backup and recovery, which shows administrators how to define the policies and implement the procedures. UNIX Backup & Recovery is a superb and essential book that will be used often.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Finally, an definitive book on an unpleasant subjectDec 08, 1999
By Brad Knowles
"Consultant & Author"
I worked with Curtis at a previous employer of mine. You don't begin to truly understand the complete scope of backups and all the issues involved unless you're a certified genius (which he is), and you live, eat, breathe, and drink backups day-in and day-out (which he does). Most admins hate to even think about backups (it's the most menial and unpleasant of all admin tasks), but we also recognize that they're necessary. Finally we have a book from a true expert that can help us minimize the effluent that we have to deal with, and spend more of our time doing the things we really like.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Defininetely the best backup book I've readDec 22, 1999
By Andreas Trianta
I believe that the most important advantage of this book is that it addresses strategic issues first and thus will remain valuable for many years to come. Secondly, it focuses on the basics: - talks about choices and questions one should think about before implementing anything. - explains how to 'sell' backup (actually restore) to management - reminds us that restoration is THE most important objective Finally, it was fun reading and is full of experience and cases. All in all, this is one book I would not like my competitors to have.
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
This is "The" Bible of Backup and RecoveryApr 04, 2000
I wish I had this book available many years ago. I read the chapters almost everyday since I baught it (this one is one of the best books i baught). If you are dealing with Backup and recovery on Unix, High availability etc. This is the book you want. The book has lots of humourus stories about his encounters with backup and restore senarios. I liked the Preface page. The book is all filled with the "right" information you need. Great book ! Great value for money !
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