How It Works
MiBackup can be used to backup data such as application and file servers, server-side databases, and research data collections. It is built on IBM Spectrum Protect and is a client/server application that lets you backup files from, and restore files to, your server over the network.
The IBM Spectrum Protect Backup client is installed on your server. It performs scheduled automatic backups with data compression and optional data encryption transmitting to and from the MiBackup server. Backups are replicated to another facility, both of which are secure, climate controlled, and built for highly available production services.
Note: Backups are stored on tape or in the cloud and not available on CD or DVD at this time.
Restoring Data
The restore is handled on the client side. You will have control of when and what to restore, without intervention from a MiBackup Administrator, except for assistance, if necessary. Restore jobs have priority except for the MiBackup service database maintenance. A restore takes time, and is impacted if reading from several tapes. A solution would be to use the "collocation" configuration, where each backup Client uses its own tapes. Additional time is still required for the system to load and unload the tapes required for the restore
Sensitive Data
Refer to the Sensitive Data Guide when working with sensitive data. The MiBackup service does not, by default, encrypt data before it is transmitted.
If you have files on your system that contain highly sensitive data, consider taking the following steps:
- Configure the backup client options file, dsm.opt (Windows) or dsm.sys (Unix/Linux), with encryption. For example, "Encrypt yes."
- Encrypt your files before backing them up.
Important: Be sure to keep a full history of the passwords for files that you encrypt. - Exclude files that contain password information from your backups. Configure the dsm.opt (Windows) or dsm.sys (Unix/Linux) file with exclude statements to exclude the files. For example, Exclude "path/.../file.txt."