Need Help Backing Up Your LAN or Desktop Computer?

DCRT's Centrally Managed Enterprise Data (CMED) project will help users to back up and restore data on LAN servers and desktop computersæthat is, PCs, Macintoshes, and Unix workstations. Based on Adstar Distributed Storage Manager (ADSM), the project gives users of the DCRT computing facilities a secure, reliable central mechanism for backing up and restoring mission-critical enterprise data across interconnected LANsæwithout great expense and without manual intervention by users.

ADSM is a client/server product that provides a centralized, automatic service, yet leaves decisions and control in the hands of users. ADSM allows for distributed administration. Clients are organized into "policy" domains, and individuals can be authorized to administer one or more specific policy domains. This allows LAN administrators to tailor backup policies and schedules to the needs of the users on their LANs. While ADSM supports several network transport protocols, DCRT will offer it only for use with TCP/IP, in compliance with Architectural Management guidelines.

Several months ago, the Computing Facilities Branch (CFB) began an NIH-wide pilot test of ADSM with the cooperation of individuals from several institutes. Since the results of this testing have been promising, the pilot is now being expanded.

Technical LAN Coordinators who wish to join the pilot test or acquire more information about it should contact TASC and ask for a call back from one of the ADSM system administrators.

Interface 192 (September 15, 1995)