Changes to NBARS Software Coming This Fall

The NIH Backup and Recovery Service (NBARS) will be upgraded to version 3 of the ADSM server software this fall. This upgrade is necessary since vendor support for version 2 will no longer be available after December 31. This upgrade should be transparent to the user.

New Features and Enhancements in the Server

The new version of the server software contains many enhancements. An especially nice change is the increased efficiency of client file storage—small files are bundled together into larger units, reducing the number of files stored by a node by an average of 25%. Since one component of NBARS charging is a monthly charge per file stored, this new feature will correspondingly reduce the cost of using NBARS.

Other new features include

• support for the use of a browser to carry out NBARS administrative functions (including allowing administrative commands to be issued from a Macintosh)

• centralized storage of client error conditions—making it easier to monitor the status of client backups

• ability to specify a set of files and directories to be backed up incrementally, in addition to the incremental backup of an entire file system such as a disk drive

• preservation of directory structure when files are restored to an alternate location

Version 3 Client Software Is Still Being Tested

Testing is underway on the new ADSM (version 3) client software. The client software will have a greatly improved user interface for the 32-bit Windows client, as well as for clients for several other platforms, including the Macintosh.

These client enhancements—along with the improvements that come with the new version of the NBARS server—will provide better facilities for using and administering NBARS nodes. We hope to have the version 3 client software ready for distribution by the end of 1998. Version 2 client software will continue to work with the version 3 server.

Interface's September issue will announce the availability dates for these new versions of both server and client software.

See the following article on rate reductions for NBARS coming this fall.