Archiving Data from User Shares to Tape SOP

Note: This is a fee-based service that needs to be activated for individual accounts. Send an email to help@bioinformatics.udel.edu to inquire.

Step 1: Create the Archive Directory

Within each group's shared folder (home directory), create an archive directory.

Step 2: Organize Files for Archiving

Inside the "archive" directory, create a sub-directory named xxxx and place the files you wish to archive in this sub-directory.

Step 3: Prepare for Archiving

Once all the files are inside xxxx and ready for backup, rename the directory to xxxx.ready.

Step 4: Automate Directory Renaming and Protection

Admin will configure a cron job to scan for directories within each shared folder's "archive" directory that have names ending with .ready. When these directories are identified, the cron job will rename them to xxxx.archive and set them to read-only, preventing users from adding additional files.

Step 5: Initiate Archiving

Admin will use a script to copy the xxxx.archive directory to the server hosting the tape drive and begin the archiving process to tapes.

Step 6: Verification and Cleanup

After the archiving job is complete, Admin's script will verify the consistency of the files backed up on the tapes with the original files. A list of these files will be placed in the xxxx.archive directory, and the original files in that folder will be deleted.

Step 7: Final Note

Admin will ensure that both the xxxx.archive directory and the list of archived files inside it are set to read-only for the group.