Backing up a Disk Storage Unit to tape?

[jwmcf1]

Currently I have a Oracle backup policy that backs up to a Disk Storage unit.  Stagging is enabled on this DSU and the backup is duplicated to a tape.  Problem is that the duplication thing isn't all that clear to me as to how I would restore from the duplicated tapes in the event of complete site  disaster, plus due to a limited number of tapes I will need to create separate retention levels for the tapes than what is set on the DSU (1 MONTH).

So, I'm thinking about turning off duplication and simply creating a new policy that backs up the disk backup location to tape.  So in other words,  I'm going to backup the backups. 

My reasoning behind this is I'm thinking it would be easier to keep track of my tapes and configure retention levels.  I'm also thinking that it would also be easier to recover the Oracle img's back to disk in the event of a complete disaster where both the Oracle and NetBackup machine is lost.

I'm just wondering how this would work in a DR scenario where the only thing I have left are my backup tapes.

I'm thinking I would:

rebuild NBU on a new box. 

Restore the catalog backup. 

Then restore the backup of the Oracle disk based backups to the DSU.

Rebuild the Oracle box and install the NBU client

And at this point would I be able to start a restore of Oracle from the client by pointing to the DSU that has the recovered backups?

[Ed_Wilts]

The nice thing about DSSUs is that you don't need to worry about where the data is actually sitting during a restore.  Use duplication - it's a LOT simpler.

Basically during restore time you point your restore at the FILES you want restored.  NetBackup knows if it has multiple copies and which copy is available.  If you have a copy on both disk and tape, it uses the disk copy.  If you have only 1 copy on either disk or tape, it uses that copy.  A single restore request can span both disk and tape and it's transparent to you unless you need to pull tapes from offsite.

Your DR recovery process will work but I don't believe it's the most efficient one.  Your catalog and your backups of your DSUs are not going to be in sync.

I think you'd be far better off with DSSUs or SLPs.  You'll actually find the recovery more consistent, predictable, and faster.