IBM rolls out new AIX backup recovery utility

IBM this week launched a new version of its backup, recovery and re-installation tools for users of its AIX operating system.

Called the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for System Backup and Recovery V5.5 and known as SysBack for short, the product now offers either local or remote backup and recovery of data, as well as a reduced impact from backing up data from inactive, offline mirror copies of data. In addition, it includes a simplified re-installation program and the ability to reboot the application from remote systems and tape libraries. It also supports the RS/6000 Scalable POWERparallel Systems and host computers with logical partitioning (LPAR) capability.

The software also allows a systems administrator to create CD or DVD images of backups and create scripts that eliminate the necessity to prompt the user during an installation.

SysBack features management from a command-line interface or via a menu and gives systems administrators root user level access to perform many backup and restore operations that require access to the operating system.

Systems administrators can backup individual volumes, file systems, files and directories with SysBack. Incremental backups can be performed and scripts and schedules can be created for automating the backup process.

The software works with a variety of tape drives and libraries, as well as any autoloader that supports an automatic mode of operation.

The product starts at $82,250 and will be available as soon as December 20. It works with AIX 4.3 or AIX 5L on pSeries or RS/6000 servers.