A flexible backup system

Includes bibliographical references (page 72)System backup is the periodic copying of a computer's\ud data to a backup medium in order to prevent loss of\ud information due to hardware failure or accidental\ud deletion of files. Most backup systems are inefficient\ud and inflexible, requiring reprogramming with each change\ud in system configuration. The goal of this project was to\ud create a flexible and also efficient backup system, that\ud would not become obsolete or require reprogramming for\ud each system configuration change. In addition, the backup\ud program was to minimize the chances of errors being\ud introduced by operator actions.\ud A PASCAL program was designed and implemented that\ud generates backup instructions, based on information in a\ud data file and information provided by the computer system \ud at runtime. An interface to the backup data was designed\ud to minimize the introduction of erroneous data. Several\ud backup options were provided to increase flexibility. Two\ud additional programs (Tapelist and Update) were created to\ud support the backup process.\ud The backup system SYSBACKUP is currently in daily\ud operation on three Digital Equipment Corporation VAX\ud computers