Network Design

[alevy4]

I would like to be able to do on-line backups. Say I add another NIC to each of my physical servers in the grid, and connect these NICs to a network designated specifically for backups (TSM). Can the adapters be presented to applicances so that the interface can be configured with an IP address? Thanks, Andrew.

[PeterNic]

AppLogic's hardware architecture provides one network for connecting to external resources -- the external network. You can use it for backups, including using RFC1918 addresses, which will never leave the local network.

You can concentrate the backup network access through a gateway and have all appliances in the application that need to backup connect to it via the backbone network.

If you have some more details about the type of apps you will run (single appliance VPDs vs. multi-appliance app structures) and whether the backup will be on the grid itself or external to it, we may be able to provide more info.

(Needless to say, depending on the size of the project, we may provide a custom build which will support a 3rd network.)

Best regards,
-- Peter

[alevy4]

Peter, thank you for your prompt replies to all my posts so far.

The question was more out of interest as to how AppLogic would fit into our current business. We use Tivoli Storage Manager for backups, require daily backups and cannot take down the application more than once a month. Lets say that the backups are for a single appliance. Data is dumped from Postgres to flat file when no updates are being made to the database. So the database is always available (for data retrieval if not updates). We would then like to send the flat file/s to tape using TSM. TSM will not be located on the grid.

Any info you can provide will be appreciated.

[PeterNic]

What we usually recommend is connecting it to the external network switch and using RFC1918 addresses. Usually the local network has plenty of bandwidth above and beyond what the public connection can carry (or need to carry).

If you need to place it externally (outside of the local network), you can have a proxy, running on AppLogic that will VPN/encrypt the traffic.

Best regards,
-- Peter