Scope of Services and Service Specifics
The customer can retrieve multiple versions of the backed up files from the server at any time.
Details on the retention period, number of versions, frequency of backups, etc. are described in the "Guidelines for Using the Archive and Backup System" (http://www.lrz.de/services/datenhaltung/adsm/richtlinien/). There, the regulations regarding maintenance times and support by the LRZ are also described, as well as the customer's obligation to cooperate.
The quality assurance measures include among others
- Accommodation of all storage systems in specially built rooms of the data center with suitable air conditioning (constant, optimal humidity and temperature), fire protection, restrictive access control, etc.
- Use of redundant systems, as far as technically possible and economically reasonable, to minimize the risk of failure.
- Use of high-quality components and system components from proven manufacturers to minimize the risk of failure. Exclusive use of high-quality data media and equally high-quality drives from well-known reliable manufacturers.
- Double data storage for all archive files, with automatic storage of copies at another data center.
- Regular recopying of the tapes (technical migration).
- Multiple backup of metadata (e.g. using RAID 6/RAID DP). Furthermore, to minimize the risk of data loss, a backup of the metadata is created several times a day.
- As far as possible and economically reasonable regular expansion and extension of the systems, e.g. server capacities, tape drives, tape library, network connection and other relevant resources to avoid overloads or bottlenecks.
- Continuous technical upgrades of all systems.
The data is usually stored on tapes. In justified cases, particularly important data can also be kept permanently on disk (backup to disk), if suitable, in order to shorten retrieval times.
Service Parameter
Definition of the basic supply for data backup and archiving
Provided that the service is used in the sense of a basic provision, the LRZ generally assumes the costs incurred by statutory users (investment and operating costs), provided that these have been secured by funds in the budget of the LRZ. The LRZ takes care also for the timely submission of the necessary applications (large-scale research equipment according to §91b GG or large-scale equipment of the states according to §143c GG). This presupposes that corresponding requests and changes are notified in time so that they can be incorporated into corresponding preliminary planning (budget estimates) and applications (e.g. applications for large-scale equipment).
Periodically it is estimated which storage capacity will be available for the next two years. This includes extensions through own resources and the implementation of large equipment applications. This capacity will be made available free of charge as a basic supply to class 1 users, i.e. TUM, LMU and Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
The basic supply includes the provision of capacity and software (licenses) for up-to-date automatic data backup for
- File servers
- Application servers
- Desktop systems incl. notebooks, as far as operationally relevant
The basic supply also includes the longer-term storage of data (archiving, default 10 years, on request even longer, order of magnitude 30 years).
If the storage capacity of an organization/institution exceeds the basic supply capacities, the cost price for the additional requirements shall be incurred. Munich Universities can be provided with a total capacity of 35 PiB each as basic supply for the storage of their backup and archive data for the year 2023. Assuming that the annual growth factor does not exceed 1.3, this should mean that no or no significant additional fees will be charged to the universities in user class 1.
Service Availabilty
An monthly availability of the systems of at least 95% is targeted.
Fees
Fees K for the use of the service are invoiced at the beginning of each year for the previous calendar year. They are charged on the basis of the volume of incoming and stored data (archive and backup):
K = (Mincoming + Mstored) * P
Mstored is the average amount of data at the end of each month.
Mincoming is the sum of all data received over the 12 months.
Different fee rates P apply for backup and archive data: