I'd like to get a feel for what level of cover other CDS users have on their systems for software/hardware support (including who you use, e.g. do you have fully qualified database administrators, central hardware support), disaster recovery/backup procedures (e.g. backup/mirrored servers, client imaging, hot/cold backups), turn-around time for support, etc. If you could also indicate the number of users, client PCs and instruments, and possibly what CDS you use, that would be useful.

Thanks for any info you provide
Tim

Hi Tim,

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking. I have used ChemStation/ChemStore, Millennium32/Empower, and TurboChrome.

You should definately have disaster recovery and backup and recovery procedures in place and tested. It is important that you set up the databse properly on appropriate hardware. Mirrored disks and tape backup are certainly appropriate. Depending on how you set up the database and your database skills you can certainly use hot and cold backup scripts as part of your strategy. Another option is to use third party software like AcrServe or Backup Exec with the Oracle agents.

Client images are useful but aren't designed to work on different hardware, although they often will. Definately useful for media failure, not ideal for disaster recovery. Another option is to deploy the clients inside of a vmWare virutal machine and validate as such. Good luck.