What are the benefits of using the Towers of Hanoi backup rotation strategy?
The Tower of Hanoi strategy is the most effective backup rotation method for creating the longest possible recovery situation with a limited amount of backup media. To calculate how long a given number of virtual-tapes will cover, use the formula 2^n – 1. Raise 2 to the number of virtual-tapes, and subtract 1. For example, five backups would yield a 31-day rotation (2^5-1). If you used 10 virtual-tapes with the Towers of Hanoi rotation strategy, you would have backup coverage for 1023 days, nearly three years! This rotation would have backups from 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1023 days ago. Traditionally, the Towers of Hanoi strategy was only used if an organization could afford an expensive auto-loader tape drive. This is because the technique is considered too complex to rely on manual rotation. Other problems come from uneven wear and tear on the magnetic tapes. These tapes had to be replaced on a complex schedule, depending on how often the tapes were used. These probl
