Indiana University

Backup Services

Data backup services are available for purchase, independently or in conjunction with virtual system rentals.

Virtual system rentals include an off-site backup of your system images and your operating systems. This is a separate service that provides backups of your data.

Technology: Tivoli Storage Manager, Extended Edition
Frequency: A backup of your server is run every night, 365 days a year. TSM stores the current version and up to 2 old versions of each file.


This service is not intended for individual workstations or personal computers.

You are responsible for the acquisition and installation of TSM backup client software, including upgrades and patches, when you subscribe to backup services for your owned server.

Use the TSM cost estimator tool to estimate your yearly charges:

Data Backup Pricing
  • Data retention charge for backup storage
  • $.35/GB/year

For detailed UITS pricing, see the UITS pricing web site

To request backup services on a physical server, go to:

This form is for adding TSM service to a physical server. TSM requests for Virtual Systems are made via the Virtual System request form.

How It Works

The first TSM backup copies every file on a TSM client server to storage. After that, TSM runs backups every night, but only new and changed files are backed up. TSM does not do weekly full backups and nightly incrementals, to save time and system resources.

In place of periodic full backups, TSM keeps the most current version of each backed-up file indefinitely. Up to two previous versions of a file are also kept for up to 35 days each. If a third ‘previous version’ is created the oldest one is deleted by TSM whether or not 35 days have elapsed. Each time a file is modified, TSM backs it up again. TSM marks it as the new current version, and will keep it indefinitely if it is not changed or deleted. Even if a file is deleted from user storage,TSM keeps the deleted file for 60 days, but deletes all previous versions of the file from backup storage.

The amount of change that occurs in your data directly affects the amount of TSM storage retained. The following calculations provide backup cost examples. The examples use 1GB files for ease of calculation purposes. Backups are not computed by the number of files, rather by the amount of GB in TSM storage for your server.

Calculation example 1)

TSM will retain up to 3 versions of each file. Each version copied to TSM storage adds to the total storage used and to your TSM monthly bill. Your change rate is very low with only one GB changing for the entire month.

  1. Source filesystem of 100GB, contains a quantity of 80 1GB files. The Data retention charge is billed at the end of each month at 1/12th the annual rate.
  2. Initial backup would be a complete backup (80GB x $0.35) / 12 = $2.33.
  3. Files that do not change throughout the month would have no additional charges.
  4. Each file that changes will send a new “version” to TSM and will be billed a retention fee [(1GB x $.35) / 12] = $0.03 for each GB.

$2.36 Retention Rate (81GB stored, 80GB original plus 1GB additional)

$2.36 Total TSM bill for the month



Calculation example 2)

TSM will retain up to 3 versions of each file. Each version copied to TSM storage adds to the total storage used and to your TSM monthly bill. Every file in your filesystem is changed one time per month.

  1. Source filesystem of 100GB, contains a quantity of 80 1GB files. The Data retention charge is billed at the end of each month at 1/12th the annual rate.
  2. Initial backup would be a complete backup (80GB x $0.35) / 12 = $2.33.
  3. Files that do not change throughout the month would have no additional charges.
  4. Each file that changes will send a new “version” to TSM and will be billed a retention fee [(1GB x $.35) / 12] = $0.03 for each GB.
    • a. Note: $0.03 is a rounded value, exact value is 0.029166667.

$4.67 Retention Rate (160GB stored, 80GB original plus 80GB additional)

$4.67 Total TSM bill for the month



Calculation example 3)

TSM will retain up to 3 versions of each file. Each version copied to TSM storage adds to the total storage used and to your TSM monthly bill. Each month, 20 files in your filesystem are changed three times per month.

  1. Source filesystem of 100GB, contains a quantity of 80 1GB files. The Data retention charge is billed at the end of each month at 1/12th the annual rate.
  2. Initial backup would be a complete backup (80GB x $0.35) / 12 = $2.33.
  3. Files that do not change throughout the month would have no additional charges.
  4. 4. Each file that changes will send a new “version” to TSM and will be billed a retention fee [(1GB x $.35) / 12] = $0.03 for each GB.
  5. a. Note: $0.03 is a rounded value, exact value is 0.029166667.

$4.08 Retention Rate (140GB stored, 80GB original plus 60GB additional)

$4.08 Total TSM bill for the month