Mark Breen
marklbreen at gmail.com
Wed Jan 13 03:39:45 CST 2010
Hello Steve, I should hare stressed one point here. ServerA has mirrored disks, so if I loose a disk, I should not loose the server. (machine B is the same BTW). But the big worry is always if anything goes wrong with ServerA, motherboard, video card, raid controller etc, I could loose the entire machine and it could takes days and days to get back from a failed raid controller. With machineB type configuration, I have a hot, ready to go, file sharing machine, that would allow 90% of the company to be backup up and running in minutes, and I could fix ServerA at my leisure. Oh One other thing, first thing I did when I went on-site three years ago was migrate the company off their old creaking Exchange Server and outlook, and move everything to Google App for Domains, so I have zero worries about backuping up or restoring their email systems. This is DeltaCopy http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp and if you do not like that, have a look at SyncToy by MS http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en thanks Mark 2010/1/13 Mark Breen <marklbreen at gmail.com> > Hello Steve, > > I saw there are already a lot of responses to this thread, but I can tell > you what I do with a few servers that I am responsible for. > > 1) I have a spare machine on the network, and I use DeltaCopy to mirror > certain folders from Server A to machine B everynight. This has worked well > for three years now. > This gives me hot backups, every 24 hours. I could actually increase the > frequency to every 12 hours if I wished. Very little network traffic, as > DeltaCopy only copies differences. > > 2) Using DeltaCopy again, I make a second sync of the files from Server A > to a WebServer that happens to exist in a data centre off site. For > connectivity I use Hamachi. You could offer the client this solution and > even host the off-site machine at home, once Hamachi works at home you are > ready to go. > > These two options give me hot 24 hours, on and off site backups, fully > automated and cost almost zero. If Server A went down, all data is stored > on machine B, on site. Sure I would have to map the printers again, and we > might have no domain controller for few days, but once everyone has access > to machine B, you are good to go. And of the building burns, floods, or all > equipment is stolen, you have 24 hours off site backups. > > 3) I periodically copy selected data onto CD / DVD / tape once a quarter as > a point in time archive. > > Hope that helps somewhat, > > Mark > > > 2010/1/12 Steve Erbach <erbachs at gmail.com> > > Dear Group, >> >> My wife, Janet, wrote a while back asking for advice on server backups. >> She's the *de facto* system administrator where she works, a retail >> high-end natural food supplement store with a large Internet presence [ >> www.naturalhealthyconcepts.com]. I said "de facto" because she really >> has >> no experience with hardware or networking. Databases, queries, a little >> web >> design, sure. Trouble-shooting network and backup issues? Yuck! >> >> Anyway, I've been, of course, privy to her continued struggles with the >> backup issues she's been having. This all started when Janet's boss had a >> new server installed. It's a Windows Small Business Server 2008 system. >> That's a hybrid of Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2005. >> >> The company that installed the server had never installed Small Business >> Server 2008 before...but the co-owner of the computer company is a >> roommate >> of one of the boss's employees...so, lets give the kid a chance, eh? >> >> Well, they haven't been much help. Shortly after the server was >> installed, >> I persuaded the network administrator of the place I had just been >> downsized >> from to come in on a weekend and take a look at the server and speed it up >> and offer suggestions. He had recommended a backup system based on a >> Thermaltake BlacX eSATA and USB docking station. Janet's boss purchased a >> couple 500 GB Seagate drives to cycle in the docking station. For backup >> software, the network admin recommended Casper. He didn't specify which >> edition of Casper to use...so Janet's boss authorized the purchase of the >> personal edition since it was only $50. >> >> Janet was able to get successful backups with Casper a few times...but she >> was continually frustrated because NOTHING seemed to work with respect to >> setting up a schedule for unattended backups. >> >> Lately she became a beta tester for the Casper Tech Edition, normally >> about >> $550. As a "reward" for being a beta tester, her company got a free copy >> of >> the new version. This has also been a spotty performer. Casper sometimes >> took over 12 hours to make a complete backup. >> >> She also tried Acronis Backup and Recovery 10 Server. There was a 15-day >> trial edition. That installation exacerbated her problems. Apparently, >> Acronis replaces the Windows Volume Shadow Copy with its own version. >> When >> she went to un-install Acronis, the Volume Shadow Copy service was >> disabled >> somehow and now Casper has even more problems since it relies on VSS. >> She's >> been trying to re-enable the Volume Shadow Copy service so that Casper >> Tech >> Edition will work properly. >> >> One more thing: the server has a 70 GB SAS RAID 5 array and a 500 GB data >> drive. Janet has attempted to backup both of these drives to one of the >> 500 >> TB drives in the docking station since ALL the space on those two >> production >> drives isn't used up. Acronis would often say that there wasn't enough >> room >> on the backup drive and abort. Another little "feature" of Acronis, >> apparently, is that it makes a temporary image during backup and needs >> extra >> drive space...at least that's my (limited) understanding. >> >> Janet's boss has purchased a couple more 500 GB drives to use for backups >> and Janet is juggling those as best she can with the limited knowledge she >> has of the way these image backup programs work. >> >> So, here are the questions: >> >> 1. what do you think of using an external docking station to plug in >> backup drives? >> 2. what do you think of the cloning-type backup solutions that are >> SUPPOSED to make bootable backups of a server? >> 3. what do YOU use to backup your servers? >> 4. what positive/negative experiences have you had with >> Acronis/Casper/Ghost/etc.? >> 5. should Janet recommend buying 1 TB drives for backups instead of >> cramming two drives onto a 500 GB backup drive? >> >> >> That'll do for now! This has been 9 or 10 months of struggling and >> praying >> that the hardware doesn't fail. >> >> Regards, >> >> Steve Erbach >> Neenah, WI >> _______________________________________________ >> dba-Tech mailing list >> dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >> http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >> > >