Janet Erbach
jerbach at gmail.com
Wed Mar 31 09:26:33 CDT 2010
My husband, Steven, claims that the whole issue of system backups REALLY belongs under umbrella of the 'Dark Arts'... Janet Erbach On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 8:07 AM, Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca> wrote: > Hi Max: > > When it comes to doing an image backup I personally use DriveImageXML > imbedded in a version of BartsPE distro. Because it is so important to get > the image right and to be able to confidentially know that the image will > create a perfect booting drive, I stick with slightly dated system. > > The one type of drive that can not be imaged correctly is some drive that > has used data compression...but not even Acronis can do that, counter to > their claims. > > In most cases when it comes to backing up a clients systems beyond that I > use what ever they have locally which in most cases turns out to be their > MS > backup. That is because I have great concerns when it comes to proprietary > systems. In many cases, a custom package ends up costing continuous > updates, > which do not get maintained or/and do not end up being used properly by the > local staff and the original media has a habit of getting lost...etc. > > Most sites are really very stable, especially when it comes to servers. > Major updates are done in blocks and then a new image. After that the data > is most important and to that I have been working with a friend to > implement > a remote backup service... $79.00 a month up to 500GB and this uses the new > LogMeIn backup service... uses a distributive synchronization method. (Only > backing up data changes so it is very fast.) > > I tend to wear suspender and a belt when it comes to backups and very > conservative on what software I use... I only use software that I have > watched complete a successful restoration. > > Jim > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Max Wanadoo > Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 11:45 PM > To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' > Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Symantec Backup Exec > > Jim, > > What do you use for the image? > What do you use for the incremental backups following the image? > > Ta > > Max > > > -----Original Message----- > From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence > Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 9:50 PM > To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' > Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Symantec Backup Exec > > Hi Janet: > > A system does not need a full image backup continuously. I traditionally > use > an image backup to set a 'Tomb Stone' and then just have the backups app > doing a regular backup. In the event of a major set of updates of system > configuration then an image can be redone. If a full restore is ever > required then the image backup is first used to rebuild a fully bootable > drive and the regular backs are use to restore the current status. > > There is something that seems to not be common knowledge: > > First; a fully bootable image of a drive can not be created while a system > is running. The system must be stopped then booted from a DVD/Memory stick > with your favourite Image backup application on it and then the full image > can be created. > > Second; products that claim they can do a full image while the system is > running are not telling the whole truth. There is only one way they can > even > start a backup and that is by either having exclusive use of the drives, > not > practical on an operation server or do a Shadow backup. Neither of those > methods are complete on an operational drive. > > Third; a Shadow backup is a backup created from the system's duplication > method. Those duplicated file tend to be sporadic especially on a very > active server and image does not end up with any of the primary drive info > or boot track information as it can not be duplicated while the system is > running...also having Shadow Copy feature running on an OS drive sucks up > recourses like crazy. For those and other reasons Shadow Copies should > never > be used on the boot drive...only on data drives. > > HTH > Jim > > > -----Original Message----- > From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Janet Erbach > Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 9:28 AM > To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues > Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Symantec Backup Exec > > Jim - > > Like you, we've been backing up to a portable device and taking the disks > off-site using Casper. But I was told last week that Casper does not > provide a truly bootable image for SBS 2008. > > I guess I balk at the standard Windows backup from an ease of > recoverability > standpoint in a total server crash. I like the idea of backups that > provide > a bootable image that can be restored onto another machine without having > to > re-install every bit of software. I've never been in that kind of > dead-in-the-water situation (thankfully!) so I'm just going by what I > imagine the recovery process to be like. Which, of course, is very likely > way off the mark. Am I putting too much emphasis on the importance of a > bootable image? > > Thanks for the info on logmein - I will look into that more. > > On your client's SBS 2008 machine...do you happen to know what the base > line > day-to-day memory usage is? Ours is running at around 12gb out of 16 > total...and I'm starting to think that 2008 is such a resource pig that it > really does require that much. I would be curious to know if your client's > machine runs like that as well. > > Janet > > _______________________________________________ > dba-Tech mailing list > dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > _______________________________________________ > dba-Tech mailing list > dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > _______________________________________________ > dba-Tech mailing list > dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >