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SystemAdmin
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 2:28 pm    Post subject: Backup Software Reply with quote

Hi,

We have LAN with 3 Servers and 80 Nodes. We want a backup utility for clients to backup data from a specific folder to a destination folder on the network. Important is that I am looking for a utility which can backup open files as well. Would appreciate if someone could refer me such backup utility.

Thanks in advance!
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darkt3ch
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Best one I have found, and pretty much the standard for corperate backup is BackupExec. Either Symantec or Veritas.

Install it on the server and push out the agent to clients that need to be backed up. Very easy to use, nice reports etc. oh. and yea you can backup open files Very Happy
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SystemAdmin
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the reply!

Could you please explain little bit more about BackupExec. I mean do I need to purchase Server edition as well as the client edition ? or I can have two in one.

Thanks!
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graycat
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

you buy the basic licensed version and install it on the server to backup the local data. The basic licence does not come with the "open file" option or remote backup, so you have to purchase the extra licences. Once you've purchased and updated the server installation you can then push out the clients to the remote machines you want to backup.

Useful add-ons to look at with Backup Exec are:
- Open File - does what it says on the tip, ie: can backup files that are already in use
- Exchange - a requirement if you have any Exchange servers you wish to backup (probably a good idea Smile)
- Remote Agent - used for backing up remote PCs (ie: non-local / over the network).
- SQL - for databases obviously Smile

Current version is 11d and is now a fully branded Symantec product after they bought out Veritas a while back. I've not tried 11d yet as we're still running 10d but I have yet to hear too many complaints about it so it looks like it's worth a shot.
HTH
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SystemAdmin
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Graycat for the detailed reply!

I am currently downloading 11d for evaluation purposes. I will get back here if I have questions.

Thanks again!
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graycat
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No problem. Here to help.

One bit of advice I will give you though: if you're using a tape drive for backup purposes, it's a well know but not well documented quirk of Backup Exec that it requires it's own drivers be used for the hardware NOT the manufacturer's. That'll save you a lot of heart ache if you just use the BE ones from the start Smile
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yea we are planning to purchase HP ultrium tape drive. So, you mean we need to use driver for tape drive from Symentec or we can use HP driver for hp ultium tape drive.

Thanks for your help!
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graycat
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 2:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SystemAdmin wrote:
Yea we are planning to purchase HP ultrium tape drive. So, you mean we need to use driver for tape drive from Symentec or we can use HP driver for hp ultium tape drive.


Just use the drivers in Backup Exec Smile
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SystemAdmin
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Graycat for the tip!

Infact the problem is that our staff does not perform backup proceedures so often and when something goes wrong with the workstation, the system department is being asked to do something to recover his/her data.

Ideally I want a storage solution, so that there should be one box with let say 1000GB capacity and we schedule clients data to be sync on daily basis on a central storage.

In my view, we can build a box with RAID 5 and put HDs, so that we reach around 1000GB capacity. And then use a backup software to automate clients data to be sync on daily basis. And with that box we will have tape drive of around 400GB.

What do you think how we should proceed to accomplish this task.

Thanks for the help in advance!
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graycat
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

a bit of a disclaimer to start off with - i don't know what your business needs are so will just have to go on your info provided.

I'd suggest that you look at something like a HP NAS box as they come in sizes up to about 2Tb usable space and are a cracking bit of kit for the price. Then look at either using some software like Backup Exec or even scripting copying data back to the NAS box.

IMO users should be working with data on servers not on their desktops. This way you only need to backup on location and all the data's covered (simplified, but you get the point). We have a policy here that all business data is held on servers which in turn have various backup and DR policies / processes in place to secure data. This way if a PC dies, it dies. We rebuild or replace it and the user is back in action. If we've got time we'll try and recover the data from the PC but that's only if there's time and the data is important enough.
If you are using a centralised data store on a server and have mobile users (laptops etc) then you could look at offline folders which is built into windows.
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SystemAdmin
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is good point, that users should work on Servers not on their desktop machines. But dont you think that there is a greater risk of daying server performance and may be hard drives if there are concurrent users and so many files are opened from the file server ?

What do you use as a Server. Does it a HP NAS or RAID?

Actually we also have mail server and we prefer to use PSTs rather than keeping all the emails on mail server. So when users will open outlook, all the PSTs will be opened from the file server and as a result server performance can go down and perhaps server drives can crash?

Your thoughts.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SystemAdmin wrote:
That is good point, that users should work on Servers not on their desktop machines. But dont you think that there is a greater risk of daying server performance and may be hard drives if there are concurrent users and so many files are opened from the file server ?
Not really. If / when you implement a server orientated storage solution you also implement redundancy, ie: backup to tape daily, mirror to another data store every night etc etc

SystemAdmin wrote:
What do you use as a Server. Does it a HP NAS or RAID?
I've got a mix of both. Servers for server roles (ie: DC, email, SQL etc) and NAS boxes where required. A NAS box is a lot cheaper than a server of similar spec as it is just designed to be Network Attached Storage (NAS), however the configuration options are limited and expanding / upgrading is very difficult (usual route is to get another one). A possible solution could be a 1U server with an external array of scsi drives in a RAID5 config, this data you would then backup to tape nightly and mirror to a NAS box at the other end of the office. The server could cost you £9000 (not an actual figure!) and the NAS box will be about £3000.

As I said, I've got a mix of servers and NAS boxes depending on their role, the load, how big the office is etc etc. The most common configuration is large server with a local NAS box mirroring the data a few times a day in the same office and then a remote NAS box mirroring the data on a daily basis. Don't forget to rotate tape sets and store them off site - no use doing backups if your office burns down and takes the tapes with them! Smile lol


SystemAdmin wrote:
Actually we also have mail server and we prefer to use PSTs rather than keeping all the emails on mail server. So when users will open outlook, all the PSTs will be opened from the file server and as a result server performance can go down and perhaps server drives can crash?
Why are you using a mail server and having the mail held locally on the PCs? what kind of mail server is it? are you using a wireless or wired network?
Depending on the size of your office / company an Exchange server which holds all the mail etc may be a preferred method. Servers are a lot less likely to die than desktops IMO. You may wish to consider a SBS server that will fulfil a bunch of roles at once but again that depends on your business needs really.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the reply Graycat. This is very useful. I am learning a lot from your experiences.

Could you please explain little bit about mirroring to another data store. I have experience of mirroring 2 hard drives within one box using windows mirroring option. Do you think there is other better way of doing mirroring and what about taking ghost of critical servers on regular basis.

We have exchange 2000 and recently we discontinued practice of leaving users emails on the Server since it was becoming almost impossible for us to manage space on server. Users are not using share folders on the network and they heavily depends on email, so they send every thing through emails. We are trying to create culture of using shared folder and discouraging staff not to exchange large files through the email.

We have around 80 staff members. So, keeping this senarios in mind we decided to use PSTs rather than allowing staff to leave there emails of around 2GB on the Server. Our head office does not allow this even, they have setted quota system and users has to use their PSTs for archiving etc.

Now I have number of options available and will see how to proceed to setup a storage system.

Thanks again for your guidance!
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