IT Guys, I know your out there...

[zachary]

From one IT pro to another, im wanting to see if there is anything else I can do to make my backup scheme more fault tolerable.

Just to preface this, I despise tapes and refuse to work them into my scheme any more than they already are.


So,
|>fileserv is mirrored to backup server nightly
SERVER1-------\ |
SERVER2-------\\ |
FILESERV3--------->BACKUP SERVER -- EXTERNAL HDD1
SERVER4-------// (swapped daily)
SERVER5-------/ EXTERNAL HDD2



So basically ive got my 5 servers, one of which is my fileshare server. All of these servers are backed up via windows backup, which im using to make a copy of the whole server (bare metal recovery) which will enable me to recover anything from one file to the entire server.

These backup images are copied nightly onto the external hard drives via the backup server. The backup server basically just shares the externals.

The backup server also has a mirror software running on it to mirror our fileshare server nightly. That way I have my files in three places at once. One external is offsite at all times.

Does this look fairly solid to you?

[cfortner]

The process looks solid.

I don't have any experience with Windows Backup bare metal recovery. But that, I'd guess is your weakest link. Have you tested the restore process?

Unfortunately there aren't just a lot of great options for Windows. Obviously Netbackup would be awesome if you could afford the price tag.

I've supported R1soft in the past. Their initial windows offering was lacking and buggy, but seems they've fixed those original windows problems.

[zachary]

Originally Posted by cfortner

Have you tested the restore process?

Yes, for single files, not the whole bare metal recovery.

It seems to work really really well. Im sure its not the best that's out there but it seems to get the job done.

[venchka]

What is the physical distance between the original files and the backup copies?

[zachary]

Originally Posted by venchka

What is the physical distance between the original files and the backup copies?

The offsite backup's are kept at my house. About 40 miles away.

[venchka]

Do you do that every day? Personally, I don't think 40 miles is far enough. For fire or the building blowing up, sure. For a hurricane, maybe not.

[zachary]

Originally Posted by venchka

Do you do that every day? Personally, I don't think 40 miles is far enough. For fire or the building blowing up, sure. For a hurricane, maybe not.

That's a good point. Well fire is definitely our primary concern. But hurricane is something we do need to consider. While there is no formal plan in place, I would guess that the files offsite external would evacuate with me.

I guess what we need is a third external to also go with someone who would be evacuating to another location.

Or maybe a safety deposit box somewhere...

[stephenpinn]

The only thing I believe I can add is having you backup server in a differnt part of your building. That way in case of a localized problem (broken water pipe, small fire, etc) your backup server would probably be unaffected.

My system at home is a single server (winserver 2008r2) with 5 drivies raid5'd the system files are on another disk and that is backed up (windows backup like yours) to the array. Nightly this server has the array syncronized with an UNRAID server that I have running on the other side of the house. I use SyncBacPro for maintaining file syncronization. Weekly backups of the UNRAID server to another unraid server with that machine living in a storage unit (lots of travel :()

I am in the process of setting up a VPN with my son in law so that we can store critical files on eachothers servers.

[venchka]

Why can't you backup directly to an offsite computer? Way offsite. Like my house in Wood county? I could make you a deal.

[zachary]

Originally Posted by venchka

Why can't you backup directly to an offsite computer? Way offsite. Like my house in Wood county? I could make you a deal.

We may do that eventually...but not to your house. Sorry, I cant trust you with our sensitive top-secret data on our government research projects. Like the new militarized koala-bot, designed to sleep in the treetops until it senses nearby insurgents and expl...ive already said too much.

[stephenpinn]

Dang, forgot to compliment you on the ASCII Art!

[Anthony Martinez]

I certainly second the way offsite recommendation, though I wouldn't go as far as to call myself an IT professional anymore. I gave that up post-Army as a good way to keep myself out of prison for confusing which set of skills were best suited for dealing with users.

Faulting you for hating tapes would be silly, because anyone who actually likes using tapes is surely insane. I still have nightmares about the odd nights when the tape magazine would malfunction and require me to make an early trip on site to fix, and babysit things. That said, I would (and have) fire anyone suggesting rotating platter drives as the sole means of backup for mission-critical information. Granted, this is a call that is entirely up to the particular business/operation in question.

You didn't mention whether these servers were running, or at least serving from, RAID arrays or not, but I'm assuming^Whoping there's parity involved somewhere.

[tc95]

Zachary...the only thing I might add is a Cloud set-up...off site service that you upload your information to nightly...that would take two of your steps away and free-up resources...You would get-rid of the second HD-Portable-Backup...and Server 4 plus you can have access to all your data no mater where you go..upload and download...

I know the issues most have with this...(my information is in someone else's hand)...well unfortunately...your info can be had a number of other ways...easier than attacking these systems...and most of them have several redundancies so you don't have to worry about them...but just to be safe...you might want to subscribe to two different services...if one goes down then you have a back-up...

Just my two pennies...

[Detonate]

Check out IDRIVE

Subscription Plans offered by IDrive online backup service

It'll give you online backups.

I use the Family Pack, which gives you 500 gb online storage for $150 a year.

You can run the client on up to 5 machines. Now here is the best part. The client will work on Windows Server. Some of the other online backup places I checked out did not offer a server client, which is a deal breaker for me.

I run the client on my Fileserver and have it set to only backup my images and personal video files, skipping my software and movies shares.

I also run the client on my PC, my wife's PC, Mediacenter PC, etc... And have it set to only backup essential files on them. Like basically My Documents....

All in all, a very solid solution on top of already backing up my PC's to my file server, and my Fileserver has a 10 drive array in a RAID 6, which can tolerate 2 drive failures.

[zachary]

I dont know, for a home user I think cloud storage is fine...but im not sure about something like that for a business.

As far as RAID arrays, yes, all my servers have RAID 5 arrays. And servers 1-4, which include my fileserver, are all virtualized with Vmware esxi.

I also plan to eventually take snapshots of my virtual servers and put them on a hard drive and store it offsite as well. Easy recovery.