Re: Backup Strategy
From: Kevin Rains (krains_at_DELMEyahoo.com)
Date: 03/10/05
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Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 09:43:12 -0600
In the case of a physical disaster (fire, theft, etc.) you can't help but
lose data back to the point in time of the latest offsite storage.
Spreading your data onto different physical devices around the office can
possibly help this (i.e. your servers are stolen but the thief didn't steal
your external HDD that was located in another room), but physical
destruction of the entire office removes even that benefit. Major physical
disaster aside, storing incremental data on a device physically separate
from your server(s) (back to the point in time of a good offline image as
previously mentioned) will usually prevent most if not all data loss. The
downside is that it may take a while to get everything running again in the
case of a disaster (but you will have the data).
Personally I wouldn't physically move hard drives around more than once a
week. I normally wouldn't even move them around more than once a month, but
sometimes circumstances dictate what you must do. If I was going to carry
HDD around all of the time I might be tempted to buy 4 of them: one to store
offline images (that stays offsite), and three to rotate offsite everyday
(or every other day, etc.) that contain (daily) online images. You can
probably buy 4 large external HDD for the price of one quality tape drive.
Thanks,
Kevin
"Aaron (ireland)" <Aaronireland@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:49235A79-1D54-44BF-8BE6-53A0E0EBD50A@microsoft.com...
> Hi Kevin,
>
> Thanks for the reply. In a nut shell I am thinking of buying two external
> HDD 250gb-300gb) but I can not get a clear picture of how to rotate the
> backups to insure no data lose. I think the ghost image of the two servers
> are a great Idea. Then I can do incremental backups on the data. But how
to
> rotate them is my problem so I never losse info.
>
> Thanks again
>
> "Kevin Rains" wrote:
>
> > Well, that seems to be a tricky situation. The easiest, but most
expensive,
> > solution is to buy two large capacity tape drives so that you could do a
> > full backup of each server on its own tape every day. I don't think you
> > want to do that or you probably wouldn't have posted the question in the
> > first place. In the end, any backup scenario comes down to risk
assessment
> > and risk management -- how much data are you willing to lose and/or how
much
> > effort are you willing to expend to put a "broken" system back together
> > again. It is always best to make full backups to be taken offsite
everyday,
> > but sometimes logistics or expense make this impractical. I like
external
> > HDD for backup purposes, but I don't think they are built for the abuse
they
> > take being carried offsite every day. The physical abuse can obviously
be
> > reduced by purchasing more drives such that they are carried offsite
less
> > often. Without knowing all of the specifics about your situation, it's
hard
> > to make a specific recommendation. There are probably a hundred
different
> > things you could do, but here's one option:
> > Use Ghost (or something similar) to create offline images of both
servers
> > and place them on a large external HDD. Keep this drive offsite.
> > Periodically (once a month for instance) reproduce these images, or
anytime
> > you have a significant configuration change.
> > Use your current tapes to perform a daily backup of all data (company
> > folder, user folders, exchange, etc.). These tapes can be taken offsite
if
> > needed. If possible, it would be good to archive daily tapes back to
the
> > point in time of the latest server HD images. If you don't have this
many
> > tapes, you could purchase an additional HDD (to leave permanently
onsite) to
> > store daily incremental backups. You can probably store at least 30
days
> > worth of daily incremental data on a large HDD (especially if your daily
> > data doesn't include your entire exchange store). Without exchange, you
may
> > even be able to store 60 days worth of incremental data.
> >
> > HTH,
> > Kevin
> >
> > "Aaron (ireland)" <Aaronireland@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message
> > news:2FE576DC-A7D4-46BC-B89B-9234C9E515E3@microsoft.com...
> > > Hi Lads,
> > >
> > > How are you? Well I hope. Anyways I want to get this backup strategy
out
> > of
> > > the way. I think at this stage I have read everything on backups. But
I
> > can't
> > > find anything that I would like to do. One of my backups are 22gb this
is
> > the
> > > largest one.The tapes I have are 20gb. I am thinking of buying some
> > external
> > > drives. Here is a run down on what I have;
> > >
> > > 2 x server
> > > server 1 (sbs2003) = 22.4GB full system
> > > server 2 (w2k server) = 18.1gb full system
> > >
> > > Data
> > > Company folder = 1.02GB
> > > Users shared = 4.48GB
> > >
> > > The above is all the backup locations. no local workstation backups
will
> > be
> > > took intially. I am getting confused about all this daily increments
and
> > > shadow copying.
> > >
> > > What would you recommend I do?
> > >
> > > Aaron
> > >
> > > "Kevin Rains" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Even though I don't personally use this many tapes, I like the tape
> > rotation
> > > > that Jeff Middleton mentions in this post from a couple of years
ago:
> > > >
> > > > <BeginQuote>
> > > >
> > > > I don't dedicate a specific subset of the tapes to a particular
rotation
> > > > sequence, that is, I don't isolate the tapes used daily from the
tapes
> > use
> > > > weekly, monthly. The rotation I use is actually fairly simple to
> > describe in
> > > > progress, but difficult to diagram "the life of a tape in use" or
> > identify a
> > > > tape use count on a specific tape at a particular time. Over a year,
> > it's
> > > > pretty even. It approaches the balanced wear of using tapes 1 to 15
and
> > > > repeat forever.
> > > >
> > > > To describe my rotation, let's use the same terms to describe a
literal
> > 1 to
> > > > 15 straight cycle. You make one stack of 15 tapes, each day you pull
the
> > > > tape from the drive and place it at the bottom of the stack, pull
the
> > next
> > > > tape at the top of the stack and place it in the drive. Simple
right?
> > You
> > > > don't even need to know which tape is which, you just use the next
tape.
> > The
> > > > stack "flows", rather than having a slot in the middle opening up.
> > > >
> > > > Okay, my rotation works the same way, but I reserve 4 stacks, one
for
> > each
> > > > occasion: Daily, Week, Month, reuse Pool.
> > > >
> > > > If you came to a site working the rotation already, you would find
on
> > any
> > > > day, anytime you visit: Four stacks (or trays) of tapes like what is
> > below.
> > > >
> > > > Note, the count of tapes in each stack never changes, and the label
> > > > indicated is the "occasion" those tapes were used for.
> > > >
> > > > (3) Pool: Ready to use next.
> > > > (4) Weekdays: Most recent weekdays run for the past 4 (Mon -
> > Thurs)
> > > > (4) End of Week: Most recent end of week tape (Friday) for past
four
> > > > weeks
> > > > (3) End of Month: Most recent last day of month, whatever day it
was
> > > > (1) Tape in the drive to run that night.
> > > >
> > > > Everytime you pull a tape from the drive, you place it at the bottom
of
> > the
> > > > stack identified for the "occasion" the use of the tape represents,
and
> > you
> > > > pull off the tape from that top of the same stack, returning the
"new
> > > > volunteer" into the pool at the bottom position. Now you pull the
tape
> > from
> > > > the top of the pool, put it in the tape drive. That's the rotation.
> > > >
> > > > Tape drive to reserved stack, oldest tape from same reserve stack
goes
> > to
> > > > pool, tape next in pool into the tape drive.
> > > >
> > > > The main point is that you are not replacing the new tape in the old
> > tape's
> > > > position, you are always adding the new tape to the bottom of the
stack,
> > > > pulling the tape of the top. Every tape cycles through every stack
from
> > > > bottom to top, and the count never changes in any stack. As a
result,
> > you
> > > > would have a hard time predicting which tape cartridge is being used
the
> > > > next day, but you know for sure that you have the last 4 weekdays,
plus
> > the
> > > > last 4 Fridays, plus the last three end of months. The pool is
whatever
> > > > tapes got kicked out of the stack and return to the rotation.
> > > >
> > > > This means there is no tape "always used at the end of the month",
not
> > tape
> > > > "always used only on weekdays". Every tape is working its way
through
> > the
> > > > pool and takes the next job offered, but the thing that is firmly
> > evident is
> > > > that you have a recovery set of tapes being used in a fairly random
> > manner,
> > > > this gives good tape wear balance, plus you don't have a specific
tape
> > used
> > > > always on a critical event like end of month. If a tape is going to
> > fail,
> > > > it's more likely to fail on a daily job because most tapes get more
runs
> > on
> > > > daily use, than the other periods.
> > > >
> > > > The caveat is that you actually won't use stacks, you use a front to
> > back
> > > > shelfbox or tray to store them, but saying stack is easier to
visualize
> > > > because you do like a card game: Always deal off the top of the
stack,
> > stuff
> > > > to the bottom.
> > > >
> > > > </EndQuote>
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Kevin
> > > >
> > > > "Mark" <info@nospam.mcse2000.com> wrote in message
> > > > news:OUeiwmKJFHA.2784@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> > > > > The best strategy is a 23 tape rotation, full backups
> > > > > Mon-Fri (5)
> > > > > Sat (4)
> > > > > Monthly (12)
> > > > > Annual (1)
> > > > >
> > > > > the 23rd is for the odd times there are 5 weeks in a month
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > "Aaron (ireland)" <Aaronireland@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
in
> > > > message
> > > > > news:A6E652EC-E0D5-4A3F-AB63-7E63763F692B@microsoft.com...
> > > > > > Hi All,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I have been searching this newsgroup for some time now. I am
having
> > > > > > problems
> > > > > > creating a backup strategy for my network. One of my main
problems
> > is
> > > > the
> > > > > > sqeunce in which the backups are carried out i.e. daily, weekly,
> > monthly
> > > > > > and
> > > > > > so on.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I would love to set the backup so that I never lose any files.
The
> > > > backups
> > > > > > are around 57GB this include 2 full server backups and company
> > folders
> > > > > > which
> > > > > > are 1GB and the user folders 15GB.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Can some one guide me.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Aaron
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> >
> >
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