Re: Backup software question

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I do a 14 tape rotation with full verification, so my tapes get 26 backups
(52 passes including verify) per year. I replace my DDS tapes annually.
They're only a few bucks and although this is probably slightly overkill,
better safe than sorry. I'd hate to explain to my boss that we did not have
a good backup because a $12 tape failed.

These are going to be interesting:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pvaul_rd1000?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd.
My biggest fear about disk-based backup is the disk flying through the air
when I jam on the brakes. These would seem to minimize that, and I'll bet
they start coming down in price (and up in capacity) rapidly once they get
popular.

I test restore by blowing away a small directory structure containing about
half a GB of data and restoring it. Not as foolproof as a full restore, but
definitely better than nothing. Verifying backups also serves to confirm
that the tape can be read.


"K.J. 44" <Holleran.Kevin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1167921027.716848.185490@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cary Shultz wrote:
I have played with this in the lab (read: at home!) and like it. Have
not,
however, played with it in a recovery situation - guess that I will need
to
do this. That is really the point of backup! The price sure is a lot
more
attractive than what you see for Backup Exec and the others. Backup Exec
is
our 'go-to' solution. Some of our customers still have Veritas Backup
Exec
version 8.5! Most are on 9.0 (or, 9.1 if I have upgraded). However, we
have a ton of problems with those that have 9.0 or 9.1. No problems with
10.0 or 10D (aka 10.1), though.

To the o.p. - play with this in the lab for 25 days and go through some
real
life situations. Delete files (users are A*L*W*Y*S doing that, it seems)
and try to restore. Then, after doing that a few times intentionally
crash
the server and see if you can restore. Also, try restoring to different
hardware.....that would be a really good 'practice'.

HTH,

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24012

"Owen Williams [SBS MVP]" <Owen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:MPG.200658b7bea0876098996a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <1167851489.901676.171360@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Holleran.Kevin@xxxxxxxxx says...

I need something that can backup user data, system state, SQL Server,
and Exchange data to a DAT 72 tape. I would like to run full backups
once a week, and differential backups every other day. I would like
these to be scheduled so all I have to do is swap a tape in/out
everyday, and then mulitple tapes on the full backup day.

Hello, Kevin. You've gotten lots of great suggestions here. Like many
others, my clients primarily use external USB hard drives for backup.

But if you want to stay with tape (and especially if you already have
tape hardware that you are satisfied with) and are mainly trying to
improve the software-side of backup, I have had good experiences with
this product:

http://www.backupassist.com/index.html

It is essentially a well-designed "front-end" to NTBackup which I think
will do what you are asking for US$147 (plus you can try it for 30 days
free to see if it meets your needs). It also [partially] integrates
with SBS Monitoring & Reporting. Specifically, the the daily
Performance Reports will correctly show whether the backup did or did
not work.

-- Owen Williams (SBS MVP)


Thank you all very much for all your suggestions. I will take any
advice to solve my problem. I was in a fit of rage from my backup
struggles when I wrote the first post... :)

I have just a couple of questions. First, what is the exceptable
lifetime of a DAT72 tape? My second question is a little more
complicated....

How can I "practice" a restore from tape? I have only a single server
with no lab. THe only thing I can really think of is installing VMWare
on it and doing a restore inside of that. How much will this affect
performance (I am assuming this would have to be done after
hours/weekend so my users do not get a hit in performance).

As for the USB Drives, I think this will be an argument in industry for
a long time. As a Michigan guy, I am not worried about the sun. In
fact, I can't remember the last time we saw the sun... :) I
personally like the tapes from my limited experience but have never
tried the USB Drives.

THanks a lot for all your help and suggestions. I think I will take a
look at BackUp Assist.

Thanks again! I don't know what I would do without these boards.



.

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