Re: Tape vs HDD vs NAS (speed considerations and size etc)..


Leythos wrote:
In article <1168295476.472053.5780@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
markm75c@xxxxxxx says...

Leythos wrote:
In article <1168291095.464612.38230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
markm75c@xxxxxxx says...
Cool.. I think I see how you are doing this.. I guess we'll have to
evaluate whether to do the full blown backup server route or just use a
rack etc.

One question again if you dont mind.. you said you are using a tape
drive inside the backup server.. I guess you are only doing a single
drive tape drive (not a tape library)? I would think the tape
libraries may not fit inside a server ? I've been checking out
pricing.. it appears round $4k gets you an 8 slot library (DLT-S4).

No library on our side, but I've used them in other locations. A three
or seven tape library, but each backup took all tapes, so it was eject
the full set, replace with the next set the next day....

So, yes, I only have a single tape drive in the server, and use 1 tape
per day.

--

spam999free@xxxxxxxxxx
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Thought of one other question...

When you do the backup to tape.. are you backing up an already backed
up backup file.. ie: like for windows a *.bkf file.. and enclosing it
inside another bkf file on the tape.. or is there some way with Backup
Exec to simply do a "synchronization" of the backup file between the HD
medium and the tape medium (we use SmartSynch pro to sync b/w the
internal HD and the external HD's.. about 1x per week, so the external
HDs we now use, would become the tape)...

In some cases we're doing a tape backup of the .bkf file, in other
cases, we're backing up a SQL backup from the native SQL backup method,
and then we're also doing some file copy type backups, but all end up on
tape.

Also.. in the trunking.. does it handle traffic flow automatically.. or
do you somehow specify what traffic you want on what line etc?

It's handled by the switch, and you need to have a managed switch to do
this, and your NIC's have to support it too.

Seperate curiousity, though I should know this answer but not sure:..
how did you get your name to not show the real email address.. is it as
simple as changing the "email address" in the account settings here on
google (i'm using the web version to view and read)...

I never use a Web Browser when reading Usenet, it (Usenet) was around
long before the Web was even though of.

If I were you, I would have created a account with fake information so
that I'm not bothered with spammers. If you purchase Usenet service you
can use a real Usenet client and then you can post anyway you want.

--

spam999free@xxxxxxxxxx
remove 999 in order to email me

Well, unless there is a better option out there, or cheaper even.. I
think I've come up with a solution for our needs.

I have final facts and figures:

We use 1.1 TB of backup space by a months end (doing full backups
monthly and incrementals daily, while taking (external harddrives
currently) offisite every weekend. My goal would be to provide a
minimum of 2TB in backup space as a rule:

Our internal backup drive is where we initially back everything up to..
that bkf file then gets copied (synched, using SmartSynch Pro) to the
external SATA backup drive (1 per server).

New plan:

Eliminate the internal backup drive, eliminate the external SATA drives
(per machine)...

I will build a rack mount server (a mere Pentium D 2.8GHZ 512MB Windows
Server 2003 box) dedicated to backups online. Our 1.5 year old PD x64
machine runs solid, so I'm guessing so should this one, maybe even as
an x64 2003 server.

This rack mount server will cost $2563 (about $300 more than if we
took the dual sided standalone server route).

It has built in dual gigabit nicks for that price and we can do
trunking with all of our servers as well. It also has 8 removable SATA
hot swap bays (7 of which would be in use: 2 for the mirrored OS and
the other 5 for SATA drives in RAID5 totalling 2000GB for the backup
array). I will add a scsi 320 card to the server as well (for the tape
system).

This is as close as we can come to something like this (SAN/NAS):
http://www.winsys.com/products/flnas_fn2150.php or
http://www.sharbor.com/products/ENTN5190001.html A unit like one of
these runs $7500 without drives I believe. I guess in a "easy come
easy go" workplace with money, this is how it would be done.. however,
this thing is basically a server in itself.

Finally, we have the tape library system, DLT-S4, 800/1600 capacity,
60MBps speeds:
http://www.amatteroffax.com/item.asp?INVID=1318407&SRC=froogle&CKP=ADUHCTGM%5ED%40PAYPA
at $4700 shipped, with media running $82 per tape. This tape system
holds 6.4TB/12.8TB max capacity. I'm guessing that we'd need a minimum
of 3 tapes in sets of 3, so one set per week taken offsite and rotated,
while a 3rd set becomes a quarterly set that stays offsite for 3 months
at a time (total of 9 tapes needed for a month end 1.1 TB of data,
maybe only 6 tapes depending on compression etc).

So for a grand total of around $7500 before extra NIC cards and tape
media and a SCSI 320 card for the tape drive, we have a solution
(Probably more like $7800 plus shipping).

***
My next goal will be to figure out Symantec Exec Pricing.. (Do they
charge you for one server license, in our case this backup server
license, or is it that plus the other servers that will be backed up as
well)...

Also.. Will NTBackup allow the backing up of data to specific tapes in
the library.. what features compared to Symantec would I be losing?

Has anyone heard of Snapshots (Shadow copy related) in 2003 server? Is
this only for SANS that come preloaded with Storage Server 2003 (oem
deal)?

***
Hopefully my solution is as good of a solution for under 10k, that can
be done. The original target was $5 to $10k.. with emphasis on $5..
but I think this fits the bill.

I guess alot of other companies are using the SANs as their data
storage for each server as well (expensive).. so they have a rack of
data drives and a rack of backup drives connected via fiber.. then the
tape library..

.

Relevant Pages

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