Need backup options

Roger - Interesting question! Personally, I'm still a big fan of tape, particularly the DLT 35/70gig format. However, the tapes are expensive. I've also worked with a system that uses a DVD-writer to store up to about 4.7gig per disk and that was pretty bullet-proof.

But I'm wondering what the business need is in your case to back up the workstations individually and what kind of data lives on them. That information makes a difference in what I might suggest.

regards!

paul

Hi,
I use IBM 4mm Data Cartridge tapes on my WinNT server in last 3 years. All ours data that needs backup are on two servers. In this period of time I rotate 25 tapes and I had 1 damage tape and one failed restore (don't work first time but then works). A full (copy) backup for 20Gb takes approximately 5-6 hours. The architecture of the server is SCSI based and also an IBM brand.
In WinNT resource kit exist a utility "robocopy.exe" which can help you and maybe decrease the backup time:
"Robocopy is flexible. You can choose to copy a single directory, or walk a directory tree. You can specify multiple filenames and wildcards to select which source files are candidates for copying. You can exclude source files from being copied by name,path, wildcard, or file attributes. You can exclude directories from being walked by name or path. You can chose to copy only files with the Archive attribute set, and you can choose whether or not to turn off the Archive bit in the source file after copying. The program classifies files by whether or not they exist in the source directory, the destination directory, or both. In the latter case the program further classifies files by comparing time stamps and file sizes between the source file and the corresponding destination file. You have complete control over which of these file classes will be copied. You can also choose to move files rather than copy them. And you can also choose to purge (delete) destination files and directories that no longer exist in the source, and thereby maintain the destination as an exact replica of the source."

Roger,
The best option I would suggest is to go for a DLT drive. I use HP DLT1 drive (40/80GB) with CA Arcserve2000. I have the same backup schedule as yours (Monday full and incremental the rest of the days). I backup around 56 GB per day. It takes 10 minutes per GB to be backed up. You can ask me if you require more details on our backup solution.

You can do similar to what we're doing with over-the-wire backups of servers.

We have a server (you could use a workstation) with two SCSI cards installed, connected to a Compaq DLT 35/70 array consisting of four drives. We use ArcServe 2000 Enterprise Edition as the backup software.

We configured four backup jobs to run concurrently. Each backup job to one of the four tape drives. Each backup job is configured to backup a subset of the total servers we wish to back up. This way we get multiple simultaneous backup streams and decreased backup times (to the point that we're able to do fulls each night). Each of the servers we wish to back up over the wire has the push agent installed (included with the Enterprise Edition).

This isn't a cheap solution (but it is less than a small SAN, which would still need to be backed up). The software isn't too bad but the tape drives and tapes are rather expensive. However, it is robust and our enterprise has invested a lot of money on the DLT technology for backups and we have been pleased with the results (even in emergency restore situations).

If you're interested I would be happy to provide more details but I think this is enough to give you the picture you need.

McKayTech,

My company does software development and these are the files that I currently backup. However, the requirement layed on me was to backup full disks. I understand this a little, if a system crashes (hdd, mobo, etc.) it would only require restoring that users data, in this case the entire system. I believe that if I create mirrors for each system, that will help to a certain degree. Then I would just continue backing up the main source files on each developer's system. The main problem I see with this is that 2000 doesn't support mirroring as part of the Professional install, only Server. (I just found this out), so I will need to find a 3rd party software to handle the mirroring. Any suggestions?

As for the Program Files on each machine, I really don't care, I have created an image using Power Quest's Drive Image, that will restore all Program Files and settings. At least to the extend of when the computer was first given to the user. Any programs installed by the user would have to be restored, but not the main system files.

Viji (I'm going by memory on the spelling, hope it is right!)

I am interested in your solution. Can you provide a little more info for me? You can email me directly at r.growcock@kadasystems.com. Thanks!

I am going to keep this question open for, hopefully, more responses. Thanks so far for your responses. You too, Florina(sp?)!7-18-02 9:55 AM, EDT

We run Veritas BackupExec on all of our servers using Seagate DDS3-4 tape drives. Our typical office will backup 6-8GB per night all full, no incremental takes 3hours. Our main office runs a DDS4 tape drive that backs up 36GB per night, again not incremental and takes 7hrs. We have used this system for years and have had no problems other than user ie. not putting the tapes in. The tapes are cheap DDS3 tapes start at $10 each.

We are about to outgrow our DDS3-4 tapes and are considering the AIT for its high capacity.