I’m not a tech so pls bear with me. Have NT Server on a Dell Poweredge 1300 with Exchange 5.5. Using HP Dat24ex6 tape drive and NovaNet to perform backups daily. Our “real” tech (no longer with us) was very slack on the backups and there has never been any testing to make sure we can restore our server in case of disaster.
I have a “spare” machine in the office and I have bought a second tape drive. My plan is to test using this machine and make sure everything is working before we move it off site as a luke warm spare.
My problem is basically this. Our current backup is storing EVERYTHING to tape. Our luke warm spare is not identical (not really close at all) to the Dell server. If I try and use HP OBDR features or a boot disk on the spare to restore from tape, is this going to effectively recreate my current server on the luke warm spare?
I know I will probably have all sorts of issues with drivers etc so I guess I need to understand whether or not I need to increase the granularity of our backup or should I build an indentical luke warm spare or am I just way off base with this plan?