Backup Solution

Hi guys,

I had to start a new position a few weeks ago, and its been a mess getting things sorted. One thing I need to get back up to speed on is improving the backups where I work.

Currently have Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 backing up to disk on an old server with little disk space.

I am going to build a new server (Dell Poweredge) to be put into the rack. We don't have the money or bandwidth for cloud stuff, so gonna have to still back up to disk for now.

Was wondering of any other solutions out there aside from Backup Exec 2012 that I should be looking at?

Also in addition, I am looking for a Network Attached Storage Device from Dell, since that is our vendor of choice here.

Any recommendations on one from any of you?

I need to backup about 8 Windows servers, they are either 2003 or 2008. The previous network admin looks like he was just backing up the system state but nothing else. Is that still fine or do any of you backup the entire C drive?

Anyways, looking for some thoughts/ideas/discussion on this topic.

Thanks as always!

 

Great question...I've used imaging in the corporate world for a long time (since PowerQuest V2i...which rocked!).

First off, the system state won't do much at all. If that's all that is being backed up, that's not good. Most places use a file backup solution, which will be a step in the right driection. Imaging, of course, will take up more space initially but is a full recovery.

You want a live imaging solution for sure. Is there a budget for it? Are you looking for central mangement?

 

just throwing this in as we have been using it on our client's servers for a long time without any hassle

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

 

The main servers that I need to back up are two domain controllers, one server hosting Deep Freeze Enterprise, and another server that logs statistics for wireless access point usage.

The others are managed by someone else, and all other critical boxes I have backing up with a different solution.

So regarding backups, do you guys have suggestions for this scenario? Are you backing up the entire server/OS etc, or just system state? I know system state is not optimal but I guess that is what the prior guy was doing.

Just looking for ideas and a discussion.

Thanks for the tips so far.

 

Probably, I would do a similar backup with the other admin.
1 full image of each and then system state backups, plus maybe a weekly backup of the net traffic logs for the server that controls the wireless access.

Panagiotis