Hi,
We are currently looking for a new backup solution. We have 15 servers which
have a maximum capacity of 120Gb however each use on average 60Gb. We are
also installing a new SQL Server which will have a total capacity of 1Tb. We
wish to move away from the traditional tape backup (if possible) Our network
runs at 1Gb full Duplex and I was thinking of buying a 10TB Server (Using
24x 400gb Sata Drives) and backing the other servers on to that. However I
am looking for ideas(solutions).

Thanks
Jamie

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I'd recommend you Acronis corporate backup software.  We use it in our
company and I can say that it works excellent. It allows to resume
server work or restore individual deleted, corrupted files in minutes!
Also True Image has a lot of useful and convenient features such as:
Acronis Management Console for remote operations, clone and upgrade
server disk drives and others. You can study more about this program
here : http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATIESWin/ . Also you
can download trial version...

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Kinoby wrote:
> I'd recommend you Acronis corporate backup software.  We use it in our
> company and I can say that it works excellent. It allows to resume
> server work or restore individual deleted, corrupted files in minutes!
> Also True Image has a lot of useful and convenient features such as:
> Acronis Management Console for remote operations, clone and upgrade
> server disk drives and others. You can study more about this program
> here : http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATIESWin/ . Also you
> can download trial version...


I also think that Acronis is the best solution to make backup of any
type. You know, I have only one PC, without server, so I use simple
home edition. But I know that Acronis has very good enterprise version
(Enterprise Server for Windows).
I really interested at everything what connect with PC software. And I
always read reviews about all programs. So I must say that Acronis
takes very good stand there, and I've never heard that smd. has any
problem with it.

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Hello Jamie

That is one way to do it. Also consider instead, to distribute an external
USB drive for each file server. This will eliminate the network load,
greatly reduce the impact of a failed backup disk, and will eliminate the
backup server together with its single point of failure. It is also easier
to have one set offsite.

Also how much backup do you need to keep (daily/weekly/monthly).

Rotating the backup disks, storing one offsite is also a very good idea.

Now what about backup versions, are you OK with just two backup versions, or
you need more? I am sure you know this, but just to make a point: If you are
backing up daily, keeping two versions, it means you only have one day to
notice a corrupt/lost file before you run it over with a new backup.

Are you going to have incremental backups?

How will you restore from incremental backup? Run the full then all the
incremental ones.

Who will you manage the expiration of old backup generations?

How much time will a full backup take?

How many versions can you keep on each backup disk?

What happens if you forget to swap the backup on a full backup day?


You may want to take a look at Relative Rev Backup http://www.datamills.com
for a good backup solution of the file servers.

This program was built from the ground up to support backup to disk (full
disclosure - I am the chief engineer of this company).

It will take multi-version backups without multiplying the backup disk
space. It
means that with 60GB disk you can have as many as 20 backup generations of
60GB source data, covering the last few months.

It will also manage your backup scheduling and expirations of older
generations - managing daily/weekly and monthly restore points. Plus it will
minimize any backup run from many hours into minutes.

You will only have to swap the disks (if you want two sets of backup disks),
and read the emailed log files.



"Jamie Sutherland" <jamie@sutherlandwest.no.spam.plus.com> wrote in message
news:4304400a$0$97133$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader03.plus.net...
> Hi,
> We are currently looking for a new backup solution. We have 15 servers
> which have a maximum capacity of 120Gb however each use on average 60Gb.
> We are also installing a new SQL Server which will have a total capacity
> of 1Tb. We wish to move away from the traditional tape backup (if
> possible) Our network runs at 1Gb full Duplex and I was thinking of buying
> a 10TB Server (Using 24x 400gb Sata Drives) and backing the other servers
> on to that. However I am looking for ideas(solutions).
>
> Thanks
> Jamie
>

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