Server Backups - Disaster Recovery

jamesd

I am currently looking after 3 sites:
Site 1:
7 servers - 2003 ( mix between enterprise and standard r2)
Running: Oracle ,Exchange 2003, F&P....
Clients: 50 - saving all to F&P server
Site 2:
6 Servers - 2003 r2 and 2K SP4
Running: Oracle ,Exchange 2003, F&P....
Clients: 40 - saving all to F&P server
Site 3:
6 Servers - 2003 r2 and 2K SP4
Running: Oracle ,Exchange 2003, F&P....
Clients: 39 - saving all to F&P server

For backup: I use veritas 11d with the oracle/open file/exchange agents and have 5 tape drives on each site and they all run at 11pm each night Mon -Sun

I want to do up a disaster recovery plan and I am interested in some looking at some idea's - maybe acronis / R1soft ?

Any idea's?

JDxtra

Back to basics time, what does the company need from a DR plan? That will determine your approach. Some other thoughts... you have a lot of drives! Have you considered a tape library? What do you do for off site storage by the way. What type of links are between the sites - enough capacity to do data syncs to a central site?

NullZer0

+1 considering a Tape library

jamesd

The company is looking for a quick turn around in the event of a server going down, so really a DR plan onto a identical server or a new different hardware server. Getting it up and going quickly would be a major requirement.

A tape libary would be nice nice item but so far there has been no bother with the users changing the tapes daily.

Off site store is with a local IT firm and we have acess to their office at all times.

No links between the sites at all.

Sparks

jamesd wrote: »

A tape libary would be nice nice item but so far there has been no bother with the users changing the tapes daily.

"We want it done right but we don't want to pay for it"

JJJJNR

1. Virtualise everything except the oracle database would be a starting point. then you could just take the snapshot of the F&P server and data to your recovery site and recover.

2. You could also use the other offices in a tri angle backup situation, and run the f&p servers in a clustered environment, you would have to link the sitesm and MS cluster server isnt that reliable.. I hear..not sure if the database would work in the same scenario.

johnmd

Hi James
Depending on the bandwidth and the budget.
Centralise everything on one main site,put fibre in between them or the data center.Virtualise everything and block level replicate the SAN storage to another location/data center. -Expensive but very effective.

Or
Probably the quickest way to do this is by getting yourself sufficient spare hardware to run all of the servers in a vmware virtual environment and keeping this in a seperate location (DR site).
I.e hardware that can run any one of the sites requirements temporarily.

Then locally install shadowprotect/acronis/r1soft on each server,point the backup location to share on a decent external NAS unit on each server.
(Note:n8800/Storage server or similar,get something with decent i/o throughput,otherwise when you go to backup and restore it will take hours!)
Each server backs up its server image and differentials as frequently as every few mins or via CDP.
Thats the on site DR taken care off for each of the sites.

For the offsite
Backup the NAS units on each site using the tape library/Drive.
You then have an offsite from the night before that can be restored onto any hardware,but you need some local storage and a similar tape unit to restore the data from tape to external storage ie another NAS unit.
From there on its just a matter of image based restores,no messing with O/S builds etc etc..

this doesnt take into account ,phone,connectivity,licencing,recovery objectives etc etc and the ton of other stuff you need to consider.