Local disaster recovery solution for server?

JohnCleary

I'm going to be changing servers soon, and one thing that is a must is a simple one-button-disaster-recovery solution.

Are tape drives still the way to go here?

I'm just talking about a local recovery ie. if the OS / HDD etc. becomes corrupt, I can revert back to the last backup by way of reboot and having an option at BIOS to initiate the disaster recovery.

I haven't started shopping yet so open minded as to what to go for, was only browsing Dell website casually and note that tape drives still readily available.

What server I need is a different topic, I guess. I'm migrating to hosted Exchange so essentially the server will only be running Active Directory for user log-in and acting as a file server

JohnCleary

Or, would an alternative be....

If the new server i'm buying has 2 x HDD's running RAID0....

In the event of the hdd's becoming corrupt (rather than physical damage to one HDD which RAID0 will then kick in), I could get an external hdd enclosure and install the same HDD into that, then run ShadowCopy (http://www.runtime.org/shadow-copy.htm) daily? In the event of the HDD's becoming corrupt, I can install the ShadowCopy HDD into the server and then rebuild the 2nd HDD after.

Is that likely to work?

Mr. Fancypants

There are appliances that can do this. Datto do a local appliance that backs up locally and replicates the backups to the cloud. This allows for the backups to be powered up on the appliance itself or in the cloud in the case of a disaster. Also allows for bare metal recovery as well as granular file recovery.

If you wanted something similar yourself you could get Shadowprotect and back up to disk. This will allow for bare metal recovery or if you have an available server for the backups to be powered up like the Datto solution above (Datto use a custom version of Shadowprotect).

RAID0 has no protection, i think you mean RAID1 which allows for a single drive failure. Not sure where you are going with moving disks from the server into an enclosure.

JohnCleary

mbroaders wrote: »

There are appliances that can do this. Datto do a local appliance that backs up locally and replicates the backups to the cloud. This allows for the backups to be powered up on the appliance itself or in the cloud in the case of a disaster. Also allows for bare metal recovery as well as granular file recovery.

If you wanted something similar yourself you could get Shadowprotect and back up to disk. This will allow for bare metal recovery or if you have an available server for the backups to be powered up like the Datto solution above (Datto use a custom version of Shadowprotect).

RAID0 has no protection, i think you mean RAID1 which allows for a single drive failure. Not sure where you are going with moving disks from the server into an enclosure.

Yes, sorry... I meant RAID1

I will take a look at Shadowprotect, thanks.


re. disks in enclosure... picture this scenario....
I have a RAID1 server with 2 HDD's. Suppose there is an OS crash etc. then I can't boot from either.
However, when I configure the server, I use a USB HDD enclosure with the exact same SATA HDD. Each day, ShadowCopy runs (http://www.runtime.org/shadow-copy.htm) and makes a copy of the server HDD on to the HDD within the enclosure.

If the server HDD fails, I simply take them out and replace with the HDD in the enclosure (as ShadowCopy claims to make a full carbon copy of the server HDD) and i'm back up in action. Sounds good in theory, right? Essentially i'd need to test it first but wondering if anyone has done similar

Mr. Fancypants

It might work but you would only have a single backup from the night before. Generally you would want to have backups going back several days, weeks, months and even years depending on the data. Are you thinking of this as complementing another backup solution maybe? You would need to consider if a file needs to be recovered but it isnt discovered for a week or two later that it is needed.

JohnCleary

mbroaders wrote: »

It might work but you would only have a single backup from the night before. Generally you would want to have backups going back several days, weeks, months and even years depending on the data. Are you thinking of this as complementing another backup solution maybe? You would need to consider if a file needs to be recovered but it isnt discovered for a week or two later that it is needed.

Ah, OK I see where you're coming from.

To clear things up: The only concern is recovering in the event of a disaster. I am not responsible for someone's cock up by accidently deleting something. However, there is scope for that as the cloud backup keeps a certain amount of previous instances of files.

I think the only way to know for sure is to test it. However, I may have a workaround which i've put in this thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057209468

Ctrl Alt Del

Which ever solution to backup your server and not data you are going to chose,just make sure that you backup the system state every one month at least. The Active Directory resets passwords to PCs and users in a specified time period,depending on the OS.
IF you have an older backup,you cannot restore it anymore,as that will just create chaos in Active Directory.

Also,please keep in your mind that RAID1 is NOT a backup !
If you have an OS crash,with the AD database corrupted,that file will be corrupted on both drives,no matter of the RAIDx type.

RE cloud...how long takes to backup,when and ...how long to restore the business data ? Is the benefit of cloud based backup outcomes the local tape,disk or NAS ?

My advice is to use a refurbished / older workstation or server,convert your LIVE server to P2V,disconnect the Virtual NIC and run a full test in the virtual environment.
IF you have a proper data backup(VSS,Disk2Disk,Disk2NAS or others),while the live server OS is been dealt with repair...by booting up the Virtual Server in few minutes...you'll smile.
With the external backup D2D,you can attach it and share / make it "read-only" for all users ,giving them access in a matter of minutes to a functional "disaster recovery" business model.

I'm sure you will have fun testing a workable solution and then come back here and share it with us !

Any and all backups are the same until you reach for that tape,disk, nas or courier sent cloud's hard drive to restore someone 's error !

And,please understand and store it deep in your mind...that if you are the self-delegated or appointment IT person,the staff and your colleagues are fully trusting you to have the abilities to deal at the time when they whisper to you:"hey,i deleted a file,can you restore it for me,please !!?"
Don't wanna talk about Senior Management...

Regards