ASR question

[tookawhile]

Using the built-in backup utililty in W2003 Srv - is selecting 'sysstate and O/S'manually mcuh the same thing as using the 'ASR' wizard? Minus the floppy creation?

 

[58sniper]

Not really. The ASR prepares the floppy and tape to do a disaster recovery if needed. If you just select the system state and OS, you're not going to be able to boot from it. ASR requires booting from the floppy.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[tookawhile]

I've created the ASR floppy and plan to do nightly backups of sysvol and O/S - should that cover it?

 

[58sniper]

You still need the ASR tape.

And, both the floppy and tape need to be updated any time you make major changes to the system, such as installation of service packs.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[tookawhile]

Is there an alternative to using floppies?

The O/S and sysstate (sorry - previous post I incorrectly stated sysvol) are backed up every night, so unless I make a floppy every night will the backups be useless?

 

[58sniper]

ASR and backups are completely different items. Backups are for restoring items such as files, emails, etc. In order to restore files, the server has to be up and running.

ASR is for disaster recovery when the server won't boot.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[tookawhile]

The data on the server (DAS array)is mirrored to another server every night and then I back this up to tape every week.

The server OS is on separate RAID1 with hotspare.

If the server has a major failure can I use the ASR floppy, pull the O/S and sysstate backup file created via W2003 Srv and be back up and running?