New to backup procedures, need a guide.

[Lizardkng]

Hello, and thanks in advance for your help.

I am a rather inexperienced Network admin for a small public service agency. We are about to purchase a NAS device from Dell (725n) and I have no idea what backup procedures to implement. (will happily provide NAS specs if needed)

We run a small domain, 1 w2k Domain Controller, and about 10 w2k pro clients. We use our server to store user profiles, and a few MS Access databases.

The new NAS device will come with Veritas 9.0 Backup Exec Remote Server Pack, which I have never even seen.

My questions are basically:

a) What do I backup, and how often? (Entire domain controller?, databases only?, daily, weekly, etc?)

b) Should I bother to backup up any of the w2k pro clients?

c) When I was tinkering with Windows Backup, I saw Incremental backup, System State, Registry, and some other options, whats the difference?

I will gladly read any online guides that you can direct me to (rather than pester you guys with long explanatory posts here), Ive searched the web for what Im looking for, but just cant seem to find a good "guide for the new guy".

Thank you again.

 

[MattWray]

This is a pretty good link for beginning...

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...windows2000serv/maintain/operate/14w2kada.asp

Post back with questions after...

Thanks,

Matt Wray

http://www.total-tec.com

http://www.sss-steel.com

 

[cwrightson]

You are with the right piece of software for backups!
I have used veritas in nearly every installation i have done and it rarely fails.

Be careful with those access databases though. Try to ascertain if they are being locked as they are backed up and if so how to stop them so they can be backed up correctly.

 

[Lizardkng]

Excellent read, thank you so much...

Now, what should I back up?

I understand thousands of different types of systems, thousands of different programs, the combinations are endless...

Basically we have:

1 W2k server Domain Controller 4gb system partition, and 29gb "data" drive, which is currently storing our Access databases, user profiles, copies of software for network reinstalls (2kpro, MS Access, MS Office, Dictaphone applications, etc, all copied from CD to the HD) This drive also contains some large files we have downloaded and dont want to store on clients.

10 w2k professional clients which basically store users programs (were rather leinent on what users can install), basically, like a users home PC. Im only restrictive on drivers, and system changes, but users can install and run games and such.

We are a E-911 center, so we run 24/7 and late at night, ina small rural area like ours, theres often nothing to do, and it helps to have games, and music and such to ease the long, quiet 12 hour shifts.

Mission critical:

Access databases, about 25mb in size last I checked, and gets changes made Monday thru Friday.

Basically, I need a storage solution so that I can get all the junk off the server and onto another server.

I would set the mission critical stuff to use the tape backup off the NAS device, and back up user profiles once a week, I think. I would store the CD copies for the software reinstalls on the NAS device, along with the few gb of music files....basically just move the entire "data" drive from our server, onto the NAS device, and only back up the critical stuff to tape.

Does that sound about right?

What about the w2k server backup? Entire server system partition? System state? Local registry?

I would love to have a "mirror" of the whole server just in case...wouldnt I?

Sorry for the silly questions, I feel like an idiot asking this stuff

 

[MattWray]

Well of course back up mission critical info.
From there it is your choice. System state backs up the AD, so you may want to include that as well.
My company here does a full system backup every Friday and differentials every day other than Friday.

Thanks,

Matt Wray

http://www.total-tec.com

http://www.sss-steel.com

 

[terrahawk]

Hi, our office is about 15 people. I'm not an expert on this, I don't even understand some of your specs. But I can tell you what my procedure is and it may help or maybe someone can offer me suggestions as well.

I rotate one weeks worth of tapes and do a full backup each night (each weeknight, about 50 GB total ). Entire domain controller, SQL databases, etc. Technically, I only ever have one weeks worth of backups although I do keep one permanent tape every six months or so and save a lot to CD. This week I am also purchasing a DVD burner to start some more archiving. I have an HP 160/320 GB SDLT drive with Veritas Backup Exec/Agents as well.

I don't care about workstations/clients (I tell people to save their work to the public/server drives if its important - this is drilled into them). I use IronMountain for off site storage. I send Iron Mountain two tapes a week (always two tapes off site) which come back to me the following week.

Iron Mountain is my official backup storage location. I also have a safety deposit box at a local bank where I keep the rest of my backups because IronMountain charges to much for storage and it gets confusing managing my tapes through them.

Hope that helps,
Peter

**
My questions are basically:

a) What do I backup, and how often? (Entire domain controller?, databases only?, daily, weekly, etc?)

b) Should I bother to backup up any of the w2k pro clients?

c) When I was tinkering with Windows Backup, I saw Incremental backup, System State, Registry, and some other options, whats the difference?

 

[packdragon]

The choice of what to backup up is always a tug of war between time & materials versus necessity. Naturally we'd want to get a mirror every day so that if anything goes wrong we can restore back to the way it was easily by replacing everything. But this isn't very feasible. It takes time to get things backed up, plus the data takes up space. I have one backup job that pretty much takes all night because of a different network configuration from the other backup jobs. So while that slow-poke is going, no other backups can run.

So it all comes down to figuring out what is most important. You'll want to back up things you cannot replace. Don't bother backing up softare installations unless you have lost the original discs. Back up irreplaceable data such as website development, database data, original documents, etc. When backup up data that is extracted from a program, like SQL server, make sure you're not backing up the entire SQL server, only the stuff in the DATA directory.

Good luck! And if you run into any problems, there is a Veritas Backup Exec forum for you to voice your woes.

-Zoe
Solien Technology

 

[Lizardkng]

Thanks for all the help people, I've just ordered the server and hope to be up and running by this weekend

 

[MattWray]

Good Luck!

Thanks,

Matt Wray

http://www.total-tec.com

http://www.sss-steel.com