Software recommendation on imaging a live server 1

[mattjurado]

Question. Looking at products that can copy and/or save an image of the entire operating system, while the server is running. Of course, I would be looking to do this when all data is closed. Backup Exec and other softwares typically error out when you try to backup the entire file system, as certain OS files are always in use.

I have a growing number of clients that have servers running multiple applications, active directory services, printing etc... These situations can be scary when they keep piling on the tasks for a single server, and ultimately, we wind up making a change that they have requested, and POOF! Life sucks because of the changes, and we don't want to be blamed. Be nice to have an image somewhere that we can quickly restore without having to rebuild an entire server if general troubleshooting / backtracking becomes lengthy.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[MrPlough69]

Heya,

We've been using Symantec Live State for for a while now (it used to be Powerquest V2I Protector but it's essentially the same product), and it's saved our bacon on many occasions.

It's also much more convenient/faster for restoring peoples' work than tapes.

We use this to back up all drives on all of our servers.

 

[mattjurado]

So it copies the entire contents of a file system (i'm assuming I can choose to backup multiple drives, say the drive that has windows, and the drive containing the data volume), to a single imaged file? What then, is the recovery process if a server no longer boots? Do I need to get it to a booting state, reinstall the symantec program, and restore that image then? What did you pay for the product? I see there's a trial version, I'll probably check it out later. Sorry for all the questions, thanks!

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[MrPlough69]

Well, you schedule when the backups run on a per partition basis and each partition is sent to a single file over the network to a shared folder.

If you need to recover a server you simply boot from the installation CD, just the same as when you install windows and load any RAID/SCSI drivers. Then it comes up with a GUI that lets you choose the image that you want to restore.

I can't remember the exact price but it's per server and roughly £200-£300, but then you would probably want a seperate server to store all of the images.

Hope this helps