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The best way to organise the backup

Updated: 22 May 2010 | 8 comments
vladimir_angelov's picture
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Hello,

I would like to have your professional opinion about how to organise in a best way the backup that currently we are doing in our company. I am pretty much new to Backup exec and HP Tape autoloaders that's why i am trying to find as much as possible information about it. I will try to describe as best as i can our current situation. We have 3 servers that are currently backedup with BE 12.5 - domain controller, file server and exchange server. Our autoloader model is: HP 1/8 Ultrium 920 G2 Tape Autoloader (AH165A). The problem that we are facing is that our daily backups are bigger that the space on our cartrdges 400GB and we can't put all the backups in one cartridge. Currently i am doing a backup of file server data on one cartridge and exchange data + domain controller system + file server system and exchange system on another cartridge. Our autoloader have only 8 slots thats why i am not able to do a daily backup on everything on 2 cartridges. Currently i am doing backup of exchange + domain controller system + file server system and exchange system lets say every Monday, Wednesday,  Friday and Sunday and i am doing backup of File server Data every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. In this case i have a backup 4 times per week for system and exhange and 3 times a week for Fileserver which is not a good solution. Currently all the backups are "full" i am not using yet any incremental etc. Your opinion regarding optimization and rotation of the backup will be highly appriciated! Thank you!

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DR0701's picture
27
Apr
2009
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Backups

Hi Vladimir

If I'm reading this correctly, could you not just put a couple of tapes into your autoloader, then Backup Exec will write to them both in turn to allow you to run your full nightly backup, comprising all servers, rather than having to do servers on alternating nights?

Doug.

vladimir_angelov's picture
27
Apr
2009
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Hello, As i said in my post

Hello,

As i said in my post we have an autoloader with 8 tapes inside. If i want to have a daily backup of everything i cannot do it with only 8 tapes because we want a 7 days backup which means 7 tapes for exchange and systems + 7 tapes for file server data. That's why i am trying to find the best solution for this case. Unfortunately we are not able to connect and LTO4 autoloader to our server because its not supporting it. Thanks!

DR0701's picture
27
Apr
2009
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Autoloader

Hi Vladimir

For disaster recovery purposes, it's not a good idea to keep all your tapes on site, so if you start keeping tapes offsite, and just have the required tapes in the autoloader, you should be able to do this.

In theory, the only tapes you should have in your autoloader are those required for that night's backup.

Doug.

vladimir_angelov's picture
27
Apr
2009
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Hello, Thanks for your reply.

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. If i understand you correctly i need to have about 14 tapes in total and to change them everyday so basicly in the autoloader i should have only two tapes every day? But if this is the best solution then its a bit useless to have 8 tapes autoloader device if you cant use it on 100%? Thanks!

DR0701's picture
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Apr
2009
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Autoloader

Hi

You'll never be using the autoloader 100% anyway, as from what you've described above, you would only be using two tapes per day (one for exchange + domain controller system + file server system and exchange system and the other for file server data).  It doesn't make sense from a Disaster Recovery point of view to keep your tapes on site, as if the building is destroyed, your data is destroyed with it.

vladimir_angelov's picture
28
Apr
2009
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Hi, Yes it make sense to keep

Hi,

Yes it make sense to keep only 2 tapes in the autoloader and all the others outside the building. I will try to organise it that way and i would like to thank you for your advice!

rookie11's picture
28
Apr
2009
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As u mentioned that ur new to

As u mentioned that ur new to backup exec  hav created media sets to organize ur backups

vladimir_angelov's picture
29
Apr
2009
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Hi, Yeah currently i have one

Hi,

Yeah currently i have one media set created. Maybe i will have to organise it in a different way?