Ghost Solution Suite

We have a Windows 2003 Small Business Server and need to migrate the data off the primary hard drive onto a new hard drive. Will Ghost do this? We're not talking about imaging PCs, we're talking imaging a SERVER. I know the PC version won't do it, but will the Enterprise version of Ghost?

> I know the PC version won't do it

Ghost does support imaging Windows Server 2003, since the design of the NTFS filesystem on server editions isn't actually different from NTFS on non-server editions. Server editions are different when it comes to running on them (and especially hot-imaging, thanks to databases) but if you are imaging them from outside the OS the differences aren't that pronounced.

The confusion comes from the fact that the products sold as Ghost 9 and Ghost 10 have nothing whatsoever to do with "classic" Ghost technically - when PowerQuest was acquired by Symantec, the DriveImage product (which included hot imaging) was rebranded as Ghost 9 with the limitation of running on non-server editions. Ghost 9 & 10 do bundle the consumer Ghost 2003, which may well be able to image Server 2003 from DOS - unfortunately Ghost 2003 is an older build of Ghost than in the Ghost Enterprise/Ghost Solution Suite products and although we continue to maintain and improve Ghost those improvements aren't available in a consumer edition at present.

There is a product in the DriveImage - aka Ghost 9/10 - line that supports servers and server hot-imaging, and that is called Backup Exec System Recovery (formerly LiveState System Recovery), but again it's quite a different product to Ghost itself, both under the hood and in terms of what you can do with it. Each is strong in different areas and which to choose depends on other things you might want to do beyond a simple drive transplant.

Compare and contrast:
GSS: http://www.symantec.com/Products/enterprise?c=prodinfo&refId=865
BESR: http://www.symantec.com/Products/enterprise?c=prodinfo&refId=1602

If you do already own a copy of consumer Ghost that includes Ghost 2003, it's up to you whether you want to try using that for the drive migration - unfortunately if it doesn't work there's not a lot we can do to help you because of the age of the product compared to the current versions of Ghost. But if you do already own it, it might well work, and if you want to try doing that it's your time. If you don't already have Ghost 2003 sitting around, I wouldn't suggest you look for it - better to look at one of the Ghost Solution Suite or Backup Exec line since they are current and supported.

Do give both GSS and BESR some consideration, but with both products I would look beyond the basic imaging capability to the other things they can do for you on an ongoing basis, not just this one drive migration.

Nigel:
Thank you for your response. I have another question -- would it be better to get the "System Recovery" standard version or the "Small Business" version of BESR, since we have a Small Business Server O/S?

Also, would either application support enlarging the partitions when copied to a new drive? We are wanting to move to a new drive because we're low on space in the system partition, and merely copying it to a new drive won't resolve the issue if the partition size remains the same.

Finally, would BESR (either standard or Small Business) work with an Exabyte VXA-320 tape drive, as far as controlling it, backing up to it and restoring from it?

I have to say, I think I know the product my boss is going to look most favorably at is going to be Ghost, since it's looking like the least expensive option, although I do see other uses for BESR, especially if it supports the Exabyte tape drive we are looking strongly at purchasing.
ThanksMessage was edited by:
John Aldrich

> would it be better to get the "System Recovery" standard version or the "Small Business" version of BESR, since we have a Small Business Server O/S?

Excellent question, but unfortunately I'm not the right person to recommend anything, because my technical expertise is focused on Ghost and not the BESR range. The differences in licensing and technical capability between items in a range like that are subtle and because I don't use them daily I don't have an appreciation for what they really mean.

I'm sure someone at the BESR forums at http://forums.symantec.com/discussions/forum.jspa?forumID=111 should be able to give you a better insight into what the different editions are really aimed at.

> Also, would either application support enlarging the partitions when copied to a new drive?

I believe that both Ghost and BESR could do this without any trouble.

> work with an Exabyte VXA-320 tape drive,

Again that's an important question to ask, but I can't give an official answer and it will pay to ask on the BESR forum. The product data sheets for BESR don't seem to talk about tape, so it may be that most people use either a separate tool to archiving the BESR disk images to tape or indeed just use relatively inexpensive network-attached storage for the images.

Ghost doesn't really directly support tape directly either, for what it's worth.

> since it's looking like the least expensive option

No doubt :-) at least when it comes to just moving a drive. However, the primary strength of GSS is really in client deployment and the automation tools in GSS are really aimed around client workstations, not server backup; we certainly can move server disks around, but because that's not our primary focus we can't offer the kind of streamlined workflow for server backup and recovery that a dedicated product like BESR can.

Technical capability is not the same thing as usability. In the long term, the better ease-of-use you get from a focused product like BESR could easily pay for itself.

For instance, I believe BESR comes with its own licensed recovery environment built on Windows PE. The Ghost tools do happily run on Windows PE, but we don't include that extra license for the recovery CD as a built-in part of the product - instead you have to build your own. This keeps the license cost of Ghost down, but it means that you may have to spend a fair bit more time (and hence, money) on setting up the process you want. If you want a customized process anyway, that's neither here nor there but if you don't, it means having to invest more of your time in setup.

That's just one example, but it's part of why the price premium for BESR is probably quite justifiable.

If you want to fully protect your servers, if you want to use Ghost I would marry it up with some traditional data backup product like the classic Backup Exec 10d (Ghost for the fast recovery to a known good baseline, with the tape backup for data freshness). BESR covers some of both bases, and I'd say you'll really need to talk to some users of it (and perhaps some of the dedicated sales staff for the BE range) to see whether it's the right product for your needs, particularly on the tape side.

Thanks. I'll check with the BESR folks in their forum. I did call your (Symantec) technical support line for some pre-sales support and they were very helpful.