File Server Data Backup

[dawks]

Looking for suggestions on an idea file server data backup setup.

Right now I run Acronis True Image Server to backup our Windows 2003 R2 file server data to a harddrive on another computer over the network. Then that computer copies the data over our network to another server at another location. In testing the backup, I just noticed the file saved remotely is corrupt and cannot be opened.

Any suggestions on a better way of storing the data? What would be an 'ideal' setup, assuming a MINIMAL budget.

 

[wirednuts]

im guessing youre asking for better software? the hardware you have setup should be fine as long as its all working right

ive always used syncback to do backups. depending on features you need its either freeware or paidware. does a very good job at knowing the subtle changes in files.

 

[tomt4535]

I use crashplan to do pretty much the same exact thing. http://www.crashplan.com/

 

[chuck2002]

If you have an image of the computer using Acronis and you are happy with that, you could use Robocopy to copy the shared files you want to backup.
This is assuming your OS image isn't often changing, but your shared data is often changing.
Robocopy is a nice free utility that you could do a set it and forget it scheduled task that runs as often as you want to make your file copies.

If your 3rd server location is somewhere offsite, you will want to encrypt the file copy process. You could use rsync over SSH to do this, but this would require a bit of work in configuration.
-Or you could use robocopy, but configure an IPSEC tunnel between the two computers. You can do this from one server to the other and the data transmission between the two computers will be encrypted.
Here is a guide on creating an IPSEC tunnel. It isn't too hard to do and doesn't require any software purchases. A bunch of steps, but once you have it going, it will work reliably.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816514

 

[spikespiegal]

First step is to differentiate between system back-ups (operating system) and file backs-up (incremental / differential). While there are tools to do both, most of the tools don't corss over very well. For instance, while you can do a file level back-up of your Windows C:drive, restoring it in the event of OS failure is a complete nightmare and has a large potential of failure. So, tools like Acronis or Paragon come into play because they do a good job making a 'snap-shot' of a running operating system.

File level back-ups are very good at recording data at a file level, and especially restoring specific files when a user accidentially deletes them. Also, most of the newer file level back-up tools use shadow copy to some degree.

I've found Acronis / Paragon, etc., to not be very efficient at file level back-ups, especially as your data volumes get large. But, they do work to an extent.

Also realize that file server operating systems change very little. Typically you clone your OS before dumping a lot of service packs, or making some hard-core system changes. This is unlike a data volume where there can be thousands to millions of changes a day. Nothing drives me more nuts than seeing a file server system partition doing scheduled nightly incremental back-ups when the fact is if it took a dive there's no frikken way it could be rebuilt anyways.

Next step is to verify your back-ups actually work when restored. This is typically not a problem with file level back-ups, but as you've found it can be a problem with system level back-ups. It might not be Acronis's fault and some router / firewall issue not liking large file transfers.

Acronis / Paragon are awesome tools for in-state cloning of operating systems. Without going virtual or using very pricey SANs level back-ups you've got one of the best tools for the job. The next question though is if Acronis is granular enough to perform file level back-ups, and that's something you'll need to determine yourself based on user/customer needs.