Server needed?

[WatermelonBonkers]

Ok here's the deal. I just recently got a job as computer technician for a small clinic. Their network was all messed up and they ahdn't updated their computers for a while but somehow i managed to cobble a working system together. Thank God they decided to invest in some decent computers which should be arriving next-mid-week. They have your basic wired and wireless network (802.11b). The people that i deal with need their computers to access the internet for surgery authorizations and e-mail but they spend the bulk of their time using MS access to keep track of patient data ( no social security numbers or other sensitive info), scheduled surgeries, the operating doctor, the patient's chart number, etc. They also have some MS Word documents that are merged with the Access database so that the blanks will automatically fill as the databse form is filled up. I'm thinking that they could use some way to backup their data but i'm not quite sure they need something as sophisticated as a server.

Any suggestions for ways I could back their critical data up once a week with minimal cost and inconvenience for the staff? Do they need a server solution?Keep in mind that the MS Access database and several MS Word files which are linked to the database are mission critical. These file are currentlystored on ONE computer.

 

[amdskip]

I'm not expert on this but a seperate computer (something simple would do probably) would be great for a backup system. The should almost have the data backed up offsite too just in case something were to happen.

 

[RobsMob]

Originally posted by: WatermelonBonkers
Ok here's the deal. I just recently got a job as computer technician for a small clinic. Their network was all messed up and they ahdn't updated their computers for a while but somehow i managed to cobble a working system together. Thank God they decided to invest in some decent computers which should be arriving next-mid-week. They have your basic wired and wireless network (802.11b). The people that i deal with need their computers to access the internet for surgery authorizations and e-mail but they spend the bulk of their time using MS access to keep track of patient data ( no social security numbers or other sensitive info), scheduled surgeries, the operating doctor, the patient's chart number, etc. They also have some MS Word documents that are merged with the Access database so that the blanks will automatically fill as the databse form is filled up. I'm thinking that they could use some way to backup their data but i'm not quite sure they need something as sophisticated as a server.

Any suggestions for ways I could back their critical data up once a week with minimal cost and inconvenience for the staff? Do they need a server solution?Keep in mind that the MS Access database and several MS Word files which are linked to the database are mission critical. These file are currentlystored on ONE computer.

Where is all the data stored? If it's on individual computers, you'll have a tough time backing it up to one location (ie. server w/tape drive) Try to paint us a picture of where the data's at.

 

[mboy]

You need a centrilized file server to house ALL of your data and then you need a tape backup at the very least, do nightly backups and get them off site. That is where you need to start.
You can pick up a Dell poweredge with everything you need (deopending on how much storgae, raid) and stuff u want to pay for, but a small file server, IDE drives (non raid with tape backup can be had for under $1000

 

[RobsMob]

Originally posted by: mboy
You need a centrilized file server to house ALL of your data and then you need a tape backup at the very least, do nightly backups and get them off site. That is where you need to start.
You can pick up a Dell poweredge with everything you need (deopending on how much storgae, raid) and stuff u want to pay for, but a small file server, IDE drives (non raid with tape backup can be had for under $1000

Word.

Actually, you could probably pick up a used/refurb from Dell for even cheaper. It sounds like you don't have a very high traffic environment, so you don't need a dual Xeon beast.

 

[WatermelonBonkers]

wow thanks for all the great advice! I'm not quite sure they need all that but is that file server and tape back up hard to setup? And how would i get the data backed up off site? I don't have all the crazy training/experience that a lot of you guys probably have but I'm gonna be taking some classes this fall semester to brush up on that stuff.

 

[CrimsonKing]

Couple things:

By offsite, I think you just need to send the data offsite, manually. At my company, we pay probably six figures for this service from Iron Mountain. My mom takes her backup tape from work home as their offsite solution. Something in between is probably best for you. Make sure you don't have any regulation requiring certain backup procedures (I'm in the financial services area and we keep yearly backups seven years!).

As for the files being stored in a distributed setup, you can buy backup software that you load on a single machine with tape drive (usually a server) and will back up other machines on the network. Maybe this is what you were referring to? Ideally, you want a server to store everything on; is there a reason you would have to continue storing the data on the clients if you went with a server?

Adding a server can be very expensive (license-wise), especially if you're talking Windows NT. If money is a big, big issue after your upgrades, add a tape drive to that one client that houses the critical data and back it up with MS Backup.

No matter what you end up doing, I'd recommend making nightly backups if possible. You're paying for the setup no matter how much you use it. For the price of a few extra tapes, it provides much better protection from data loss. It's worth it the first time someone finds out they have to replace three days' work. You could have four nightly backup tapes, four weekly and as many monthly tapes as you want to store permanently. The time required to back up the appropriate data would dictate if you can run full or incremental backups on the weeknights.

 

[GeSuN]

Blah, I don't think you don't even need another computer.

Just buy a big enough hard drive and a removable rack for it. Install it on the computer where the data is stored. Then install a backup software that will copy all the data on the removable hard drive.

There's a lot of backup softwares out there and here's one that's not too bad.
Just make sure you have enough room on the hard drive for all the data.


Then before you leave bring the hard drive with you and that's it.

Of course it might slow the computer when it copies the data, but youre saving money too

 

[mboy]

Originally posted by: GeSuN
Blah, I don't think you don't even need another computer.

Just buy a big enough hard drive and a removable rack for it. Install it on the computer where the data is stored. Then install a backup software that will copy all the data on the removable hard drive.

There's a lot of backup softwares out there and here's one that's not too bad.
Just make sure you have enough room on the hard drive for all the data.


Then before you leave bring the hard drive with you and that's it.

Of course it might slow the computer when it copies the data, but youre saving money too

Are you going to suggest 5 drives for each day of the typical work week?

Effective backup is done daily on a rotational basis.
This guy is a newbie (no offense and shouldn't be told how to do things the wrong way, especially if he is getting paid for it and especialy for data as sensitive as what I would imagine is stored by a medical clinic!

 

[WatermelonBonkers]

No offense taken Mboy. Much to learn this Jedi has (yoda laugh)

i do have a better picture of how this office works now that i've been on the job for a few days. Apparently, they have an entirely separate computer system that is supported by a medical technology group. This system has all the REALLY sensitive stuff on there, medical history, social security numbers, etc. The stuff i'm backing up is really important for the people to do their jobs but its not super sensitive.

 

[Garion]

Actually, in this scenario, I'd suggest that you go out and buy another big hard drive and put it in a DIFFERENT PC. Then, schedule a nightly backup from the main PC to this secondary PC. Zip it up with a different filename each day, an copy it across the network. Depending on the DB size (If it's access, it couldn't be TOO big), you could probably fit a months worth of backups onto your computer. Burn a CD each week and give it to the owner/partner to take home and store.

- G

 

[GeSuN]

Are you going to suggest 5 drives for each day of the typical work week?

Any suggestions for ways I could back their critical data up once a week with minimal cost and inconvenience for the staff?

That's just why I suggested the removable hard drive.

I totally agree that it's not the BEST solution. A file server with tape backups are definatly the best of course, but sometimes small businesses just doesnt have the money so that's why I made a suggestion. Then again it's just a suggestion. Having more than one option is sometimes nice.