Backup - Backup - Backup !!!!!!! 1

[gpalmer711]

I thought that I would share an experience with all of you in the hopes that you will not fall under the same trap.

As many people in this forum will tell you, one of the most important tasks that should be completed regularly in PC Maintainence is Backing Up your important data.

Well after having a nasty experince a couple of years ago I made sure that I took backups weekly at the minimum. However 6 months ago I decided that this really was not enough. I was starting to write more software and wanted to backup as and when the files were changed. Therefore I put a procedure in place that would backup certain files twice a day if they had changed to a remote location.

Friday my PC went down due to a power cut. At this time I was doing a defrag (What a time for it to happen!!). Upon restarting the machine the HD was in a bad way, Windows would not start. Tried all the usual disk repair tools etc but no go. This wasn't a big deal, I needed to clear off that HD any way (Just brought a new copy of XP and Office 2003). I checked that the backup location had the files I was expecting, they were all present.

So reinstalled XP, Office, Anti V etc.. Started restoring my files from the remote location and at that point started panicing. Although I had checked that the files were there, I hadn't checked dates or versions.

For the whole 6 months it had not backed up the files

After several somber hours trying desperatly trying to restore the data from the formatted HD. I reallised it was futile. The data had already been overwritten.

What does this mean? - I have lost 6 months work.

I've not got over the suicidal tendencies and have come to the realisation that I will just have to write better software

So the moral to this story?

[COLOR=red yellow]Backup regularly to different sources and always check the backup afterwards.[/color]

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[bcastner]

Thank you.

I had a similar experience not all that long ago. I had a site regularly email the logs from the backup process, and would scan to the bottom and read "The backup process completed successfully." I even wrote a script to process these email responses every morning to wran of errors.

Sigh. If you read above the lines in the status report, the backup failed to complete on the main storage volmes because it ran out of directory entries. What I really had was a solid backup of the server(s) system/boot root folder.

Whatever is a long holiday in your country, do a disastor drill. Test whether you can do a complete system restore, time how long it takes, and see if every workstation and every application can come up and work. Charge your clients for the semi-Annual service (I do), or if in-house do it to save your job.

As gpalmer711 noted in his original posting, you will be amazed that your were able to sleep at night.

Can your backup plans handle issues I have faced in the last year at client sites:

. a water line break that soaked all the computers. (Thank god it soaked the workstations too);
. when was the last time you replaced the battery in that UPS? They are good for about 18-24 months and need to be replaced.
. when was the last time you read the complete log from the backup?
. when was the last time you tried a bare metal restoration of your servers?
. do you have spare power adapters for your routers? Do you have a backup router plan? I lost three business days at one site waiting for the UPS shipment truck with desperation. (Not exactly true, I stole a router from another client site and recabled them temporarily);
. If you are uneasy doing a full test of your backup with a full reformat, and repartition of your server(s) hard disk drives, rethink your backup schema.

 

[bcastner]

I apologize for the mis-spellings above. I typed fairly quickly as the experience that Greg mentioned was fairly fresh for me.

If you cannot do a "bare metal" test of your backup system, it is worthless.

 

[edfair]

I used to put the stuff onto another drive. Then in the process of upgrading I switched drives out. Then deleted some older stuff I didn't think I needed.

My primary work machine hard drive crashed, I restored what I had, then my wife informed me that she needed something that was no longer there. I finally found it on a hard drive in the surplus MFM drives that I was storing to eventually throw away/recycle.

My current advice is to put the stuff on another drive or machine for fast access and burn a CD every month or so for long term storage.

It also helps if you set the system up in such a way that the critical files can be organized separately.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[bcastner]

Ed,

With the stunning drop in drive prices, and an equally stunning increase in drive capacities, using hard drives as the backup seems perfectly reasonable.

The only caution is that you do need in a commercial setting off-site storage. Thefts happen, pipes break, and there is the always present malevolent employee you just fired.

 

[jrbarnett]

I have another recent experience to add to the backup notices.
About 2 months ago, the hard drive in my main desktop PC started making "dink-a dink-a" sounds with alarming frequency. Thinking that the hard drive was on its way out, I backed up my data to CD and to my laptop. This was soon followed by my first BSOD in over 2 years.
My alarm was well founded, when after the system rebooted, the HDD controller in my PC refused to recognise the hard drive at the BIOS level.

I ordered a new hard drive. When it arrived, I installed it and proceeded to install the operating system and applications.
I found that the motherboard CD with the chipset, UDMA controller and AGP drivers had got cracked, and I had not got around to producing a custom Win2K install CD for this PC with them built in, nor had I taken a copy of this.
It has been over 2 years since I reinstalled this system last.

I downloaded the latest drivers recommended from the Asus website for this motherboard (3.5 years old) and although it works, it is nowhere near as rapid as it was before, despite running the same OS, with the same video drivers and applications and a faster hard drive.

I therefore add:
Produce a custom operating system install CD for critical systems, or keep a Ghost image of the operating system partition, updated whenever the configuration changes significantly on a bootable CD.
Also, back up those motherboard driver CDs and keep them handy. You never know when it will be needed...

I have a predefined Nero template that includes my data locations, including email folders, internet explorer favourites and cookies. The only things I had to download after this apart from the drivers was the latest updates for my antivirus and ad blocking software. Everything else is on software CD-RW disks that I keep updated every time I download something new that I want to keep.

John

 

[edfair]

We pretty much agree. It boils down to:
1) Backup your critical data
2) verify that it is recoverable
3) store a recoverable copy in another location

I used to nag customers to rotate tapes off premises, now I just make sure they have the capability and verify occasionally. I must have wasted a year of my life nagging.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[gpalmer711]

It's reasuring to know i'm not on my own in this situation. I felt really stupid after not coming through on the one rule I always try and instill on people.

I stole a router from another client site

STOLE??? Now thats one word I thought would never come from the mouth of Mr Castner

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[FlyingDevilFish]

one quick tip: After I do an update or save of critical files I email them to myself. My isp gives me 5 mailboxes with my account so I set up one called mybackup@isp.com. It's a short term for small files solution and It sure isn't pretty, but its free 20M storage and i enjoy lunch hour a little more.

Just make sure if you access the mailbox POP3 you check the option to keep a copy on the server. I set it to auto delete off the server after 7 days so there is always space.

 

[bcastner]

You should feel stupid.
I do. (Note I am ignoring the fact I borrowed a router from another site for the moment.)

Other than as a general behavioral habit, if I cannot restore a completely downed network - barring 'Acts of nature' or 'Acts of War' (Hey read the contract, I paid good money for those attorneys) then I messed up.

But I still feel stupid. John Barnett offers strongly the suggestion, which I had not in fact planned for, about the issue of imaging and backups if you are forced to use what is substantially different hardware for the restore.

. there is no provision under Microsoft Server products to essentially create a neutral "unattended" restore disk.

. I have always assumed personally that I would restore the file server, then restore the data files. If your backup schema depends on a Ghost or imaging to do otherwise, please read John Barnett's advice above.

. What do you do about the Server settings then?
. for user files, just about everything important is in the profiles. You should have that covered.

. for special routing, Group Policy, or other server considerations, use the Resource Kit and other tools to make sure you have backups of the .ADM, route print, DNS, WINS, DHCP and other configuration details you need. And do not forget your Script directories. Anyone who has done an upgrade from NT Server to Win2k or Win3003 server knows what a pain this can be if there is no pre-planning for the change. In a single server setting you can output the settings for backup. but make sure you have damn good printed notes. And plan on a long weekend feeling like an idiot.

 

[edfair]

You don't have to have big stuff to feel like an idiot. I've done it several times with DOS. You do custome setups, you better have a backup place.
I generate a directory called "sysfiles" where I store the custom files, and that is one of the directories I backup across the network and eventually to CD.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[bcastner]

Small moments are sufficient (according to my teenage daughter) to be an idiot.

But Ed Fair's note above gives me occasion to recommend a rare bcaster freeware five star recommendation for backups of single workstations: SyncBack:

http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/

I will admit to using this where the native offline file feature of XP has proved problematic. Again, recommended. It really works remarkably well if you have a network share or a second hard drive to take advantage of the backup features.

 

[linney]

Trying to find a "Silver lining" in these tales of woe - all that useless rubbish you thought you needed is finally gone too.

 

[gpalmer711]

Deffinatly. My HD's have never been lighter. I've got so much space I don't know what to do with it.

Anyone want to rent some backup space

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[bcastner]

Sorry Greg,

I am sending "all must have but useless crap that I will never look at again" to Ef Fair's server farm.

 

[edfair]

peer to peer farm, if you please. Can't help if they are all servers. Just don't panic if you find some of them in the 500mb or smaller range. And none of your XP stuff on the 16mb main partition of my worker box, you'll crash it.
I can get away with it by using lantastic. Mix and match from DOS to XP.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[bcastner]

Ed Fair,

P-2-P farm it is then.

I am curious if Virtual Server is of interest. I am going to trial the product this week as I currently have five severs running at home and would like to consolidate them. (Yes, five: Netware 3.12, Netware 6.11, Windows NT, Windows 2k and Windows 2003. Don't ask why.)

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx

What I am really curious about is if Lantastic or any of the original Windows for Workgroup based LAN products would work in this situation.

I remember LANTASTIC quite fondly, but I suspect both you and I are showing our age.

 

[edfair]

I'm not only showing it, I'm feeling it.

You appear to have the ideal configuration for using Vserver. Go for it. I assume that you have the tieins to get the eval set. And I suspect that Lantastic would be like sending water through a gasoline pipeline. It would get there but both products are going to be contaminated.

My networking is a tool set for moving data around to use different I/O capabilities. I've no desire to move the transport medium into a higher realm.
As it stands, I have thinnet, cat5, and wireless media using 10mbps and 100mbps. I completely bypassed the
netware generation and have avoided the later server packages. Had no need to get educated on any of them.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[bcastner]

Ed Fair,

I appreciate the feedback. When I trial next week Virtual Server I am going to throw in to the mix "Windows for Workgroups 3.11"

It is not just nostalgia; the older networking model of sharing a resource, mapping a DOS drive letter, and if wanted -- adding a password, has become a very rich but very confusing alternative.

Your comments have always added a great deal of richness to this site, and I want to take the moment to thank you for your participation. You are a gem.

Bill

 

[jrbarnett]

Virtual server, however, brings a whole new possibility of failure into the mix.
If bcastner succeeds in getting his 5 virtual servers consolidated into one physical server, this one better be very well protected, otherwise the failure of one system would result in the failure of 5 virtual servers, with only one set of hardware. If this were a production network, it could spell disaster if 5 servers went down (it certainly would if 5 servers at my workplace went down simultaneously).

John