Backup Option Help

[mikecx]

My manager here at work has asked for some help on a project she is working on. The project is to improve the current data back-up process which has proved to be pretty much useless. Current back-ups rely on the user and can sometimes miss important files or be horribly out of date.

The new system needs a few features:
1. The user shouldn't have to do anything
2. Only important data should be backed up. Data such as the my documents folder, users .pst files, and selected directories.
3. This all has to run on an NT domain without much modification. If it were a 2k Domain I would have suggested just mapping the My Docuements folder to a Server that is backed up nightly

If you guys could just tell me some of the different options that match those criteria i'd be very happy.

Thanks,
mikecx

 

[gwichman]

Any modern day backup software will do the trick. You deploy it on a server and attach some kind of device to it (usually a tape drive or small library). Then small agent's are deployed on the machines you'd like to back up and you configure the backup software to back up those servers nightly or on whatever schedule you'd like. You can also usually customize what each server backs up.. The servers are then backed up across the network nightly when nobody is in. Most software packages support the more popular database and email applications too via agent add-on's to allow you to back them up while they're up and running (something you can't typically do reliably without shutting them down first).

It'd be helpful to know what kind of budget you have but if you'd like to see what i'm talking about go download the evaluation version of Veritas Backup Exec v9 (

http://www.veritas.com)

and play with it. Arcserve is also a possibility and similar but i personally prefer BE (and so does Microsoft apparently).

 

[mikecx]

Thanks for the suggestion gwichman. I'm also looking for things that are outside the box. This is a global company with 36,000 users so I'm assuming the budget isn't limited very much. All the servers here are backed up nightly so that wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[gwichman]

well theres really anything from using the built in ntbackup program or some kind of open source/freeware backup utility to using an enterprise level software solution like Tivoli Storage Manager or Veritas Netbackup. The later ones tend to need a dedicated or at least knowledgable staff member to architect and manage while the former ones tend to be simpler (and comparatively less flexible or functional).

Arcserve & BackupExec are more middle of the road apps.. easier to use then the enterprise level ones but also lacking in some more advanced functionality.

Settling on an app is kind of like having kids. Once you take the plunge you're kind of stuck with it. The more due diligence you do ahead of time in planning, the more likely you'll end up with what's best for your company. Theres certainly a lot more information one would need to be more informative then what little you've given here, but i'm sure you understand that.

 

[mikecx]

I forgot to mention, we are already using Tivoli. JUst finding that it is still inneffective and refuses to backup some important data such as outlook .pst files. We need something company wide that takes the work out of it for the end-user and doesn't require them to have a internet connection for hours just to get a backup. We also don't need a backup of every users Program Files directory or Win directory. All we need is a backup of their My Documents, their .pst and anything with a .doc,.xls,.ppt,.pps,txt. You know, all of the standard document formats.

We have yet to find a solution that's anywhere near efficient a works well. We constantly have month old back-ups with Tivoli.

 

[gwichman]

tivoli should do that fine.. i suspect your problem may be more expertise-related then software related. i.e. if the person managing your TSM infrastructure knew what he was doing, you wouldn't have the problem. Just my two cents.. been using TSM since version 3.7 and have multiple certifications in it. Nothing you're griping about should be a problem.

 

[mikecx]

Seems to be the fault of user error and that's what we are trying to fix. All except the .pst file thing. A recent back-up was missing the .pst file which is very important to most users. My guess is that the file was in use during the back-up.

The half of the tech dept's. usual procedure is to back-up as a first step. This eliminates 90% of the problem. The other 10% (a.k.a. the bad part) seem to think that covering their a**es isn't worth the 10 minutes it takes to get a back-up before working on a machine.

 

[gwichman]

you're aware that the default behavior of TSM in regards to an open file is it will try 4 times to back up the file, if it's open during all 4 attempts it will not back it up right? You're aware that no only can you change the # of times it retries, but also what the ultimate behavior at the end is? in other words you COULD increase it to 8 or 10 times and tell it to back up the open file even if it's open. This *can* result in a "fuzzy" or bad back up of that file if it was being changed in the midst of backing it up. But most often the file isn't being changed and is in fact just open and loaded into memory. In the case of a pst I would suspect that to be the case and backing it up open would be perfectly acceptable. Though i'd recommend testing that theory. That would ensure it always backs up PST's..

The end user really shouldn't be involved in the backup process at all. It can always be automated. I admit there's little you can do about a systems administrator who performs work on a machine without first doing a backup of it. That's just poor practice and i'd personally get rid of anyone who did that with any regularity.

Also it's not neccessary to have an internet connection for hours to get a backup. Say for example you had a laptop that you wanted to automatically back up anytime the user is in the office and plugs his laptop into the network. That could be implemented through the use of client polling and a sufficiently large backup window. User plugs his laptop (already booted or not) into the corporate network and if it's set to poll every 15 minutes or 30 or 60 (or whatever), as soon as it polls for a job it starts backing up provided it's got a schedule and is still in it's window. You can even take advantage of compression or stub file backups if network throughput is an issue. Theres NO WAY you'll be able to implement that with any other competitor's software.

Let alone it's ability to minimize the amount of media you use overall..