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Desktop & Laptop Backups
- Thread starter jackson55
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Centrally managed usually = $$$. I use Veritas (Symantec) NetBackup. If you're willing to spend some money, it's a pretty good product, and does just what you're looking to do.
The other thing you could do is configure everyone with Offline Folders on a central 2000 or 2003 server. Instruct them to place all data that they save in this offline folder, and then back it up from the single location on the server.
This requires a little bit more out of your users, and is not as fancy, but it could do the trick for you.
The other thing you could do is configure everyone with Offline Folders on a central 2000 or 2003 server. Instruct them to place all data that they save in this offline folder, and then back it up from the single location on the server.
This requires a little bit more out of your users, and is not as fancy, but it could do the trick for you.
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Again, I think Offline Folders will do what you want, but using a different port is not going to make anything faster, unless you reserve bandwidth for that port.
If what you have on each computer is in the same location on the drive, then you could also use ntbackup's command line options, or a utility like robocopy from the Windows 2000 Resource Kit.
But you have asked for a manageable process, which if you're not going to do Offline Folders or some kind of backup/syncing with ntbackup or robocopy, then you're going to have to spend money on something like Veritas Netbackup.
If what you have on each computer is in the same location on the drive, then you could also use ntbackup's command line options, or a utility like robocopy from the Windows 2000 Resource Kit.
But you have asked for a manageable process, which if you're not going to do Offline Folders or some kind of backup/syncing with ntbackup or robocopy, then you're going to have to spend money on something like Veritas Netbackup.
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In the past I have used a product called BackupPC ( It is a Linux based product, so if you know a little about Linux then this will be perfect. It uses a process of pooling common files, sort of like de-duplication. Instead of storing 60 copies of the same Windows files it will store 1 copy of the file and place pointer files in each client's backup directory. Helps with disk space. I was backing up approximately 75-100 clients (full C drive backups) and the disk space utilization was always between 500 - 600 GB.
The users can manage their own restores and kick off an out of schedule backup if wanted. There are a myriad of protocols you can use to backup, i.e. rsync, smb, etc. I used rsync as it has bandwidth throttle controls and if the connection is dropped while rsync is running it will pick back up where it left off instead of starting over.
I highly recommend BackupPC and am currently working to get it going here at my new place of work.
The users can manage their own restores and kick off an out of schedule backup if wanted. There are a myriad of protocols you can use to backup, i.e. rsync, smb, etc. I used rsync as it has bandwidth throttle controls and if the connection is dropped while rsync is running it will pick back up where it left off instead of starting over.
I highly recommend BackupPC and am currently working to get it going here at my new place of work.
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