Good imaging software for server

[DrB0b]

Hello again gentlemen,
Ive been doing some research for decent online imaging software and have found treasure troves of offline and some online for workstations but nothing really for Windows servers. I would love nothing more than to convert all of these to Debian servers but considering I don't have the time or the resources, IT guy for the whole Plant by myself . I'm currently trying something I found called Reflect i believe its by Macrium but the free version is only for workstations and the version I have doesnt support dual layer dvds. Was wondering if anyone had some good ideas down this path. Tried searching the forums here and came up empty.
Thanks

 

[DrB0b]

P.S. I have my heart set on ShadowProtect or Acronis but they wont cough up the money to buy them. If nothing turns up here a mil scare tactic might open there eyes to the importance of data backup especially when the financial server is on Raid 0!

 

[Noway2]

I am assuming by online storage you are thinking of off-site. I received a recommendation (several of them actually) for Jungle Disk, which has a server edition that works as a daemon process that runs on a schedule you specify. The first 10 Gb are $5 / month. They say that they have customers with several TB of storage but I don't know how much the price increase is as I only store about 6-7Gb. Based upon my experience, I would recommend them without reservation. It has continued to work reliably in the background for over a year and the one time I needed it, I was restored in seconds.

One thing that might be of benefit to you is that you can encrypt your data with a public key and only you can decrypt it with the private key. You generate the key, not them. The caveat is that if you loose the key, your data is irretrievable, but is highly secure which may be important for you financial stuff.

 

[goombawaho]

P.S. I have my heart set on ShadowProtect or Acronis but they wont cough up the money to buy them."

I would threaten to quit and/or start looking for a different job. It's not good to work for cheapskates that expect the universe for pennies. They are the kind of people that scapegoat you when things go south even when they have been warned.

Ask the CEO to take an external hard drive home with him each day and bring a different one back every morning as your form of off site backup. That may give him a new appreciation for spending a few shekels. You have to present it in a way that doesn't say "I'm being a sarcastic so and so".

 

[DrB0b]

Basically they are looking at only just shy of 200 GB on one of the arrays that needs to be imaged and backed up. With ShadowProtect, the compression could be as good as 60%, i believe, which for all intents and purposes will be close to 100GB of actual image. To cut down on cost I tossed the idea of circulating USB HDDs, i.e put one in the safe and take one home for "offsite backup". My main selling point in this method is just the small initial start-up cost which is invaluable for when/if something happens. To me its a necessity and I would consider it SOP. Hell its only 2 grand but I suppose it is easy to spend others money. I am surprised that none of the Linux boys have been sharing anything in the way of imaging software.

 

[goombawaho]

What is this $2000 figure that you're talking about?? Not for some USB hard drives!!!!

 

[DrB0b]

Rounded up prices for simplicity:
$1000 - 1 Server imaging software license by ShadowProtect
$500 - 4 extra hard drives for 2 arrays (for hot spares)
$100 - 1 workstation imaging software license by ShadowProtect
$300 - 3 1 TB USB Hard drives
$50 - 1 server imaging software license by Macrium (testing purposes)

Granted only $1300 is basically what is entailed in the main process but I included the hot spare drives for 2 servers and the imaging software for a Raid 0 xp server in the price

 

[Noway2]

I am surprised that none of the Linux boys have been sharing anything in the way of imaging software.

We have already been there:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1649127&page=1

If spending thousands on a solution allows you to sleep better then so be it. Personally, I would rather save the company money and be in a position to ask for a raise on those grounds come review time.

 

[goombawaho]

Ok, then it's the WHOLE package that costs that much. I'm not giving out any opinions because it's been a while since I was in the server backup business, but............ one question.

For that kind of money, why aren't you considering software like Arcserve or Backup Exec - some of the more "big name" products?

The ones you mention - I'm like.... what?

 

[DrB0b]

Thanks No,
Yea I browsed over that thread before posting here. Was hoping someone would post something other than DD/DDRESCUE as a Linux bootable as I've never used and/or heard of it to be honest. I've set up a DNS server on Debian and Ubuntu but that is my extent of Linux knowledge and I never looked into a backup solution for it. Never against Linux and wish I could migrate all or servers to it but not an option at this point. I will have an extra test server in a week and will play with DDRESCUE to see if I can get it to reliably function but am slightly timid

 

[DrB0b]

Arcserve is a little cheaper yes but a little more complex. Backup exec is about $200 more than ShadowProtect and $350 than Acronis(which Ive used before). Basically the ease/functionality of ShadowProtect at a slightly above average cost was worth the money due to I'm not going to be full time IT here. They want me to split my IT duties with Quality Control so I need an easy to use and remember solution for when crisis hits in a year or so. The research I've done on ShadowProtect makes it seem easy enough to pick up and run with on a moments notice, is very quick at restoring, and has good compression. I'm open to checking out anything and the main reason for this post is:
1) You guys have been at this way longer than I have
2) Figured there were some good alternatives I was not even aware of
3) I like to have options to choose from
4) Figured there were some bad ones I would be told to stay away from
5) Best to do as much research as possible especially when dealing with others money

Thanks again guys

 

[goombawaho]

Do you get two paychecks?

 

[DrB0b]

Lol unfortunately no

 

[DrB0b]

Has anyone tried Partimage? Curious if its as good as it says.

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...