Is it possible to sync two SBS's?

[SoulAssassin]

I've dealt with SBS 2003 and now 08 for several years but I'm no expert on either. Recently our company was asked to do a brief audit for a company who uses SBS 2003 (specifically looking at security/backups)...it's been awhile since I had been there but I was told they wouldn't work with us because another company offered to sync their SBS server offsite so there would always be an offsite replica of the SBS.

Is that even possible and if so, how is it accomplished?

TIA

 

[ShackDaddy]

Basically it sounds like they are using an online backup company that starts with an image of the server and syncs deltas off-site each night. If they use ShadowProtect as the basic imaging tool, they would be able to remotely mount the backup image as a virtual server if there was a disaster. This is becoming a more common scenario.

Or if they are REALLY cutting edge, the SBS box is running as a virtual server guest right now, on HyperV Core host, and they are using some advanced HyperV tools to snapshot that VM and update a remote copy of the VM. This can be done using a pure Microsoft-tools only suite. I think the TechNet magazine that was out last October covered a way to do that.

There's a company called Doyenz that is leveraging the same technologies to do what you described. They don't compete with you, but provide the tools so that any tech service company out there can use their technology to create a solution along the lines of what you described to deploy to clients.

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net

 

[SoulAssassin]

Good points, thanks for the response. I don't think they are an online backup company, just an SMB consulting company but they've never been able to explain to us or the customer how it actually works. I'll look into the Doyenz and ShadowProtect though.

 

[LWComputingMVP]

They could mean they are simply preserving the AD by running a second DC. Or they could be using something like DoubleTake or NeverFail to ensure they have an "up-to-date" backup remotely.

I'd suggest you find out what exactly they mean by "syncing" since the term could have several meanings.

-Lee

Those who ask why, learn

http://www.lwcomputing.com

 

[SoulAssassin]

I've tried to find out what it means; the customer and our sales rep said that this other company would keep an exact replica of their SBS offsite and it would sync throughout the day. So if *any* file were to change (I asked if that meant Exchange and SQL -they said yes) it would be replicated to an offsite SBS box. That's the extent of what I can really tell everyone.

 

[LWComputingMVP]

That sounds like DoubleTake or NeverFail - both products are supposed to do that. They aren't cheap either.

-Lee

Those who ask why, learn

http://www.lwcomputing.com

 

[bobsa32]

Symantec disaster recovery will do this also, you can set it up to stream to a NAS or other hardware. the good thing about the Symantec product is that it will allow you to restore to dissimiliar hardware. We have succesfully recovered a downed server to a laptop in 45 minutes.

Cost ~ £650