anyone do D2D2T backups

[McBunny]

anyone used D2D2T for backups, im just thinking this may be a much better way for us to go rather than the age old tape backup just whats the best way to go about it ? can you just use a server with storage or does it need to be a custom machine ?

 

[bigmouk]

I moved from DLT's and started using the removable quantum drives with the standard Win server backup software, I also use TrueCrypt so everything is encrypted once the backups are taken offsite. Ticks all the boxes for us, works nicely and is quick to restore if needed.

 

[McBunny]

hmm wanting a bit more professional than that really something with de duplication and maybe infinite incremental backups

 

[bigmouk]

Yeah, meant to say I dont really have a huge budget or network (50 users).

 

[McBunny]

i dont have a huge budget either lol but need something better to backup the san

 

[Longy]

I've used Microsofts DPM 2007 and found it was really good once you get it setup correctly on a dedicated server.

http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/dataprotectionmanager/en/us/overview.aspx

 

[Mike_182]

What software you using currently? Protecting what products?

 

[Sargara]

We still have to use good old Symantec Backup Exec for tape backups. Thanks to GSI procedures

 

[McBunny]

What software you using currently? Protecting what products?

arcserve 12.5

protecting a few file servers 2 sql and 1 exchange and 1 unix box

 

[Mike_182]

ArcServe or Backup Exec (my preference, but only because I'm better at it!) with one of these:

http://www.fibrenetix.com/products/333/16938/

Or one of it's smaller brothers. Fantastic and cheap for backup to disk, as it takes your ordinary old SATA disks!

 

[dk]

arcserve 12.5

protecting a few file servers 2 sql and 1 exchange and 1 unix box

the new backup exec does dedupe now.

if you are looking at a professional backup to disk setup then have a look at the HP D2D products, they offer dedupe, or a VLS (virtual library system) offers a virtual tape library offering disk backup speeds with dedupe and infinite incrementals if you use a decent backup software like netbackup or hp data protector.

you still need to back it off to tape though to get it offsite obviously, people seem to be so concerned about getting rid of tape, but its still massively important unless you have a second site to pipe it to or use one of these online 'cloud' backup companies.

lto 5 is due out now and thats faster than any system can pump data to it, its too fast, people think tape is slow but its sooooo fast now and being able to hold 3tb odd per tape is quite impressive.

the downside is restore times, so a lot of people snapshot data during the day using something like a netapp san and then you can restore very quickly from that and if you lose a site go to the tape restore.

Or better still use something like vmware at 2 site and SRM (site recovery manager) to failover the whole site in the event of a disaster, thats very cool technology.

 

[McBunny]

re teh vmware thats the way we are going but we arnt there yet we have a stretched san in place ready just need new kit to host the vm's on first

 

[Mike_182]

Sounds like you want Backup Exec. Downside of the D2D stuff that David's talking about is it is disgustingly expensive compared to a cheap SCSI or Fibre attached storage box like the Fibrenetix. And backup storage needs to be cheap, and fairly reliable - not bulletproof and gold plated!

 

[dk]

re teh vmware thats the way we are going but we arnt there yet we have a stretched san in place ready just need new kit to host the vm's on first

what sans do you have as only certain ones support srm.