How to do backups for a large client?

Elimentals said:
What I did for a similar environment:

Linux pc with rsync + tape drive
At night sync network data to removable storage (2 drives that was swapped out every week 1 set kept off site)
After the sync I used a simple tape drive to back up the removable data to tapes. Incremental for every day, on month ends I used one fresh full backup that was stored in a safe, safe could be off site if needed. I could use slow tape drives as speed was not needed.
Monthly tapes was kept for 5 years (as per legal req)

The pro's about the system was that it was easy/quick to recover data during the day for example if someone deleted a document and wanted it back quickly.
Had a full back-up off site at most a week old.
Could do incremental restores if needed from last weeks data.
Had a full data set if the auditors needed something from say 5 months ago.
I could always test backups without affecting downtime.
Click to expand...

The only backup I can not test without causing downtime is Exchange (but that is why SBS2008 comes with 1 VM license so you can play around with things like this without causing downtime).
 
I don't want to be unhelpful but if they are a large company that takes data seriously it might be a good idea to invest in an expensive professional ladee-dah system rather than a McGuyver DIY one. Doing proper, dependable backups in a complex environment can be tricky and you don't want to find that your backups fail when they fail. Also if you are asking for advice on doing them on a forum you may not have the knowledge to do the job.
 
Backups is such an important part of IT rather spend some money and do it properly.

1. Re-direct users My Docs to the server so you don't have to ever backup the workstations
2. Buy Symantec Backup Exec
3. Buy LTO Tape Drive twice the size of a current Full Backup including all the MyDocs
4. Configure a Full Backup to run every night
5. Show client how to change tapes.
5. Have a worry free life knowing backups are being done properly.
 
IMHO: if you don't have 100's of Gigs or TB's of (mission critical) data then a tape drive & fancy backup software is a waste. (and too much hassle)

just use batch files or windows backup -> to a shared folder on another PC.
you're already on a network, all you need is one or two PC's with sufficient hard drive space.

xcopy from server to PC1
xcopy again from PC1 to PC2
batch files + schedules tasks on each machine
The server batch file runs at 1AM
PC1 batch file runs at 3AM

You'll always have 2 backup sets (PC1 and PC2) of everything on the shared (server) folder.
Updated daily.

nice 'n easy to restore files when (not if) they're deleted by the user cause you just copy from PC1 or 2.

or just use Windows backup.?
 
Going with the size I would guess that it might be a pty (ltd) then tapes is a legal must. And if they are I would recommend speaking to the auditors for a list of legal requirements in regard backups and set up a plan around that.
 
Synbackup will do what you want...try it first and if you are happy buy the pro version. I use it for syncing my stuff between my portable drives and my servers. Works very well...the freeware version too
 
What I did was :

Build a small workstation up, with an 80Gb HDD for its main HDD.

Then added 4x 1Tb HDD's as a RAID-5 config (hey, I don't wanna have a hdd crash when I'm backing stuff up to it... ;) - had an external crashing once whilst backing up stuff, never again)

Set syncback up to back up daily (after hours) to folders labeled with the day (eg monday, tuesday etc)

Mirrorfolder is set up to mirror data every 4-hours or so from the main server to this RAID. (You can also use syncback if you wish as mirrorfolder is commercial)

On Friday evening after the last daily backup has been done, a weekly backup (to tape) is done, append, no overwrite. Once the tape is full, it will be taken offsite.

Saves wear and tear on the tape drive.

Also, I do a full monthly backup of all the data. So offsite will have weekly and monthly data.
 
The_Librarian said:
What I did was :

Build a small workstation up, with an 80Gb HDD for its main HDD.

Then added 4x 1Tb HDD's as a RAID-5 config (hey, I don't wanna have a hdd crash when I'm backing stuff up to it... ;) - had an external crashing once whilst backing up stuff, never again)

Set syncback up to back up daily (after hours) to folders labeled with the day (eg monday, tuesday etc)

Mirrorfolder is set up to mirror data every 4-hours or so from the main server to this RAID. (You can also use syncback if you wish as mirrorfolder is commercial)

On Friday evening after the last daily backup has been done, a weekly backup (to tape) is done, append, no overwrite. Once the tape is full, it will be taken offsite.

Saves wear and tear on the tape drive.

Also, I do a full monthly backup of all the data. So offsite will have weekly and monthly data.
Click to expand...

Dependant on your needs regarding read/write performance to the raid it might be an idea to consider going Raid10 rather especially considering the cheapness of Drives compared to data-loss

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/raid5-vs-raid-10-safety-performance.html
 
The_Librarian said:
Thanks.

The next iteration will be RAID10 rather than RAID5. Will make sure the motherboard can support more than 4x SATA's.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily,You could bump the Drives to 1.5Gig+ which would give you similar space while boosting read/write speed compared to your current Raid5. Both suffer the same weakness though that losing 2 drives would destroy your array,though you'll have less speed-loss during a raid rebuild on a single lost drive
 
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