CASTalk.com

Chad Specht · Guest

I am looking for some feedback:

We have 16 branches, each with their own NT4 server. Each server has their
own tape backup drive (HP DDS) and software (Veritas BackupExec). Nightly,
Monday thru Friday, we run backups to tape, and then store the tapes
off-site.

This current system is not that reliable, as tapes are bad, tape drives
fail, servers need to be re-booted, etc. Not only that, but restores are a
pain as we need to pull the previous tape from off-site storage for
recovery.

Our thought is to place a NAS device at various 'hub' points. Maybe divide
4 NAS systems -- each holding 4 branches worth of data. At night, each
branch would backup or copy their data to their respective hub NAS. The hub
NAS would then copy its data to a main (larger capacity) NAS device at our
Central OPS center. Then, the main NAS device would be backed up to a large
capacity tape system.

We are hoping to improve on reliability and restore time with this system.

Can I do this type of scenario with DELL NAS devices running WSS2K3 and
Veritas BackupExec? Is this a good solution, if not the BEST? What would
be your suggestions for a 'best-case scenario'? Is this a good purpose for
a NAS device?

I appreciate your comments.

Thanks,
Chad

Sto Rage© · Guest

How will this solution give you the ability to recover deleted or corrupted
files that is detected say after a day?
i.e. let's say you had a file that's corrupted or deleted on day 1 in branch
1 and not detected immediately. That night the data was copied over to hub
1, where it over wrote the last good copy of that file on disk. Hub 1 then
replicated to main and main backed it up to tape. Now the only way to get it
back is from yesterday's tape . So all these disks in between is of now use,
if you still need to go to tape to recover.
Remember what is important - its not how long it takes for you to backup but
how long it takes to recover that is important.
There is a way to do this by making use of snapshots or VSS.
My 2 cents.
-G

"Chad Specht" <chad_spechtatmsndotcomnospamplease> wrote in message
news:%23fn40lZHEHA.164@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Mark [MSFT] · Guest

Doesn't look too out of typical use to me. However, in your case you are
going to have a pretty large point of possible failure - your pipe/network
connections. And possibly bandwidth. These are geographically dispersed
branches?

So, assuming redundant connections and a really fast network between all
locations, it may be fine. Of course, keeping NT4 in the mix holds back some
interesting possibilities that may better server your needs. Being able to
let users recover their own backups (VSS), abstracting storage to users
(DFS) and keeping replicas of data (FRS) will still be possible at least at
your consolidated NAS server level, but won't directly help the branches
(well, except you will be able to recover backups quicker with more
reliability.)

Some features of WSS2K3 (NAS) that may be of interest to you:

Volume Shadow Copy: This allows you to take "snapshots" of data at various
points in time. Once a day. Twice a day. If something happens with the
current data, you will be able to quickly and easily "roll back" to a
previous version (you may keep multiple previous version.)
However, as the other person mentioned, you would only be able to do that on
the NAS device itself. Thus, if an end user or application toasts something
on your NT4 server, someone in IT will have to go through the snapshots on
the NAS server, then push the data back up to the NT4 server.
If every branch had a NAS server (I guess replacing the NT4 server as well?
they file/print only?) end users have the ability to recover their *own*
data. If a user damages one of their files - or needs to revert to a
previous version - it is just a few clicks away. They never have to grab an
admin to recover a previous version.
Additional information:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/wss2003/techinfo/plandeploy/stormgtusingvdsvss.mspx

Distributed File System/File Replication Service: These can be pretty
powerful tools in organizing and managing your storage. Not going into
details here, but you can read up at:
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2003/technologies/fileandprint/file/dfs/default.mspx#XSLTfullModule121121120120

WSS2K3 can also have features like Directory Quotas, File Screening
(blocking files by extension) and reporting tools (check with your equipment
supplier for these features.)

Hope some of this helps you in some way :)

--
Mark St. John
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Chad Specht" <chad_spechtatmsndotcomnospamplease> wrote in message
news:#fn40lZHEHA.164@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Jason Buffington · Guest

What you are really describing is "D2D2T" for Centralized and Enhanced
Backups, to replicate data from branches to common points (Disk to Disk) and
then on to tape.

Several advantages include:

- A second accessible copy of the data
- A disaster recovery function for the branches, since they could get the
data off the hub server
- "Off-Site Backups" without paying for couriers - which is huge if you are
regulated by SEC, FDIC, HIPAA, Sarbanes, etc.

If you happen to deploy Win2003 on the hub servers, you can take advantage
of VSS and snap the hub. This would give you perhaps a multi-day file
restore capability, without ever mounting a tape.

If your Win2003 hub server(s) happen to be a Storage Server (no, I dont work
for Microsoft, but I am a big fan of this solution), then the hub is an
optimized file platform (perfect for backups) and is headless (perfect for
remote sites), but still manufactured by your favorite server vendor ...
Dell, I think you mentioned.

And Dell (and I) would recommend Double-Take from NSI Software
(www.nsisoftware.com). It is a real-time, byte-level replication solution.
Real-time so that the redundant/hub server is always current. Byte-Level
will push less data across your WAN than a block- or wholefile-based
approach. And it runs on NT4, 2000 and 2003. In fact, since you can buy
Double-Take from Dell, you might leverage a good deal if you buy the NAS at
the same time.

Check out http://www.protect-your-data.com/msbc/white/ which is a shared NSI
and Microsoft website, with whitepapers around data protection and Windows
storage.

Cheers,

jason

"Chad Specht" <chad_spechtatmsndotcomnospamplease> wrote in message
news:%23fn40lZHEHA.164@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

	CASTalk.com Forum Index -> Storage System	All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1