Disaster recovery

[Fluff]

I'm getting a windows 2003 server. With raid 5. + either veritas or arcserve. Lockable cabinet. Lockable room. Not possibe to have aircon.

What items / software do i need for disaster recovery? Fire etc.

I have a HP DAT 72 tape drive. And SCSI card.

Is windows 2003 server secure enough to use as itself just connected to a firewall?

Do I need ISA server for Internet caching etc. Or are there any cheaper solutions.

11 users.

1x DSL 512 line 256up.

Cannot use SBS as will not be the PDC for that long.

Gonna have about 30 gigs data.

We have another office in the UK which is independant of us.

Remote backup to above site?

Second tape drive at another location, are DAT tapes on different machines normally readable?

Firesafe at our location?

Any pointers would be much appreciated . As never had to spec for this before. SoX 404

or companies.

[The PIT]

Well if your room catches fire you're gonna need a firesafe.

Backup at both ends just in case.

Where I work the disaster recovery is an empty folder the last time I looked.

[Fluff]

Cheers. Will try and see what i can do. I don't really want to spend money in the wrong way, or be ripped off. is there any decent remote back up software?

[Dilitante1]

Firewalls cant hurt.

Once everything is running, backup to tape and do off-site storage so the minimum amount of data from last backup to current is lost. Do daily B/Us and keep them close and the weeklies off site in case. Log every piece of hardware/software and driver version so the unit can be duplicated if needed later. You can always do local AND offsite storage over the net connection. The tape drives and backup programs will need to be the same if you are going to want to rescue data to the other system.

Internet caching, how much work will be done online?

[Fluff]

At some point we will be connecting to an oracle server in US. For accounts, and whatever they decide to implement.

Plan on connecting to exchange 2003 in the states and operating over the DSL line. Letting head office be responsible for that, and me only for the older local e-mail archives.

As currently we connect to a exchange 2000 server in the uk. and that is painful over a remote connection. Even though most of us use offline mode in outlook.

Only critical internet based application is e-mail, really.

Even though the inventory is not complicated. I guess it should really be documented properly.

My worry about doing remote backups. I dont really understand how if a tape backup is done how the system knows which files have changed that day when doing a remote backup. I would have thought that the tape backup would change the file flags.

[xortam]

Originally posted by Fluff
... My worry about doing remote backups. I dont really understand how if a tape backup is done how the system knows which files have changed that day when doing a remote backup. I would have thought that the tape backup would change the file flags.

Remote backup is achieved using client SW at the target storage node (e.g. PC server). The client SW will traverse the local filesystems based on whatever directives the admin has set up for backing up that client. The client SW will then ship the data to and fro the backup server over the network. Good enterprise backup SW can use many different server platforms which can all exchange the same backup media.

[agallag]

Originally posted by Fluff
I dont really understand how if a tape backup is done how the system knows which files have changed that day when doing a remote backup. I would have thought that the tape backup would change the file flags.

Yes, that's exactly what happens. The archive bit gets flipped when the file is backed up. Just like when doing a local backup using NTBackup.

Regarding your other questions:

As long as you've got a decent firewall, the 2003 server is plenty secure. Just keep up to date on your patches.

ISA is probably not necessary for only 11 users, unless there's some bandwidth hogs in the group. It can't hurt though.

DATs should be readable by any other similar DAT drive, but with DAT tapes, you just never know. DLT and LTO tapes are a little more reliable, but I still wouldn't bet my career on them.

Another tip, if it's file share type stuff you're backing up, enable "Volume Shadow Copy" to take regular snapshots (at least twice a day) on the data volume on the server. That enables the users to use the "Previous Versions" client to retrieve any data that they accidentally delete or change (90% of restores are due to user error, not hardware failure). It's one of the best new features of W2K3.

On the server, go into the properties on the volume and set it to take a snapshot at least once a day, preferrably twice, like so:

[agallag]

On the client machines, install the "previous versions" client (installer is on the 2003 server in C:\WINDOWS\system32\clients\twclient\x86), and then when they go into the properties of a shared folder, they see this:

[agallag]

Note that in the last screenshot, you would normally have more snapshots to choose from, but I just enabled this on my server so there's only the one snapshot available.

[Fluff]

Cheers. Thanks for that. Quite a few choices to make it seems. Got a quote off Dell for a server. Doesent seem too bad.

Looks like I might have a steep and dangerous learning curve.

[agallag]

Ack... Dell. They make decent desktops, but their servers are kinda crappy. Not terrible if you're only dealing with one or two, but still, not great. IBM xSeries or HP Proliant would be a little more money, but much much better hardware and support.

[MultimediaMan]

Agallag: I disagree...

The Dell 2xxx servers are very very good for the money...

The IBM Servers are cantankerous, especially the newer x3XX series. And they STILL have to have a keyboard and mouse plugged into them to boot.

We run several thousand of each type in a production environment and the IBMs have a fallout rate about 15% higher than Dell, mostly because of the Keyboard/Mouse Issue. We have a solution for that in the works though.

[Fluff]

I needed a quiet(ish) server so I have gone for the following spec. (well alot quieter than a 1u)

PE1800 (4u tower (with rack rails option))
2gb DDR2
2 x xeon2.8 1 meg cache
3 x 74gb SCSI 10k (RAID 5)
Redundant PSU option
floppy drive
mouse + Keyboard
Perc4/sc controller. With 64mb cache.
CD-ROM
2k3 server
veritas backup software

1500 KVa UPS.

Half height rack.

(+ Adaptec 29160 controller + ext HP DAT 72.) which i have already.

[agallag]

We've had some huge issues with Dell support though. Two examples:

1. DRAC II (Dell Remote Assistant Card). Remote control stops working randomly, requiring a hard boot of the system to get it to work again. Also, prevents the server from booting about every ten boots, requiring removal of the card, booting, shutting down, inserting the card, booting again.

Dell's solution? Take out the card and throw it away. Seriously.

2. PERC2 RAID controller causes a timout error in the event log every 3 minutes (still works, but polutes the event log) when using the latest driver on W2K3. Reported the problem six months ago, they replicated it in their lab immediately. They still haven't released an updated driver to correct the issue.

This is because they don't make their own hardware. They're waiting for adaptec to release new drivers, so they can repackage them and release them again.

Similar driver problems with a Proliant a few years back were corrected in less than a week.

Also, related to driver support, Dell doesn't have a system for updating all drivers on a server at once. HP has the Support Pack, and IBM has the downloadable UpdateXpress CD. Much easier when you have many machines to update.

[Fluff]

That is quite worrying. I hope ther new servers are better.

That would explain why Dells graphic drivers for the notebook graphics on our M60 and M50 laptops havent been updated for ages.

I hope as i'm getting PERC 4 and DRAC 4 cards in the system things will be better.