good article on backup exchange server with ntbackup:
http://www.petri.co.il/
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NTbackup--what to backup? restoration process? and best practices
hi, i need to know exactly what i should be backing up to ensure my client's safety. I still don't fully understand how a restore from NTbackup would go so i'd like to go over the list of things to back up and also the restoration process.
here's my thoughts so far, please correct me and add to this:
Stuff to Back up:
1) back up all business data (obviously)
2) back up system state (contains Active Directory & DNS?)
3) Ensure Exchange data and IIS web data are backed up (if they are installed)
4) should I back up anything else on C: (system) drive?? C:\program files??
When Restoring with backups made using NTbackup:
1) reinstall Server 2003 or SBS 2003
2) restore System State from NTbackup
3) restore Exchange & IIS
4) reinstall programs? (i.e. corporate anti-virus, etc.)
5) what about Group Policy? DHCP? NTbackup scripts/config?
Thanks! would love to hear from guys who have had to restore using NTbackup in real world scenarios but all comments welcome.
-k
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Answers
Hi,
Here's a pointer to a Q regarding the proper procedure to follow when restoring a 2K3 DC.
http://www.experts-exchang
HTH
Cheers
what to back up?
1 - no brainer unless you need a new job
2 - absolutely back up the system state. The system state will back up the registry, AD and its partitions including DNS (if integrated into AD), sysvol which will contain login scripts are group policies, IIS metadata, and a few others that I can't remember. You need the system state data if you ever want to restore the server back to what it was doing without having to reload everything from scratch and reconfiguring manually.
3. If Exchange is loaded on the server, then NTbackup will be automatically updated with the ability to properly backup the databases. Another no brainer unless your are looking into a career of washing cars.
4. Other stuff in program files - and how about the OS itself? I'm sure that there are a number of people here that will say backup everything, hey when in doubt, back it up. but think about how you are going to restore. Does it make sense to back up the OS if you have to reload the OS fro the installation media before doing a restore? I guess it depends on your disaster recovery plan. With some 3rd party backup utilities you can create restore diskettes/CDs to restore the entire system, therefore you need to backup the OS. With ntbackup, you have to reload the OS, patch it, then start restoring your data, therefore no need to back up the OS. As far as other things in program files, yes, back them up as the system state will ensure that they are registered properly with the OS and therefore will run properly.
As far as the restore is concerned:
1 - if all you have is ntbackup that is what you have to do - don't forget that it has to be patched with the SP level and any other patches/updates before the crash.
2 - You want to erstore the system state with the other files, remember that the system state will restore the registry and its registrations with applcations, etc. Therefore the apps have to be present on the system.
3 - yup
4 - see 2 above
5 - will be restored with the system state as gpo's are part of sysvol as well as AD.
Here is also some good info, extract taken from my eBook of SBS Unleashed.
Backup Types
Aside from creating a full disk image or just copying a few files, several standard backup types can be run, as discussed in the following sections.
Full Backup
Full backups are the most comprehensive and are self-contained backups. However, the size of the data to be backed up and the time it takes to run a full backup to slow media may make it inappropriate as a regularly scheduled backup. Full backups may be restricted to a weekly or monthly schedule.
Most small businesses that fall within the SBS client base should have no problem doing a full nightly backup as created by the SBS Backup Wizard. If data size does become an issue (for example, multimedia or CAD files), archiving older files or excluding the files from the full backup and running a second data-only incremental or differential backup become options.
The trade-offs of a full backup are that although it provides the fastest restore, the storage space requirement is the highest, and backup and verify time is the longest.
With a full backup, only the previous full backup needs to be stored offsite.
It is also worth noting that each full backup contains an entire copy of the data. If the backup media were to be illegally accessed or stolen, the hacker or thief would then have access to an entire copy of your data.
The SBS 2003 Backup Wizard only creates a full, System State backup, but it does allow for the exclusion of some files and folders. SBS works around the problem of backing up open files by taking a snapshot copy of the drive contents using VSS. A copy of the open file is made by VSS, and the backup process accesses the VSS copy of the file instead of trying to access the open file directly.
Differential Backup
There is a significant distinction between differential backups and incremental backups although they are often confused. Differential backups back up all the files that have changed since the last full backup, whereas incremental backups back up all the files modified since the last full backup or incremental backup.
The trade-off is that although smaller and subsequently faster than a full backup, a differential backup is slower to restore.
Two backup files are required: the latest full backup and the latest differential backup. The last full backup and the last differential backup are the two backups that you need to store offsite.
Incremental Backup
Incremental backups provide a much faster method of backing up data than either full or incremental backups. An incremental backup backs up only those files that have changed since the most recent full, incremental, or differential backup.
The advantage of lower backup times comes at the price of an increased restore time and the need to safely store more media offsite. When restoring from incremental backup, you need the most recent full backup as well as every incremental backup you've made since the last full backup.
For example, if you did a full backup on Friday and incrementals on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the server crashes on the next Friday, you would need all five backup files: The Friday full backup and the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday incrementals.
By comparison, if you had done differential backups on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, to restore on the Friday only the previous Friday's full backup plus Thursday's differential backup are required.
Note
Windows NTBackup uses the following backup type definitions:
Normal backup (full)A normal backup copies all the files you select and marks each file as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is cleared). With normal backups, you only need the most recent copy of the backup file or tape to restore all the files. You usually perform a normal backup the first time you create a backup set.
Copy backupA copy backup copies all the files you select but does not mark each file as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). Copying is useful if you want to back up files between normal and incremental backups because copying does not affect these other backup operations.
Daily backupDaily backup copies all the files you select that have been modified on the day the daily backup is performed. The backed-up files are not marked as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). This backup type is generally not used as part of a recovery program because to do a full system restore, you would have to have a normal backup and then a daily backup from each and every day since the normal backup.
Kind Regards
Steve
The nice thing about SBS backup everything stratagy is that to restore, you need base install of the OS, then run ntbackup to restore from the last backup. I have done this numerous times in testing backups and it works like a charm. If you run multiple backup jobs that backup different things, the restore is not really more difficult, but needs to be restored in the correct order to bring the system back to a consistent state.
Sterling
the links are great! thanks guys.
so, one last thing before closing out--can you please re-confirm/comment on my following thought:
"If I back up the System State and everything in the C:\Program Files directory, then in the event of a system restore, I won't need to reinstall any of the programs (i.e. Symantec Antivirus, etc.). After a 'successful' restore these programs will run as they did before without needing to be reinstalled/reconfigured."
Thanks guys
Hi there,
The following are the key components to the server system state.
* Boot files (Boot.ini, NDTLDR, NTDetect.com)
* Registry - Including COM settings
* SYSVOL - Group Policy and Logon Scripts
* Active Directory NTDS.DIT (Domain Controllers)
* Certificate Store (If the service is installed)
You would need the data from the full backup in order to restore applications etc..
My advice would be to user virtual PC from your action pack (If you have got it) and test restoring etc until you get it right a few times, after all you dont want to be in the situation you have to restore a server and there are certain things your unsure of.
Kind Regards
Steve
a great suggestion Steve. what i'm trying to determine is specifically--is it worth me backing up C:\Program Files directory so that i can restore programs in this directory INSTEAD of having to reinstall and reconfigure them after the restore. I totally understand that you can't give a concrete answer on this but I'm just wondering if this is even worth trying or should i expect to have to reinstall 3rd party apps from scratch even if I do have full backups of the Programs Files directory and the registry.
what i'm trying to avoid is backing up files that will be useless to me after the restore. And the Programs Files and C:\Windows directories are usually the bulk of data on my system drives. If it's useless for me to back these up b/c all that really matters is System State for this drive then i'd like to exclude them from my backup scripts. Do you back up these directories?
thanks
Yes, you would backup program files as long as you are backing up the system state. You need to regristrations of the applications which are held in the registry and backed up in the system state data. If you don't have the system state backup, then it does you no good to backup program files as the applications installed there will have to be reinstalled.
I know I'm late to the party but looks likes a popular thread. By the end of the thread I got the impression that doing a complete backup (files and system settings) would allow me to avoid reinstalling apps upon recovery. Prior to reading this thread I thought the opposite, that I would need to reinstall my OS, then my apps and then system state and data.
Does anyone want to discuss?
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by: MrMandersonPosted on 2007-08-21 at 05:43:01ID: 19737253
Hi there
Here are some very useful resources on Backup strategy
http://sbsurl.com/backup
http://www.vladville.com/s
http://www.vladville.com/s
Kind Regards
Steve