Non-tape backup solution needed

Thanks pgm554,

Have you any comments on this particular item?

Iomega 250GB* Desktop Hard Drive, eSATA/USB 2.0


Also, how do I know that the eSATA card is compatible with my server - would I contact Dell and purchase from them?  Do you assume NT backup as the software or should I consider some 3rd party?

I don't know why you seem to be ignoring me, but I'll answer you anyway -

Check whatever eSATA card you get to make sure it has drivers for your operating system.

You can go right ahead and consider third party software - unfortunately, the big programs that provide the best overall solutions will cost you $500-$1000... BEFORE you buy any hardware.

Do you somehow feel NTBackup is not appropriate for you?  What about using it concerns you?

Have never used it,I build my own.
Iomega is a reputable company.

Any ESATA card should be compatible ,(PCI or PCI-X)

PCI-X would be my choice because you server has a 64 bit  /66mhz buss and generaly speaking,would be faster for data transfers.

http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/adsa3gx4r-e.asp

PCI-E is not a standard in servers yet,so I would rule that out.

Fastest and most reliable method for DR

Symantec LiveState or Acronis for servers (6 to 700 bucks)and worth every penny!

If you had a major crash(RAID corruption or worse)

Repace disks ,create RAID array,boot recovery disk ,restore image.

Fast,easy ,no brainer!

NT backup requires you reinstall SBS from scratch,service pack and rerun wizards,then restore.

4 to 5 hours of labor(or more)

Live State or Acronis 1 to 2.

Like I said - Any DECENT program is going to be EXPENSIVE.

And I'd avoid Live State - it's now a Symantec product and they REALLY KNOW HOW TO MARKET but seem to be clueless on making quality programs.  Go with Acronis if you want an imaging solution as a backup.

But keep in mind,you said this was SBS - Exchange REQUIRES an appropriate backup to flush the logs - Acronis and Live State do not do this as far as I know.  NTBACKUP does.  So does Backup Exec (Probably on it's last good version as it too now belongs to symantec) and ArcServe.

Unless you have first hand knowledge of the program,please do not criticize it because Symantec now owns it.

Symantec deserves a LOT of bad press because they have released a lot of GARBAGE in the past(Norton SystemWorks Pro is a prime example of a horrendous product that they let loose upon the unsuspecting public).

I have been using the product(LiveState) for about 2 years and it works as advertised.
I highly reccommend it.

As for Acronis,I have heard good things about it,but rumor has it that CA is eyeing a buyout.

So does that mean Acronis will become a piece of garbage automatically because CA owns them?

Of course not.

The same goes for Symantec.

If it were a piece of garbage ,I would tell people to stay away.

I've worked with many a piece of lousy software and this one actually is not bad.

As for SBS ,CA has a nice backup suite for SBS Premium.
I have installed and tested it and it is pretty decent.(Lots of bells and whistles)

http://www3.ca.com/smb/product.aspx?id=5446

This is the product that CA might be looking to add Acronis to in the future as a bundled product.

Symantec bought Norton and turned it to cr@p.  Symantec bought PowerQuest and ruined Drive Image by merging it with Ghost.  Symantec bought GoBack and removed half it's features, integrated it into System Works and effectively destroyed the usability of the product.  Symantec bought Sygate and got rid of the free version and god knows what else they did to ruin it.

Now, I've never used LiveState - and I would NOT on a system running Exchange - unless you can provide a link to information on LiveState truncating the Exchange logs.  Even then, Symantec's track record has been anything but stellar - and who's to say that even if this version is good, the next won't be cr@p.  Yes, the argument can go both ways if it were some other product... but I'll take the odds of most other companies not producing the level of cr@p that symentec does.

What "rumor" has it that CA is looking into buying acronis - I'm on several mailing lists and member of a few groups and I've not heard a single word about Acronis being bought by CA... where did you hear this?

And you seem to be thinking I was trashing CA - I never said a bad word about them in question - other than the product is expensive - same for Backup Exec.  I still recommend backup exec, but I caution people because it is owned by symantec.

My point here is the budget is $250-$1000.  This can make specialized backup software prohibitively expensive.  That's my point to using NTBackup - it's a perfectly suitable program for basic backup and restore.  And if you know what you're doing with it, a full system restore will not take more 3 hours.  Would faster be better?  Probably... buit it would also be considerably more expensive.

Further, it's a Microsoft recommendation that you DO NOT image domain controllers - if it's only one DC (an SBS server ONLY for example), I wouldn't worry, but if you have TWO or more, then I would NOT use imaging software to backup the DCs.

http://www.msd2d.com/Content/Tip_viewitem_03NoAuth.aspx?id=9337f246-1eaa-447f-a213-a0b0b3a5facc§ion=Exchange

I was talking to one of the CA marketing guys at a roadshow and mentioned that Symantec had Powerquest imaging products in their line of bundled suites for the server and desktop products.
He mentioned that they were looking at Acronis as a possible answer.

As for CA,they have had a rep over the years all most as bad as Symantec ,they nearly ruined Arcserve after they bought it and Unicenter has been a complete piece of garbage for quite sometime.

As for the imaging thing,isn't imaging going to be bundled in with the new Longhorn server?

In longhorn, I'm not sure... (I haven't installed the beta yet (maybe I'll do that later today).  Certain editions of Vista, yes.  But there are some annoying limitations to it. But it's a bundled thing, so this should not be surprising. But again, the concern here is the exchange logs - and that Active Directory is a multiple master system - imaging (and restoring) a domain controller in a domain environment CAN (not WILL, but CAN) create problems.

I'm well aware of CA's rep... but in my estimation, it has been studily improving over the years... I used ArcServe 6-7 years ago and liked it... even could deal with support (though it wasn't fantastic, it wasn't hideosly awful).  The only reason we switched to Backup Exec was due to a misdiagnosed driver issue (the consultant thought it was ArcServe's fault, but it later turned out to be an Adaptec Driver issue causing SERIOUS performance issues with the backup).  In fact, I liked - still like - ArcServe a little better since it has LONG stored it's database in a SQL database AND I REALLY like the methods of individual file restores (which are what is needed most of the time) giving you several ways of reviewing the restore options including one with a version history for each file, a view kinda like what VSS gives you in 2003.  Though I don't use ArcServe any longer in any of my clients, I do have one client with CA antivirus solution and though I don't recommend it, I have nothing bad to say about it... though without maintenance, we can't upgrade it, but our license lets us keep using the version we have AND get updates until the year 2025 or so.

Symantec has done little, in my experience, to improve it's reputation for destroying successful software - but again, they sure do know how to market... Symantec has been on a buy and destroy program (though I'm not sure they'd call it that) for years now.

My experience with AS was using the Windows product to backup up NW servers using agents.
This was in 2001 after I had upgraded from NW 4.11 to 5.1.
Everytime I ran a backup,it locked up my servers with a "scheduled work to do" error.
CA didn't have a clue and nether did Novell,so we ended up moving to BE.

In 1999 ,I had a client running AS and I called to ask CA if there were any issues if I were to apply a Novell service pack,

I literally was on hold for 4 hours with no answer ,and this was consistant, no matter what time of the day you called.

The first encounter I had with CHEYENNE Arcserve (before CA)was I had somebody within 5 minutes ,who knew exactly what the problem was.
Excellent FREE support.

Has CA gotten better,yes and no,but this is a general problem with software companies as a whole.
I have, as of yet,ever gotten a dot oh! product to work as advertised out of the box.

Even with folks like Novell,whose rep for making solid ,dependable products, has had some issues with support and QA.
My experience with them has been so so in terms of tech support.