How do I restore a Backup Exec server
Bit of an awkward one for me as I'm always used to having more than 1 server in the company.
If the Backup exec server is the only server in the company
ie its a DC and Exchange (small company) and it crashes
ie new hard drives etc or a fire so you need a new server and you have perfect backups off site on tape what is the easiest way to restore that DC.
We have a lot of small companies some have SBS and some have 2003 standard all of them only have 1 server in the entire company which does everything with either the builtin NTBackup exec on them or Symantec Backup exec.
As above I need to know of the quickest method of recovering in this scenario bearing in mind they are small companies and purchasing a 2nd server to use as the backup exec server is too expensive for them so I need to look at how quickly and easy it is to get that one server, either sbs or w3k standard DC with exchange and backup exec or ntbackup running on it, backup and running as quickly as possible.
If the Backup exec server is the only server in the company
ie its a DC and Exchange (small company) and it crashes
ie new hard drives etc or a fire so you need a new server and you have perfect backups off site on tape what is the easiest way to restore that DC.
We have a lot of small companies some have SBS and some have 2003 standard all of them only have 1 server in the entire company which does everything with either the builtin NTBackup exec on them or Symantec Backup exec.
As above I need to know of the quickest method of recovering in this scenario bearing in mind they are small companies and purchasing a 2nd server to use as the backup exec server is too expensive for them so I need to look at how quickly and easy it is to get that one server, either sbs or w3k standard DC with exchange and backup exec or ntbackup running on it, backup and running as quickly as possible.
Just to add to above imaging is OK but it only works with identical components.
A while ago I tried to restore from an image on a different hard disk and the process failed.
A while ago I tried to restore from an image on a different hard disk and the process failed.
ASKER
Thanks for the above.
Actually just rebuilt a test SBS server and Im running ntbackup restore in AD Restore services now.
It just seems a bit foriegn that the server is actually restoring itself including ad and exchange.
No idea whether its going to work of course just yet.
I have looked at imaging using acronis etc.
What imaging software have you used for servers as I would like to run the imaging each night to either create new full images each night or incrementals.
Actually just rebuilt a test SBS server and Im running ntbackup restore in AD Restore services now.
It just seems a bit foriegn that the server is actually restoring itself including ad and exchange.
No idea whether its going to work of course just yet.
I have looked at imaging using acronis etc.
What imaging software have you used for servers as I would like to run the imaging each night to either create new full images each night or incrementals.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
aldanch is correct you should be able to restore to dissimilar hardware using Symantec BESR or Acronis True Image. They will also support a conversion of the image to a virtual machine and then image again to restore to physical once hardware gets fixed.
ASKER
Tested and tested and tested and finally tested again.
Will plump for BESR 8.5 as it never failed no matter what differant types makes of hardware we through at it, acronis was spot on as well but it did refuse a few times to restore where acronis occasionally refused and screwed the os up when it refused to restore, as soon as we used the BESR cd to run the restores straight after where acronis had fell over BESR restored with ease, admittedly it was only a few times acronis refused. In Acronis defence even though we were testing they still gave email support to us and quite quickly, cant comment of symantec as it simply never failed so we never had cause to ask for help.
We are also looking at DoubleTake which will as you are probably aware allow us to create a failover server to get them up and running quickly if the source server goes down and needs replacing due to being unrepairable which would mean down time until a new server can be brought on site and restored to. Double take would failover to an existing dormant server sat there in the event that the main server goes down. This solution is for companies who simply cannot or do not want to run the risk as small of a risk that it is that the main server requires completely replacing and they cannot afford the down time.
Both solutions will still have backup exec sat running away as normal.
Will plump for BESR 8.5 as it never failed no matter what differant types makes of hardware we through at it, acronis was spot on as well but it did refuse a few times to restore where acronis occasionally refused and screwed the os up when it refused to restore, as soon as we used the BESR cd to run the restores straight after where acronis had fell over BESR restored with ease, admittedly it was only a few times acronis refused. In Acronis defence even though we were testing they still gave email support to us and quite quickly, cant comment of symantec as it simply never failed so we never had cause to ask for help.
We are also looking at DoubleTake which will as you are probably aware allow us to create a failover server to get them up and running quickly if the source server goes down and needs replacing due to being unrepairable which would mean down time until a new server can be brought on site and restored to. Double take would failover to an existing dormant server sat there in the event that the main server goes down. This solution is for companies who simply cannot or do not want to run the risk as small of a risk that it is that the main server requires completely replacing and they cannot afford the down time.
Both solutions will still have backup exec sat running away as normal.
ASKER
Sorry
forgot to say thanks for your ideas and thoughts.
Appreciate it.
Roy
forgot to say thanks for your ideas and thoughts.
Appreciate it.
Roy
To minimize downtime I image my machines so if drives are lost I can reimage the machine to point X in time then bring it back up to date from backups. It saves reinstalling the OS.
Of course I would really try to get your clients to approve a second domain controller at a minimum. You can get a server for $1000 now adays