How do I backup network share and scheduled task information on Server 2012
We recently had a problem where the system (C:) drive of a Windows Server 2012 VM got hosed by an update.
Unfortunately we did not know about the problem until a reboot which happened long enough after the update that it transpired that all backups had the same problem.
This was not catastrophic as the data drives were fine and so we just attached them to a different server.
The big problem that we did have was that this was a file server and in losing the system, we also lost:-
1. The configuration of all the file shares on this server (there were a lot)
2. Detail of all the scheduled tasks on this server
So even though the shared data and associated file permissions remained, we had to rebuild all the file shares and this has taken a long time (and we are still discovering things that we missed).
So - I am wondering if there is an easy way to backup this configuration data in some other way so that it could be easily restored in the future if this happened again?
I am looking for something in addition to a standard backup, so even if the C: drive was corrupt on every backup instance, we could still restore this information using some other method.
The suggestion of keeping backups for longer is a valid one, however this is a server on an IaaS platform and it is not cost effective to keep backups for any longer than 2 weeks.
How do other people do this? Anyone got any ideas?
Jon
Unfortunately we did not know about the problem until a reboot which happened long enough after the update that it transpired that all backups had the same problem.
This was not catastrophic as the data drives were fine and so we just attached them to a different server.
The big problem that we did have was that this was a file server and in losing the system, we also lost:-
1. The configuration of all the file shares on this server (there were a lot)
2. Detail of all the scheduled tasks on this server
So even though the shared data and associated file permissions remained, we had to rebuild all the file shares and this has taken a long time (and we are still discovering things that we missed).
So - I am wondering if there is an easy way to backup this configuration data in some other way so that it could be easily restored in the future if this happened again?
I am looking for something in addition to a standard backup, so even if the C: drive was corrupt on every backup instance, we could still restore this information using some other method.
The suggestion of keeping backups for longer is a valid one, however this is a server on an IaaS platform and it is not cost effective to keep backups for any longer than 2 weeks.
How do other people do this? Anyone got any ideas?
Jon
Don
I would use either Hyper-V replication or configure DFS or both.
ASKER
Hi,
The servers (which are IaaS so we don't have access above the OS layer anyway) I believe are running on VMware so I am not sure how Hyper-V replication would help (unless I am missing something).
How would we use DFS to help?
(I am not that familiar with either of these technologies, so it might well be that they would both help, but maybe you can elaborate on how we would use them to help with this?)
Jon
The servers (which are IaaS so we don't have access above the OS layer anyway) I believe are running on VMware so I am not sure how Hyper-V replication would help (unless I am missing something).
How would we use DFS to help?
(I am not that familiar with either of these technologies, so it might well be that they would both help, but maybe you can elaborate on how we would use them to help with this?)
Jon
Well, with DFS you would have identical shares on each server that's added to DFS. These get replicated between themselves. Users will be unaware of what server their share is pointed to. This allows users to have shares local, instead of over the WAN.
Look over
http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2009/03/10/the-basics-of-the-windows-server-2008-distributed-file-system-dfs.aspx
Look over
http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2009/03/10/the-basics-of-the-windows-server-2008-distributed-file-system-dfs.aspx
ASKER
Thanks for that. Worth knowing about.
I see two problems with that for us.
1. Storage costs are at a premium, so replicating the data would be prohibitive. It is the information about the shares as opposed to the content of the shares that I am looking to back up. Is it possible to do this in DFS without replicating the content?
2. We have a lot of hard-coded UNC paths around at the moment. Wouldn't DFS break those?
I see two problems with that for us.
1. Storage costs are at a premium, so replicating the data would be prohibitive. It is the information about the shares as opposed to the content of the shares that I am looking to back up. Is it possible to do this in DFS without replicating the content?
2. We have a lot of hard-coded UNC paths around at the moment. Wouldn't DFS break those?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
That looks interesting. Thanks Jose.
Either got any suggestions for easily backing up / recreating scheduled tasks?
Either got any suggestions for easily backing up / recreating scheduled tasks?
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BTW....
Not related but I also backup the following on a scheduled basis
Shares, IIS, Windows Features, FSRM
Makes it a lot easier to stand up 43 servers during our yearly DR exercise.
Not related but I also backup the following on a scheduled basis
Shares, IIS, Windows Features, FSRM
Makes it a lot easier to stand up 43 servers during our yearly DR exercise.
ASKER
Thanks - sorry you slightly misunderstood my question.
The other part of my original question was how to easily backup scheduled tasks as this was the other thing we lost when the C: drive was hosed.
How would you actually backup all the scheduled tasks? (i.e. the detail of what is running with what frequency?)
The other part of my original question was how to easily backup scheduled tasks as this was the other thing we lost when the C: drive was hosed.
How would you actually backup all the scheduled tasks? (i.e. the detail of what is running with what frequency?)
ASKER
Anyone got any thoughts on that?
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