Backup Solution

[chris06]

Hi,

My company are looking for a new backup solution but only have a buget of around 5k max. We have around 10 servers that we need to backup with a total size of around 5tb of Data.

The boss is looking for some kind of backup to disk solution and seems as though there are many knowelegable people on here I thought i'd see if anyone has any suggestions of solutions that fit the buget?

Thanks

Chris

 

[chris06]

When you say "backup to disk", what kind of "disk" do you mean?

I'd never backup solely to magnetic storage.

Well, he's currently looking into purchasing the Dell Powervault MD1000 to backup all the servers to that?

I've got no experience when it comes to backup systems so I'm open to any suggestions that I can pass on?

 

[chris06]

I've got some experience with the MD1000 and backup solutions - sounds like you're in the early stages of planning, if so how fixed in stone is the budget? Also the more info you can provide about the environment the better - what is your existing backup strategy?

Also you need to think about off site storage - with the amount of data you're talking about you will need a product that deals in delta changes. Unfortunately these tend to be fairly expensive.

The solution we ended up implementing was a combination of Symantec BackupExec for local disk based backups & Symantec NetBackup PureDisk which handled off site replication of the delta changes in data at a block level.

Hi There,

Unfortunately, the buget is set and 5k is the absolute max that the company can afford to invest. Obviously, we are aware that with such a little buget were not going to be able to purchase an "all singing all dancing solution"

Existing stratagy untill a few days ago was to back everything up to a HP MSL5052 robotic tape library, unfortunately, this has now broke and is deemed to expensive to fix.

We already have software (Backup Exec) so only need the actual hardware. The boss is not interested in off site backup, I guess he must not feel the data is that important.

What are your thoughts on the MD1000? We already have a Poweredge 2900 ready to connect it to.

Thanks

 

[chris06]

I agree with everything that everybody has suggested regarding offsite backup etc but i'm not important enough for my views to count. I will be doing all I can to try and change their views and make them realise how important it is.

If we forget about off site for a moment, does anyone have any views on the MD1000? or any suitable alternatives?

 

[chris06]

Disk to Disk to Tape sounds like it's needed here.

An LTO-4 drive will set you back around £1700+ with 3 year warranty.

You've then got £3300 to play around with additional disks etc.

MD1000 with a bunch of big drives to back up to in a RAID6. Specifics will vary with pricing but it makes the most sense.

This sounds like a possibility, Ill look in to that. Thanks