Real Time Backup Solution

cavemanoc · 21 Jan 2009 at 19:33

Hi. As part of a project I'm working on I need to find a real time backup solution for an access database. The file involved will be small (<2Gb) and will be used by 14 read/write users and up to 10 read only users. All I need is for any changes to the file to be automatically backed up onto another location. I've found a few possible solutions on the net, but most of them are aimed at supporting much larger structures than mine, covering a greater array of files. I really only need something that will track/backup a single database live.

I'm unsure on the platforn ATM, but since it's between WHS and Server 2003/8, I guess what works on one will work on the others

cavemanoc · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:06

I'd be more than happy with incremental backup of live changes as there will be timed backup as well (1/4/8 hour + daily/weekly/monthly etc...)

I very much doubt the database will be 2Gb - that is simply the largest size it can be - I'm hoping to get hold of a copy of it soon so I can see exactly how big it is.

cavemanoc · 22 Jan 2009 at 09:09

That would work quite nicely - my problem is that the network will have up to 25 people on it and MS are pretty adamant that they will not open up a licensing scheme to take WHS beyond the 10 person limit.

There is another problem as well - the backup really needs to be at a record level rather than file based - I will have multiple users accessing the database at the same time - I want only the updated records to be backed up - what I need to avoid is having user A and user B both amending the DB - A saves having updated records 1&2, B then saves having updated records 7&8, but his file is newer than A's so it overwrites records 1&2 with the old data (if that makes sense).

cavemanoc · 22 Jan 2009 at 12:34

Disregard the above - I have realised my mistake

cavemanoc · 22 Jan 2009 at 21:00

Finally managed to track down the previous admins (hardware and software) which certainly helped. We will be running SQL servers (2000 :eek:

- <-no progress here!) on Windows Server 2000 enterprise which solves quite a few problems. (Certainly the fact that the cluster software is built in solves one of my biggest headaches.)

Having finally cemented our requirements (hardware/software) the overall build is now a lot clearer to me. I will obviously be picking up a proper SQL course before I get stuck in which will, no doubt, answer a lot of my questions. For the time being can I assume that SQL has the functionality to do real time backups of the database? I'm assuming that Win Server will have all the timed backup options I need for the non-live backups - so hopefully I should be sorted with the following:

2 Clustered servers offering redundancy.
(Raid 1 within each)
SQL real time backup of the database.
Win Server Timed Backup of the server onto NAS box.

Means I can lose a single drive without data/time loss
I can lose a single server without downtime (Cluster)
I can lose Both servers and still keep all the data (NAS)

Should do nicely