Server back-up options

[stevehouse]

Hi there,

We have a server that we back up to tape every night and I'm wondering if tape is the best option for us? We can only currently back up 1.5Tb due to the time it takes to do the back and I wondered whether there's hardware available to replace a tape that would enable us to back up more data overnight?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[Armageus]

What type of tape drive (e.g. what generation if LTO, what connection e.g. SCSI or networked)?

Also where is the data to be backed up coming from? e.g. local drive or raid array in same server, or multiple network locations?

What is dictating the overnight backup window? If it is due to degrading system performance or downtime requirement, then worth having a separate "staging" backup server - perform all backups to a raid array etc in this, and then have this backup to tape within a longer window / without degrading performance.

Might be worth looking into RDX removeable media (essentially backup grade removable 2.5" hard drives), which are basically a drop in replacement for tape, but being hard drive based offer random access performance (so can be used in more backup modes e.g. direct copy of file tree, only copying changed files etc)

 

[Little_Crow]

You haven't provided a lot of information to go on really.
If you can outline your setup as Armageus has asked it would help us to help you.

and also:
> What software are you currently using? Version if possible too.
> What is your current schedule, e.g. Full every day, Full on Sunday - Incrementals week days, etc.
> What are you backing up? DB backups, File shares, Full VM images, etc

There are many different ways to achieve useful backups, and they don't have to be expensive (though money helps, of course). What works in one place isn't suitable for another, but what is important is that they're robust, restorable and well documented.

 

[stevehouse]

Hi there,

Thanks for the replies. I'm afraid I don't really know much about the system setup

What I do know is that the backup is being done from the local drive and the tape is plugged in via SCSI. We're not really keen to complicate the set up any further if possible. If we ever get a decent internet connection, we'd like to back up to the cloud...

I guess I was hoping that the answer would be a straight "tapes are so 2005!...you should be using an XXXX". I could then go to our IT Support people and ask them to look at updating the system.

Thanks for the suggestion of the RDX. Would the access and writing time to these be quicker than the tape?

Many thanks again,

Steve

 

[Armageus]

Thanks for the replies. I'm afraid I don't really know much about the system setup

No worries, although without any more info it's a bit hard to make any further suggestions.

What I do know is that the backup is being done from the local drive and the tape is plugged in via SCSI. We're not really keen to complicate the set up any further if possible. If we ever get a decent internet connection, we'd like to back up to the cloud...

Cloud backup is a good thought, although personally I would still combine it with another form of backup.

I guess I was hoping that the answer would be a straight "tapes are so 2005!...you should be using an XXXX". I could then go to our IT Support people and ask them to look at updating the system.

Tapes still have their place, in that they are relatively cheap (given their capacity) and a proven technology.

Thanks for the suggestion of the RDX. Would the access and writing time to these be quicker than the tape?

The access time is the same as any normal hard drive (versus tape that basically can't be truely random accessed).
Write speed is not necessarily as fast as tape (between 70-120MB/s), but again depends on what sort of tape drive you are using.

RDX Media is relatively expensive, but the actual drive hardware is very cheap (as there is basically nothing to it) compared to a tape drive, and hjas less chance of failure.

 

[nutcase]

Tape has expensive drives and cheap media - RDX has expensive media and cheap drives

Tape very much has a place in the modern world.

I'd suggest you want to look at D2D2T - disk to disk to tape - so back up to a NAS and then the NAS backs up to the tape which gets taken off site. Quick restores from the NAS if required, but in a real disaster you can restore from the tape.

 

[Caged]

What's the server running and what does it do?

Some of the SnapDrive suite from NetApp is really good, and the lower end FAS units aren't crazy money if you just want capacity for backup.

 

[Little_Crow]

I read an article that EMC were releasing a free (up to 1TB) virtual edition of Data Domain - which would seem to be ideal for this sort of D2D2T application. Of course, I can't now find the article.

However, looking at the webpage for DDVE it looks like its only up to 0.5TB for free and I really don't know how support is handled.

 

[krozor]

A possible solution and one we have done many times is buy a large Synology NAS drive and then either back this up to the cloud via Amazon S3 built into the NAS already or to external hard drives and rotate. Tapes do have a place but it would really depend on other factors Internet speed is one of them, how far back you need to go. Most small businesses don't need to go that far back and maybe a few weeks is enough. Look into Amazon glacier for long term if cloud is a route.