Server backup methods

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sic
  • Start date Start date

Sic

Sic

Sic

Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2004
Posts
15,365
Location
SO16
one for the ISP owners...what are the best methods of keeping working copies of your server? we've had some trouble with our dedicated server recently, and i'm looking at ways we can prevent sites going down through problems with the ISP. any advice you can give me would be very helpful

thanks :)
 
We backup to other servers off site. Most of our stuff is replicated in one data center then sent up to manchester.

What OS and webhosting software you running?
 
we're running Windows Server 2003 and IIS 6. we've got about 20 sites on this one server, so i'm ideally looking for an automated system but i've just been asked to research it and i don't really know what i'm looking for :(
 
Sic said:
and i'm looking at ways we can prevent sites going down through problems with the ISP

thanks :)
Click to expand...

Get a better ISP :p. Sorry.

I know Jon + co have great success with the Ahsay backup system on their Windows servers. It runs in Java though and is a bit of a memory hog.

What you really want is some fast, external FTP storage which you can configure your commercial Windows backup software to upload to. Alternatively if cost is an issue you could just write a batch script. Depends what you're backing up really.
 
i think the better ISP is going to be the best idea to be honest...we already back everything up daily and it's not an issue...i'm going round and having a look at various other ISPs as we speak to try and find an alternative
 
JonRohan said:
May as well try 2host then. :p

Just for clarification (after a chat on msn) Sic was kind of referring to load balancing.
Click to expand...

Problem with load balancing is that you remove one point of failure and replace it with another. You then need 2 load balancers to counter that meaning a minimum of 4 servers. If throughput isn't massive, I would suggest a well managed, high spec single server with dual PSUs and RAID is the way forward :).
 
for my own personal servers i usually do the following

RAID 1 Config (mirrors HD)
+ extra hd, where program such as cPanel would send backups to
 
uk_viper said:
for my own personal servers i usually do the following

RAID 1 Config (mirrors HD)
+ extra hd, where program such as cPanel would send backups to
Click to expand...

Remember, if the **** really hits the fan it's best to have a backup not on the server... if your server gets rooted, or the datacentre gets nuked or even something mundane such as a power supply managing to fry everything connected to the motherboard. Just something worth considering though... it all depends how valuable the data is and under what circumstances it would be "allowed" to be down.
 
I like SVN, personally. No redundancy—the bad kind—like you'd get from backing up every X hours regardless of changes; you only get a new backup when you've made changes. It's possible to go back to any revision at any point in the past, so if you commit something dodgy once it doesn't mean you've tanked your backups.

So, SVN plus some kind of replication of the repository is a good way IMO :)

Edit: read the whole thread, it's probably not best for your purposes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom