Backup Plan

[binspoonal]

Hi All,

I am in the process of creating a backup plan and I thought I would get some opinions.

I work at a small company with under 10 users. We are running Windows Server 2003. The initial backup of the Data and User folders will be around 60gig.

Because of the small amount of data, we have decided not to go with tape backup just yet. Right now we are going with a DVD backup plan. What do you think?

Right now I'm think of scheduling a backup to file on the server and then schedule a dvd burn/backup on a seperate stand alone pc.

Any and all tips will be taken

[Martin Zugec]

Hello there!

I am using backups for bigger companies, however I will try to help

Are you backing data from server or from client wkstation also?

[aussiecanuck46]

The backup media isn't so important, I think, as deciding:

- what should be backed up,

- how often,

- incremental, differential, and full cycles,

- procedures for tracking when backups have been completed, where the

backups are located, how to tell one generation from another, and restore

procedures,

- offsite storage and media rotation in case of a site disaster, and

- validation of the various restore procedures.

Much about backup plans revolves around the procedures and documentation of them and the restore counterpart, not just the technology used to create them.

Edited September 13, 2005 by aussiecanuck46

[binspoonal]

Thanks Zugec and Aussie for the replies.

I will be just backing up data from the server. Any data that a user saves locally is at their own risk.

I do understand that the plan is more important than the media. I'm looking for ideas from start to finish. I have a good idea on what I want to do but this being my first time doing this, I'm willing to listen to suggestions.

I am in the process right weeding through and organizing the data on the server. There are two main folders that will need backing up, the Data folder which contains important docs and the Users folders, each user on the network has a folder on the server in which they save all there docs.

Right now I am think of doing one full backup then doing incremental after.

I'm going to get 5 DVD/RW's labled Mon thru Fri.

Am I on the right path?

[aussiecanuck46]

You already know what data you want to back up and how often. That's a good start. You'll need applications to use that data and hardware to run them on.

What kinds of problems are you intending to recover from? Server hardware failure? Data loss? Data corruption? Site disaster? Is data that's even one day old current enough? Might you'll want to be able to restore some data, but not all? How will you keep track of what data is where?

What's the longest period of time the company could go without access to computing services before it would be out of business? What disasters could possibly happen to make that time elapse? And what could be planned and prepared ahead of time to prevent that time from elapsing?

I think it's important to envision the worst possible situation and plan around that. Typically the worst situation is one in which your network is up and running but is inaccesible. For instance, a poisonous gas leak that does no physical damage but prevents you and other staff from entering the business premises. And then there's the question of the ability of management and staff to communicate with each other during the disaster. Data backup and restore are really just components of an overall disaster recovery plan.

Maybe I'm going overboard. I think the approach you should take is to consider what disastrous situations must be avoided or recovered from, then be imaginative while setting out policies and procedures to deal with those situations, and then acquire tools with which to perform the backup and recovery actions.

[binspoonal]

Ok thanks. I do know what I need to backup, I also know where it will be stored.

What I'm really looking for now is more of a how to with the actual backup. Our initial backup will be approx 30gigs. Because we are using DVD, I need to figure out a way to do the initial backup (how do I split the data to fit on DVD?). The rest of the backups I just want to be incremental so I'm not re backing up data that is already on the first one.

Any ideas on how to do this would be great. Is there particular software that I should use over another?