How exactly is backup done?

binarysoul

I have no experience in data backup , hoping a backup guru can shed some light.

1. I know it can vary, but roughly how long it would take to backup 50 GB of data, let's say Veritas is the SW and tape dirve is an HP one? Assume tape drive and data are all in a data center (not through WAN, T1 or frame network)

2. Is it common to backup an entire server daily? If so, how do you restore a server, e.g. server blue screens and can't load to OS? Do you just copy the backed up data to the server?

3. Do you backup data/server based on IP, hostname or something you can specify?

j938

I would also like someone to shed light on this as well with using Backup Exec? As I will have to start using it and have no idea on using although I and researching but anyone with personal exp. is also good thanks.

liven

Well, if it is 50gigs of data that it is usually a database or some other form of files.

Which should be backed up on at least some sort of incremental backup daily, depending on how fast your back system is and when you have down time, you could do a full backup daily. However that will probably not be possible at 50gigs of data.

But once you have the data backed up, you can always re-install the OS, then reload the data.

The OS re-install should be really easy. You can create system images minus the data on a daily basis. Then when the system goes BSOD, re-image, then load your data.

What I do often for *nix style systems is, backup all the config files on a daily basis. usually with a cron job, and some sort of ssh key chain encrypted backup session. If the system croaks for whatever reason, re-install the OS, then the needed apps, then the config files, presto back in bidness.

When we are talking about databases, usually we are talking about a multi level development environment. So the production data always has a 100% full backup waiting in the wings. This can be done because there are multi databases running at all times. When you have TONS of important data that is mission critical, it is pretty wise to have a hot spare or at least a warm spare waiting in the wings.

I am sure others will tell you I am doing this all wrong, but these methods have save me time and time again.

CoryS

Well you have posted a few loaded questions that would have a bunch of variables..

At my last company we used veritas backup exec 11d and were backing up 1.6TB to a 24 drive HP tape unit, cant remember the model number, however we started our backups at 7 and they were done by 3 am.. It went fast. Very fast. One of the reasons it went fast was we made sure nothing was in use at that time that would impede any of the backup progress, and also use 3 tapes with light compression (800GB tapes)

Compare that to where I am at now, we backup about 450GB and it takes almost 12 hours using backup exec 9. We always have open streams, we backup servers that are dispersed throughout our LAN and we use a different type of compression on smaller tapes.

If you had 50GB of data, directly attached to the server in question, backing up when no streams are open, it would take you very little time.

Typically when you do your backups you select a method that will perform to your SLA standards. So if you are required to be able to restore everything from one tape for example, then you would use something like a full backup every day. If you could get away with using 2 tapes or more a differential/incremental setup may be appropriate. This is something that is usually less standard in the industry but more based on your specific needs.

If a server blue screened and was something like a domain controller, you would be able to restore the system by installing the server and restoring the "System State" using your backups. This would restore stuff like AD, DNS, your registry, etc...

Also you would backup your servers based on where you had remote agents installed (for backup exec at least), then on the backup server you would build your selection list which would contain that which you would want to backup, getting as granular as you want.

So, really there are no firm answers but different ways for different business needs.

dynamik

You may want to give this a read if you are interested in more in-depth information: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596102463/

hypnotoad

We backup about 2500 gigs a week and each day we do a differential backup. Our backup system is a Fiber-Channel Dell ML6000 30 tape library with 2 LTO-3 drives. Averages about a gigabyte per minute.

Tips:
1. Search the web for backup theory and strategies - admins have been doing backups for 50 years, you'd think they'd get it right by now (still working on it).
2. Think of everything -- do you have your media handy? Do you have your licenses handy? Do you know the passwords for the system? Do you have physical access at 2 AM?
3. Practice restoring -- backup is nothing if you can't restore.
4. Don't bother backing up the operating system unless it's really important....just back up your database, email, file shares, or whatever you're concerned about losing. The only reason to back up the OS files is if you don't think your apps can be restored from the original media - meaning your database, your licenses etc.
5. Does your boss need to approve your backups? It might be good to file your backup strategy in a CYA (Cover Your Ass) document. Make sure they know what you're backing up and they approve of it - so they can't blame you if a certain file isn't restorable.


There are hundreds more tips....

remyforbes777

binarysoul wrote:

I have no experience in data backup , hoping a backup guru can shed some light.

1. I know it can vary, but roughly how long it would take to backup 50 GB of data, let's say Veritas is the SW and tape dirve is an HP one? Assume tape drive and data are all in a data center (not through WAN, T1 or frame network)

50GB is not a heckuva lot of data. Your backups are going to depend on the speed of your network, the speed of your drives, whether you are running backups on the same network as regular traffic, the speed of the tape drive itself.

2. Is it common to backup an entire server daily? If so, how do you restore a server, e.g. server blue screens and can't load to OS? Do you just copy the backed up data to the server?
Usually you do a full backup to begin then incremental backups. If you blue screened you reinstall the OS then do a system state restore.
3. Do you backup data/server based on IP, hostname or something you can specify?

In most backup solutions I have encountered you back up specific directories on the host.

You probably want to do more research if you are talking about implementing a backup solution because it sounds like you are kind of lost. Read about NTbackup that is built into windows.