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whistler
Member Posts: 108
Just some things we do at work that might be unique for a small, <90 employees, shop. Just thought I would see what people think.
1 - Early on I created a virtual instance AD domain server. The server isn't up 100% of the time. Maybe once a month. We consider it a disaster recovery tool but the article I took the idea from suggested using it as a way to ensure that if AD is corrupted recovery is easier than doing a restore. We used it in our last DR test and it worked well. You do have to take control of the various roles but that is straight forward.
2 - All the Virtual Servers, ISO's of applications and OS's, and much of the documentation for the applications are backed up to a external hard drive every few months.
1 - Early on I created a virtual instance AD domain server. The server isn't up 100% of the time. Maybe once a month. We consider it a disaster recovery tool but the article I took the idea from suggested using it as a way to ensure that if AD is corrupted recovery is easier than doing a restore. We used it in our last DR test and it worked well. You do have to take control of the various roles but that is straight forward.
2 - All the Virtual Servers, ISO's of applications and OS's, and much of the documentation for the applications are backed up to a external hard drive every few months.
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dynamik
Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
That's definitely a great way to use virtualization, especially for small businesses that do not want to purchase another machine just for a redundant DC. Not only is it easier than doing it a restore, you can power it up on a moderately powerful workstation and basically have no downtime while your primary server is being repaired.
You may want to power that on more than once a month though. That seems like a long time between replications.
Also, consider burning 2-3 sets of DVDs for your ISOs and any other data that doesn't change often and storing them in different locations. There's no reason to continually back up the same thing. I use two external HDs and I alternate them weekly. That way, I have a backup that's slightly older as well as a spare in case one of them fails.