Backup server

For a small business with 15-20 employee what type of backup server is best and why?
Particularly if the firm is an accounting firm

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joeswfc

I would usually use something like backup exec. It depends how your servers are set up.. How many servers do you have that you want to backup? Physical/virtual? Do you use hyper-v/VMware? If so, how many hosts do you have? Do you need to backup things like Exchange?

AndersonSmith

I agree with joeswfc about Backup Exec. Although depending on what you're backing up and how critical the data is, you may be able to get by with just using Windows Server Backup as well which is built in to 2012. Please provide a little more info on what you're backing up

TheFORCE

For a small user base 15-20 people. I would go with this https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/6.0/data_backup

I actually use one of their entry products for personal use. Very good solution for home or small business.

joeswfc

AndersonSmith wrote: »

I agree with joeswfc about Backup Exec. Although depending on what you're backing up and how critical the data is, you may be able to get by with just using Windows Server Backup as well which is built in to 2012. Please provide a little more info on what you're backing up

windows server backup is definitely an option for a small business. With it being a small business there is a chance there is not a huge budget for the servers, and with it being free it's a good option to have, obviously it just doesn't have all the features that other third party paid products have.

poolmanjim

TL;DR - Windows Server Backup with RAID 1 or 5 storage; Use Amazon S3 or similar service for off-site.

I'm going agree with the suggestions regarding Windows Server Backup. It is 'free' seeing as it is a part of the operating system. Make sure you have some form of redundant storage on your backup server (RAID 1 or 5/6 for the drives).

Another thing small companies forget about when it comes to backups in offsite backups. They are often expensive and difficult to setup. A major data loss can very well cripple a small company and lead to lawsuits due to lost client data if there is a major loss. Fortunately, we live in 2016 and cloud storage is a thing. I would seriously suggest looking into Amazon S3 or something similar and configure weekly/monthly copies from the backup server to the cloud. The benefit of S3 in this case is it really only costs you to download your data.

Mike7

Just to add. You can use Windows Server Backup to backup to Microsoft cloud via Azure Backup.
If using RAID, do install the RAID management software to view and manage hard disk health, else you will have no idea when hard disk fails.

gumpware

The question shouldn't be about data backup, but about data restore. What would you like to restore, and how fast? Do you need the capability to spin up a virtual machine from the backup within minutes, or can you afford to wait a day or two if there is a total server failure? How easy/difficult would you like the restore process to be, and are you willing to pay extra for simpler restore process? The RPO/RTO and the ease of use should dictate what backup product you go with.

kateliz

You have been given the task of planning the implementation of a server running Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2.
As part of future upgrade plans, you will be required to setup and configure a Microsoft Windows Server 2012.
You’re installing a new network for Einhorn Engineering, a new manufacturing business.
There will be 15 client computers running Windows 8.1 and Einhorn Engineering plans to run a Web-based order processing/inventory program that, for now, will be used only by in-house employees while they are onsite. Einhorn Engineering wants to be able to manage client computer and user policies as well as share documents among employees. Einhorn Engineering require their employees to have access to the internet, they have one business grade ADSL2 connection.
Growth is expected, but the budget is tight, so the company needs to purchase only what’s necessary to get running and leave high-end server features, such as hot-add and hot-replace hardware, for future consideration.
Servers may be DHCP, ADDS, FTP, Webserver and backup
Explain the backup options you have chosen and outline why you have chosen them.
EG:

Off-site Backup – Why?
Disk Mirroring (RAID)
NAS (Backup)
BackUp Server

Also what different types of backup is there.

Differential
Incremental
Full

What determines how often would you do these types of backup ?

netsysllc

Off-site Backup – Why? - You should always have a secondary backup that is offsite, if you server and onsite backups are destroyed or stolen then what would you do without an offsite backup?
Disk Mirroring (RAID) Raid is not back just a drive set that gives more availabity
NAS (Backup) Nas is a storage location, could be part of a backup solution
BackUp Server - this one depends

Also what different types of backup is there.

Differential
Incremental
Full - Most modern backup technologies do a full seed then continual incrementals allowing you to restore at any point.

If you have the money DATTO Siris is a wonderful solution. This uses Shadow protect with some enhancements. Backups are to a local device which can virtualize the servers and synced off to a cloud where they can be spun up in case of a disaster.

If your servers are virtualized then Veeam or Altaro are great solutions and support offiste backup as well.

With no budget Veeam has a product called Endpoint backup which is free and works well just does not have advanced features.

AndersonSmith

Are we basically doing Kateliz's homework or what?