NT backup is that good enough?

[FN-GM]

Would you recommend using NT Backup for backing up Active Directory or something else such as Veritas?

Thanks

Z

[mattx]

Well as a belt and braces approach I use both.
I have Veritas running everyday + volume snaps using NT Backup copying the configs of the servers to NAS boxes.
That way I will always sleep better at night knowing I can get a AD backup somehow etc....
Only a few months ago this approach was a life saver when our mail server died and the backups I did have were corrupt - [ no way of verifing the backup - its a Navaho box ] - as I had two sets I kept going back till I found a good one. OK it was 4 days old but it was better than nothing. The only person who complained got quite a mouthful from me. Everyone else thanked me.

[PEO]

Veritas and nt backup used here you can never have enough backups

[Dos_Box]

Retrospect. I wouldn't touch NT Backup wothj a bargepole. I may have a play with it on 2008 though.

*marks it down as a job for next week, just after coughing up almost £600 for a new clutch+fitting*

[PEO]

nt backup is ideal for a secondary incase primary fails, wouldn't use a primary

[mattx]

Retrospect. I wouldn't touch NT Backup wothj a bargepole. I may have a play with it on 2008 though.

Why not ? It does the basic job. For a small server with hardly any data or apps on I would say its ok. For the less technical minded its simple to setup and use.

[Michael]

I use 2003 NTBackup at all my sites. It easily does the job. Just make sure you always backup the System State as this would include Active Directory.

With 2008 NTBackup, you can't backup to tape anymore, so a third party soluton is the only way. You can only backup to file.

[cookie_monster]

I've restored quite a few servers from 2003 NTBackup and never had a problem, the scheduling can be a bit quirky but that quality of the backups has always been flawless (inc Active Directory). I find it handy to run off a backup to file before any large updates. We use Backup Exec on most servers but a couple of standalone boxes are NT Backup only.

As stated above it's good to have an alternative.

[timbo343]

Ive used it loads of times, but you have to remember that if you have got any private data and you want to encrypt the backup, NTbackup will not support encryption

[m25man]

I have restored more servers sucessfully with NT Backup than Veritas!

The problem with Veritas and other suites is that in trying to insulate the user by wrapping everything up into databases and wizards it's easy to miss the basics!

I have had sites that have evolved themselves such complicated Veritas jobs that are entirely focused on protecting the end user data they ended up never having any system or AD protection!

I use NTBackup daily to protect my own SBS2003 system to NAS and USB drives and have even used these backups to rebuild the server in a Vitual environment.

Enterprise products such as Veritas are really only necessary if you have multiple servers and storage that need to be backed up and managed centrally.

NTBackup has very little to offer in the management of removable media, and therefore after a few weeks it can become very difficult to tell what is actually stored on each piece of media without performing a catalog of each piece in order to find what it was you needed so urgently.

As Veritas wrote the origional NTBackup core code it was inevitable that for anything beyond the basic backup/restore functions requires an upgrade and like all things technical you get what you pay for!

So, if you have just the one server to worry about, then NTBackup is probably all you need. Anything more complex then you had better start looking for packages that suit your own requirements.

[torledo]

I think it's easy to get put off by the apparent complexity of a package such as backup exec. therefore you only use the basic functionality....and you don't explore it enough to use some of the advanced features. As a basic point and click backup app, ntbackup is more intutitive...

I remember borrowing an old BackupExec manual from work when it was a seagate product a few years ago. And the manual must have been somehting like 400 pages.

From that point of view i agree with m25man and mattx, that ntbackups simplicity is a key feature when you have straightforward requirements.

It is restricted, but useful in some circumstances, all to easy for you're backup environment to outgrow...that's when you need vertia/symantec or equivalent. After all ntbackup instances can't be centrally managed, and what about stuff like open file support, database and mail agents etc ?

And for some environments even the veritas product lacks the functionality available in products such as commvault or TSM. Where you need more advanced disk based backup functionality, or you need better integration with enteprise storage arrays.

I think it's a step back for NTbackup with the apparent removal of tape media support. I guess they assume all NTbackup users are backing up to usb drives.

[john]

Retrospect. I wouldn't touch NT Backup wothj a bargepole. I may have a play with it on 2008 though.

*marks it down as a job for next week, just after coughing up almost £600 for a new clutch+fitting*

Ever think that MS are going to be grilled about that and the lack of tape support on Wednesday in the open Q&A Session at the end

[Dos_Box]

Ever think that MS are going to be grilled about that and the lack of tape support on Wednesday in the open Q&A Session at the end

Are you going?

[PEO]

Ever think that MS are going to be grilled about that and the lack of tape support on Wednesday in the open Q&A Session at the end

Its a bloody good question. but with HDD storage cheap as ever and getting much larger, with NAS and raid, do we really really need tape drives?

[john]

Are you going?

Yup I am, I did post in the thread to say I was. I think theres just you and me and possibly another, or was that someone that went to one elsewhere