mdench Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 We generally use Windows built in Windows Server Backup to create bare metal and system state backups of our windows server how ever recently its gone a bit er... rubbish? Keeps failing jobs or crashing. Does anyone use anything different preferably a free open source solution? Looking to backup the likes of domain controllers, print server, SIMS, web application servers. Cheers
cpjitservices Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Windows Server Backup is a good option, and free as it comes with the OS... Bare Metal is a pretty good option. Open source your looking for more an imaging solution like fog or clonezilla. Edited February 24, 2015 by cpjitservices
Arthur Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 For free, there's also Veeam EndPoint Backup.
mdench Posted February 24, 2015 Author Posted February 24, 2015 Windows Server Backup is a good option, and free as it comes with the OS... Bare Metal is a pretty good option. Open source your looking for more an imaging solution like fog or clonezilla. Yeah have been using that but like i said has been causing endless problems recently....
3s-gtech Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Some of the issues with bare metal recovery with Windows Server Backup stem from the 100MB System Reserved partition on your C: drive (if you have one). Typically, this partition does not have enough free space on it to fire up the Volume Shadow Copy process for the partition and it falls over, taking the rest of the backup with it. Best bet, if possible, is to rejig the partition sizes and make it 200MB or so. Should sort the issues. 1
Patrick Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Some of the issues with bare metal recovery with Windows Server Backup stem from the 100MB System Reserved partition on your C: drive (if you have one). Typically, this partition does not have enough free space on it to fire up the Volume Shadow Copy process for the partition and it falls over, taking the rest of the backup with it. Best bet, if possible, is to rejig the partition sizes and make it 200MB or so. Should sort the issues. This is exactly an issue I'm having at the minute. I couldn't get to the bottom of it on one server so just set up the backup on C: and my data drive on the server. If the server dies now whats the best way to recover this? Will booting into the install media and selecting the recover from an image options restore C: and my data drives to a bootable state?
3s-gtech Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 It *should* do so. Having not tried, I can't say for sure. Best bet is to try it - if you have a Hyper-V server (or just build one on a desktop using the free version) see if you can restore it from the image. Obviously make sure the VM has an isolated network connection. 1
Joanne Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 I had a few problems with my WSB a couple of months back. I was getting the Volume Shadow Copy Service failed (or something). I found the issue to be with my Virtual machine on the server. Shutdown the VM and the backup completed fine. Is crazy! I have the VM on all the time now and things back up fine...
Patrick Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 It *should* do so. Having not tried, I can't say for sure. Best bet is to try it - if you have a Hyper-V server (or just build one on a desktop using the free version) see if you can restore it from the image. Obviously make sure the VM has an isolated network connection. Thanks, we are not virtual so i'll have to test it on our defunct server i think.
edutech4schools Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 How odd. We tried a few different (free) backup options but all would fail on occasion and we were told it might be due to the 100mb system partition. In the end windows backup was the only option that worked properly.
robjduk Posted February 28, 2015 Posted February 28, 2015 Cant remember its exact name at the moment but Microsoft do an amazing backup software which should be part of your Microsoft licence. The lack of name is bugging me now but sure someone will remember. I use Veeam but if I didn't have money, I would use the MS one.
Marshall_IT Posted February 28, 2015 Posted February 28, 2015 I've successfully done a bare metal restore on my primary dc using dpm 2012.
robjduk Posted February 28, 2015 Posted February 28, 2015 That's the one. Pretty darn amazing was DPM. Not as amazing as Veeam but if you have a MS licence agreement (shame of you if you don't) and don't have a few grand spare for Veeam then Data Protection Manager is my hot tip of the day.
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