Help me get out of a £1400 mistake. Nas + Server 2008 backup = NOT

[reggiep]

I just bought two new NAS boxes to enhance our backups. We regularly backup to tape and NAS boxes. However the Seagate BlackArmor 440 does not allow you to format it's volumes in NTFS.

The problem is that Server 2008 backup will only back up on to drives that are NTFS!

 

I am going to have to come up with some convoluted method of doing this as I can't send the boxes back, so wondered if anyone had any suggestions?

 

I was thinking along the lines of backing up to my original NAS boxes and then having a script that could move that backup to the BlackArmors. This way keeping my archives on the BlackArmors and my daily backups on the TeraStations.

 

Can anyone suggest any other options I might consider?

 

Thanks.

[Dos_Box]

What can you format them in then?

[reggiep]

What can you format them in then?

 

It's ext3?

[3s-gtech]

Robocopy will backup to Linux partitions etc. Usually works best with /copy:DT switch. What do you currently use to backup?

[webman]

What issues are you having with the 2008 side of it? Surely if you're presenting the NAS to the server via SMB/CIFS over the network, then it shouldn't care what the underlying filesystem is?

[reggiep]

What issues are you having with the 2008 side of it? Surely if you're presenting the NAS to the server via SMB/CIFS over the network, then it shouldn't care what the underlying filesystem is?

 

Oh it does!

 

Server 2008 backup either directly with Server backup up through backupassist (Just an interface for server 2008 backup) complains that the file system is not ntfs and the backup fails every time!

[webman]

Hmm. I see. Is this any good? Clutching at straws.

 

One such setting is the security/authentication mechanism used between clients and servers. In particular, there are 3 different levels

LM or LanManager

NTLM or NT Lan Manager

NTLMv2 or NT Lan Manager v2

 

Windows 2008 allows only NTLMv2 by default since it is the most secure and many Linux based NAS devices cannot support NTLMv2

 

For a stand alone Windows Server 2008 box, try the following

Click Start->Control Panel

Double Click Administrative Tools

Double Click Local Security Policyd

Doubleclick Local Policies

Double click ecurity Options

Select "Network Security:LAN Manager authentication level"

 

It should be set to "Send NTLMv2 response only"

 

To allow the maximum security, yet use your existing NAS device, change this to

"Send LM and NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated

 

 

For domain based servers, the Group Policy applied may prevent you from changing this setting and you will have to change the policy. I am working on a more detailed write up of what changes are needed to make Windows Server 2008 work with down level clients

 

This should get your backups working. Restore may need more changes

 

I am working on a longer article that will include screen shots, etc

 

2008 Server Backup

[reggiep]

Hmm. I see. Is this any good? Clutching at straws.

 

 

 

Not suer yet. But thanks for the clue!

[Guest Guest]

What you backing up? As long as it isnt loads of files you can get it to backup to itself (either another partition, drive, or just a folder on the OS partition) and then robocopy the backup file over.

[reggiep]

Nope, thanks for the effort put in there webman but still the same error, which just to pass it on is...

 

This would backup volume DATA(D:) to \\backup3\backups\Prenton1\d drive\Wednesday.

 

A backup cannot be done to a remote shared folder which is not hosted on a volume formatted with NTFS.

 

 

Frustrating to say the least

[webman]

This is rubbish. I would take j17sparky's advice. Use a portable USB hard disk as the primary backup destination, then script a copy of the files from USB -> NAS once done.

[SYNACK]

Server 2008 or 2008R2, if it is R2 you could create a VHD on the NAS, format that to NTFS, mount it as a drive and then backup to that. Its a little convoluded but probably quicker than backup to one then copy to the other. VHD is supported for read/write over CIFS/SMB.

[reggiep]

Just 2008

I'm thinking, backup to terastation that does work then copy that to the other seagate NAS. Hope restoring is ok. Not keen of server 2008 backup. Bring back ntbackup!

[FN-GM]

is there any other backup software you can use? Is there anything free out there?

[reggiep]

is there any other backup software you can use? Is there anything free out there?

 

I wish. I might contact the creators of backup assist to see if they have any suggestions!

[tom_newton]

Have you got root on the NAS... could it be hacked to support linux's ntfs drivers?

Sure you can;t send the damn things back? I would give it a try.

[danieldainty]

How about use robocopy/server 08 backup to do the backup to a share, USB or local disk, and then script it so that it moves the file to the NAS over CIFS/SMB?

 

Or do a robocopy /mir to the CIFS drive and then do a directory rename to change it to a dated backup or something like that.

 

Or invest in BackupExec.

[srochford]

Can you tell it not to backup permissions? This is the key thing you would lose with a non-NTFS volume and maybe it would work if you turn that off.

 

Alternatively, as @j17sparky says, use robocopy - nice and easy to understand and it works :-)

[sted]

try the demo version of macrium it backs up easily (ass long as you have vss working 100% and ive got a script to fix that) and to but its cheap (iirc about £40) it just works and im using it to back up to various and sundry nas boxes no problems

[FN-GM]

Ah another idea

 

Are you familiar with truecrypt? You could create a truecrypt container file on the server and format the file as NTFS. Then map the file on the server using Truecypt.

 

Anyone who knows what i mean can you explain better please?

[tom_newton]

Ah another idea

 

Are you familiar with truecrypt? You could create a truecrypt container file on the server and format the file as NTFS. Then map the file on the server using Truecypt.

 

Anyone who knows what i mean can you explain better please?

 

That's a fair plan. Wonder if there's something else that'd allow access to a hard-file... run vmware etc with the "disk" on there... hmm.

[mjs_mjs]

wild shot and completely untested... what about trying to map the NAS as a link within a DFS root that is ntfs?

[reggiep]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

I did have a big panic on there but I have found a work around that won't cause me sleepless nights.

Our backup software backupassist has an add on that I already had but didn't know I had!

It emulates the old NTBACKUP way of doing backups file by file, folder by folder.

I'm going to run a system backup to my old TeraStation NAS boxes and backup the rest of the data onto the BlackArmor NAS boxes with the add on I didn't know about.

 

If I had a chance to start again I'd just buy Buffalo terastations.

 

Live and Learn.