New Backup Solution

[Fatmas]

I know this has been mentioned before but let me explain:

 

We currently use tapes as a backup solution. Our main backup consists of a differential each day (Approx 55-60 GB) and a full backup each Friday evening (Approx 1.2 TB). We also backup the SIMS data every evening (About 100 GB).

 

We use Symantec Backup Exec 11d on each server. It's an older version but we don't pay a support contract and it still works.

 

If we wanted to replace the tapes as the backup medium, what would be the best alternative. Would something like a NAS unit with swappable drives be adequete? We currently store unused tapes in a safe at the other end of the building so I would imagine the same would happen with HDD's

 

In terms of software, would Backup Exec be fine for that or are there any solutions that would be more suited to a NAS style backup system?

 

Obviously cost is a factor but I know NAS units have come down in price big time (for populated and unpopulated).

[pantscat]

Why swap tapes for HDDs? Tapes are designed to be portable and moved around, HDDs are definitely not (you could argue that SSD type things would be ok though).

 

If it ain't broke...

[themightymrp]

We back up all of our systems onto 500Gb external USB hard drives. Its quick and its cheap. And we use Backup Exec to do it (Version 12.5). We do a full backup every 3 weeks onto a set of drives and that job runs over the weekend. We then do a differential every night for the next 3 weeks onto seperate USB drives. After that we switch the big drives and do a fresh full backup. So the cycle begins again. It basically means we always have good backups for a 3 week rotation.

[pantscat]

@ themightymrp - do you move those HDDs around a lot though? off site storage?

[themightymrp]

I suppose we do a little bit, however each drive is labelled so you kust unplug leads from one batch of drives and plug in the other batch. It's not been a hassle so far, seeing as it only changes every 3 weeks!

[Sandman]

NAS with replication somewhere else (different location) would be my pick.

 

If you are planning the new solution to be "future compatible" I would rethink the whole media removal bit you get with tape. It goes along the lines of "old technology for old thinking"/"It's not broken so don't fix it".

 

Your best bet would be NAS to NAS replication, then off to tape if you have a current long term archival need (+ media removal), then when eventually SSD "Tapes" will come about they will make this a different coversation, but for now they are expensive and not meant for long term archives.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Sandman

[Fatmas]

Thanks for all your input and advice.

 

I'm currently playing with/building a DIY NAS box using some spare hardware and FreeNAS and it seems to be going quite well. FreeNAS is very easy to use and since I'm just testing I'm only using a Dell 210L as a test rig with an 80gb SATA drive.

 

Thanks again guys, I'll update when more progress is made.