Server 2008 Backups

[enjay]

I'm trying to find a suitable backup regime since moving to Server 2008 - what do you guys do?

 

We used to use NTBackup (scripted via BackupAssist) to take a weekly full and daily incremental backup to NAS (with a weekly off-site backup), however that doesn't work on S2008, as the Windows Server Backup can't do incremental backups and wants to overwrite the previous day's full backup each time (which doesn't help as people aren't that quick in noticing/reporting that they need a file back). Initially, I thought that volume shadow copies on the files would be sufficient, but that only helps with amended files, not ones which have been deleted.

[3s-gtech]

Lots of good solutions to this, a search on here will bring up a wealth of options for you. We use robocopy, with simple batch files pointing to NAS boxes. Scheduled Tasks runs the batch file, and the backup updates the previous one for that day (/MIR). Fast, has been reliable and trustworthy for six years now.

[enjay]

That is still taking a full backup each day though, isn't it? I don't have the time or space to run full backups every night, hence my previous use of incremental backups.

[sted]

robocopy with /mir only copies whats changed so if nobody does any work on friday fridays backup will run quickly if someones thrown 300gb of movies at the server it wont.

 

for everything but c drive i tend to robocopy it off to a nas box. c drive i use macrium fairly cheap and seems to work

[enjay]

Thanks, I'll look into that then...

[soveryapt]

I use CA ArcServe Backup on my 2008 R2 servers. Been something I had introduced a bit back to me when it was already in situ at an office I started at, and I've stuck with it since as it's worked everytime I've need to access something from it (which reminds me, as I don't have the money for a tape library, I need to change the tape in it)

[enjay]

I use CA ArcServe Backup on my 2008 R2 servers.

Pricey, isn't it...

[JonThompson]

We use Symantec BackUp Exec on all of our servers.

[3s-gtech]

That is still taking a full backup each day though, isn't it?

 

As sted says, /MIR makes it incremental - I use robocopy to backup my home and work PCs too (as my user folder is local) and very little changes day to day, it's extremely fast even with 100s of GB to run through.

[enjay]

Another option is to use wbadmin to script Windows Server Backup.

Would that enable incremental backups?

[enjay]

W2K8 Server is incremental be design.

Okay, so how do I use it to go back and recover a file which someone deleted last Friday?

[sted]

Okay, so how do I use it to go back and recover a file which someone deleted last Friday?

 

for something like that (ok hindsights 20/20) id enable shadow copies then you can just right click a folder and go to a previous version). With incremental (defo robocopy) if user deletes a file on wednesday says nowt till monday and the backup happens on sunday its gone from the backup as well (which is why multiple backups are handy i tend on user areas to do mon/wed/fri each with their own backup folder

 

heres my script for what its worth

 

echo job started >>"\\nasbox\backup\Robocopy\users\mon\log.txt"
time /t >>"\\nasbox\backup\Robocopy\users\mon\log.txt" 
date /t >>"\\nasbox\backup\Robocopy\users\mon\log.txt" 
robocopy d:\users "\\nasbox\backup\Robocopy\users\mon" /copyall /mir /r:2 /w:5
echo job finished >>"\\nasbox\backup\Robocopy\users\mon\log.txt"
time /t >>"\\nasbox\backup\Robocopy\users\mon\log.txt" 
date /t >>"\\nasbox\backup\Robocopy\users\mon\log.txt" 
echo. >>"\\nasbox\backup\Robocopy\users\mon\log.txt" 

[nicholab]

Duplicati is quite a good back up tool you can backup to skydrive, S3 and Dropbox

[DavidYoung]

The latest versions of BackupAssist work with Server 2008R2 Windows Backup, so you might just need to upgrade. Also, you can recover deleted files from Volume Shadow Copies by right clicking the folder> Properties >Previous Versions, find the date you want and click Open.

[enjay]

I don't have the absolute latest version of BackupAssist, so I'll update and see if the new one can do incremental backups.

 

As for the volume shadow copy, we have that enabled but I must confess I didn't realise you could use it on whole folders. If I restored a folder to Friday's copy, would it not also revert any changes I had made to other documents on Monday though?

[enjay]

Latest version of BackupAssist installed, and I still can't do incremental backups - the only option I have under Mode and Method is "automatic".

 

Also, I've just tried recovering a few files using Windows Server Backup, both old files and files created yesterday, and get the error message that the file wasn't found. The backup file size looks right to be a full backup, though.

[DavidYoung]

As for the volume shadow copy, we have that enabled but I must confess I didn't realise you could use it on whole folders. If I restored a folder to Friday's copy, would it not also revert any changes I had made to other documents on Monday though?

 

Yes, if you did a whole folder restore, but you can select the date and click open, which lets you browse the point-in-time folder contents.

 

Maybe BA only does full backups with Windows Backup, that's what I've used it for

[enjay]

Yes, if you did a whole folder restore, but you can select the date and click open, which lets you browse the point-in-time folder contents.

 

Now, I never knew you could do that, thanks @DavidYoung

[Alis_Klar]

I was blown away when I discovered this first time round. Would be great if the previous versions interface integrated seamlessly with backup to remote storage! Remember folks that end users can do their own restores with previous versions. The client is built right into windows vista and higher. The XP client is a download from Microsoft.

[edutech4schools]

I use robo but not the mir

 

e /z /copy:DAT /r:3 /w:30 /v /XD "$RECYCLE.BIN" "System Volume Information" /TEE

 

This just adds files or updates them but never deletes. When the drive is full I will dump it in the safe and start with a new one. Obviously this is only any good in a small school.

[edutech4schools]

I look after single server primary schools (some do have more servers) but they do not have loads of free space on the servers and the offsite backups are charged by file size.

 

Just out of interest how much extra space is consumed when volume shadow copy is enabled?

[sted]

I look after single server primary schools (some do have more servers) but they do not have loads of free space on the servers and the offsite backups are charged by file size.

 

Just out of interest how much extra space is consumed when volume shadow copy is enabled?

 

depends how much space you assign it by default iirc 10%

[Alis_Klar]

For example if you assign 10% it will delete the oldest shadow copy first when it runs out of its assigned space