RobFuller

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I still haven't had an answer from SUN regarding backup other than NDMP is recommended but not which software or how to go around it. There is some talk here 24 September 2008 Zmanda Team Blog but nothing to get going with.

I know the price is a lot for the NDMP agent but it allows the SAN to create snapshots of live data so should eradicate the need for VMware or Hyper-V agents which are more costly anyway!! Granted you won’t gain granular support for the virtual hard disks but if that’s a problem then a remote agent in the VM could get around that problem. I will be getting an SQL agent however though as I want to go for a cluster setup with this.

I'm afraid I've not had time to really investigate this what’s causing the problems i hit a bit of a dead end, I'm with you cookie_monster this does seem the best way to backup if it worked! I did email Phil (SUN) directly and asked for some help, he was going to get back to me as he was asking some of his customers which have this setup! I will give him a poke and see if I can get him to reply to this thread.

Thanks for your posts I shall do some testing me thinks!

Everything has its weakness!

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/networks/10500-branded-v-no-brand-gbic-s.html Someone here is using D-Link mini-GBIC's in their Netgear kit, will send a PM to see if that still the case.

Interesting, HP seem to be the worst then! Well it’s the D-Link mini-GBIC’s we have at the moment but looking to upgrade the switch but reuse the modules. The switch where looking at will be a Netgear and to not have to get modules again would be a real help considering we won’t be gaining in speed at all the core switch features were after.

This might be a silly question but a mini-GBIC module, are they a standard so you can use them in any manufactures kit. Example might be a D-Link mini-GBIC in a Netgear switch? Just wondered if anyone has tried this? Thoughts on a postcard please..

Not this year but I need to get some virtual infrastructure going as we will be building our learning gateway in the summer.

If I was paying then VMware without a doubt used it before the full version and it’s amazing. Problem is all the decent features are missing from the free version. Hence the next best thing is Xen as Hyper-V is so far behind its untrue..

Well at the moment were using Hyper-V (yuck!) and backup is not easy with that using script the aVHD file add extra complication. I'm in the middle of testing XenServer at the moment which I have been very impressed with until today when the centre manager won't connect to a server for some reason. But the problem with Xen is there are not many companies supporting backup for this so trying to work out an export script. I really want to backup these machines live without downtime as we have remote access 24/7 basically! That’s why NDMP looked a good option to backup the entire unit and do the snapshot in one swoop! But just getting backup exec to talk nicely! Phil is seeing if he has any clients using this setup who might have some pointers!

Duke, are you running any storage for virtualisation on your shares? Does it handle locked files ok, just wondered?

I agree, HP's have always performed well for me in the past just keep the firmware up-to-date helped a lot. Currently using D-Link and Netgear which compared to price of HP gear has allowed us to have gigabit over the whole site which would just be so expensive with the HP gear.

The pilot thickens...right going to have to sit down and thrash this out and get something working!

I'm in need of some more quotes for laptop replacement this summer, basically after 2 sets of models for staff and students. The specifications are below: Student Specification Intel Core 2 Due P8600 2GB 800Mhz DDR2 15.4" Widescreen WXGA No Optical Drive 6 Cell Batteries Wireless a/g/n 80GB 7200rpm 3 Year NBD Warranty 3 Year Accidental Damage Cover Vista Business Staff Specification Intel Core 2 Due P8600 2GB 800Mhz DDR2 15.4" Widescreen WXGA DVD +/- RW 6 Cell Batteries Wireless a/g/n 160GB 7200rpm Bluetooth 3 Year NBD Warranty Vista Business Notebook Backpack TIA, Rob

Duke; let us know how you get on as I'm very keen to get a working solution for the backup.

Shouldn't see why not, if it’s just a plain NTFS file system and only mounted on one server at a time should work a treat.

That’s the setup I will be going for but was hoping someone might be using NDMP but doesn’t look promising... Symantec keeps giving me “The directory or file was not found, or could not be accessed.” error when selecting the SUN as a NDMP in the selection list. Did a Google search and found some information about changing to port 9000 which didn't help. Phil any advice greatly appreciated.

I get the feeling mounting a XEN file system onto windows would be interesting! Shall do some more investigation and see what I come up with!

Now now!! lol Thank you all for your prices, very competitive!!! Is anyone selling the Edge 10 22Inch...price? Also as we are also looking at the longer term and monitors we have which will need replacing this would be a considerable number of monitors, would any of you be willing to lead us various models so we could compare and evaluate before we commit ourselves? Thanks again, Rob

Another thread to pick people’s brains and see what others are doing, basically what are people doing to backup their current SUN boxes? Are you mounting shares on a backup box and backing up that way or are you using NDMP with a local tape unit or even a remote tape unit perhaps attached to your backup server? The reason I'm asking is because I would like to setup NDMP backups using Backup Exec to snapshot the various LUNS some NTFS some Xen folders etc, then run that all onto tape attached to the backup server (the one running Backup Exec). As far as I can tell this should be more than possible however having some trouble getting Backup Exec to connect to the SUN, any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Any details of what others are doing would be good to, give people some other ideas! TIA!!

Sorry error and posted twice!

We were disappointed with Iiyama, had a number of them with dead pixels!

I’ve after some quotes for hard/tough monitors; we are looking at a decent number of them as we have become very disappointed with AG Neovo's after painfully slow warranty service!! It’s taking months and that’s unacceptable. Basically a minimum spec would be 17”, VGA + DVI, VESA mounting points and integrated speakers. Some monitors we have been looking at are the Edge 10 T193 19” wide, anyone using theses in the wild and can comment on their ‘toughness’? TIA, Rob