A good backup prog for WinSRV 2003?

[Steven P. Administrators]

Any recommendations for a good backup program for homeshares and exchange server mailboxes on tape?

Cheers in advance.

[Joel]

We use Brightstor at work. We don't have Exchange, though, but they have a solution for Exchange.

http://www3.ca.com/Solutions/Solution.asp?ID=370

[neouser]

Veritas Backup Exec is a very good program. http://www.veritas.com

[Eversurf]

Veritas is my first choice. Very good software, good error login and easy to configure. The only draw back is that when you have more than one file that is corrupted it will say that the backup failed...

ArcServ would be my second choice. Easy to configure but the reports sucks monkey @$$. If you choose this software make sure you limit the size of your DB otherwise it will take all the space on the C drive.

My last choice would be NTbackup. It's pretty reliable, it's free comes with the server. It will backup your information store and your shadow files. The problem with it is that it doesn't backup mailboxes by mailboxes therefore impossible to restore only one mailbox

What are you backing up too? Tape, USB hard drives or SAN server

Have fun!!!

[Marsden]

Why not use Volume Shadow Copy??

[Symbiotic Hat]

  Joel said:

We use Brightstor at work. We don't have Exchange, though, but they have a solution for Exchange.

http://www3.ca.com/Solutions/Solution.asp?ID=370

Also what I use at work. Backs up MUCH faster than Veritas, and the interface and backup scheduling is easier to work.

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=223140&hl=

[beacon]

Yep i'd say Brightstor 11 gets my vote. I think they really improved with this version and opening it up easily for deta testing to existing customers was a superb idea refined it a lot more.

There Exchange Agent is great i'd recommend the Exchange Premium Add-on for document level backing up of email etc.

Veritas would be my second and since we use HP's Openview here Omniback is a good program too.

[neouser]

This is intreresting, as i am just setting up a backup srvr now. I'll look in to this Brighstor program, 'cause i must agree Backup Exec's has some minor flaws. I.e. it will report failed a job if you happen to fart at the wrong moment-- I often don't agee with the statusreport. (But hey, big deal)

...but this speed thing is a biggy to me. Thanks for the suggestion!

[beacon]

I believe you can change the level error reporting in both programs. :)

[Arkos Reed]

For Exchange Server mailboxes, Volume Shadow copy is the most efficient way, or any app that uses it, like Veritas Netbackup Datacenter, but that's far from cheap...

for the homeshares, anything will do

[dougkinzinger]

Aye, Veritas is the best way to go (although it is lacking it certain areas, it's just about the best).

Backup Exec 9.1 is relatively inexpensive, so there you go.

[UnaBonger]

Another vote for Veritas here. Can't go wrong with that :)

[verb`]

We used veritas for years, but about a year ago we tried another product from a company called Commvault. The backup software is called Qinetix (pronounced 'connetix').

So far, it has been a faster, far more scalable and robust backup platform. Im told its what microsoft uses internally for backups.

Im not sure how vast your needs are, but for us backing up 11 Exchange servers and 8.5 TB of data, it was the only thing we found that fit the bill.

Tim

[Eversurf]

I wasn't quit sure what was Volume Shadow and did a little reading. Volume Shadow doesn't protect you against Hardware Failure. If your Hard Drive crashes your data is gone...

Think about it....

Have fun!!!

[JadeWolf324]

we use vertias at our institution, its pretty good and we backup our information store with it (exchange 2003).

[Sub]

www.dataassure.com

Forget tapes, that was so 15 years ago.

[Paradoxcydal]

  Sub said:

www.dataassure.com

Forget tapes, that was so 15 years ago.

well my good ol tapestreamer still backups my system as a charm :p

[SpeakNoSparky]

From what my clients have told me:

- Yosemite TapeWare lacks decent functionality, but is cheap. One client had the fits and upgraded to Veritas in 3 months time.

- Veritas Backup Exec is pretty much a standard around here, but beware of updating the software, and usage on SBS 2000/2003, as it has messed up considerably for restoring Exchange & SQL databases. Most of my client base find it very easy to use and manage, though, as others have said, Backup Exec has a skewed idea of what a "failed" backup is.

- Computer Associates ArcServe and BrightStor, from what I hear, are rather robust, but pricey.

Also, if you are looking into backup, I would recommend Certance DAT drives if you like tape, or the new Iomega REV, which has storage almost identical to AIT but in a hard drive cartridge format that is 8x faster than DDS-4. EDIT: Also, it comes with Norton Ghost so you can completely image the system for full, instant recovery. The drive is bootable, too!

Figured I'd give my two cents, since I deal with this day in and out...

See yz... :devil:

Edited October 7, 2004 by SpeakNoSparky

[paratrupr]

  Eversurf said:

I wasn't quit sure what was Volume Shadow and did a little reading. Volume Shadow doesn't protect you against Hardware Failure. If your Hard Drive crashes your data is gone...

Hard Drive failure shouldn't be a concern, considering some form of RAID (preferably 5) should be set up.

However, you should use a backup utility with offsite storage for Disaster Recovery. If you're building crashes, your whole server is gone. :D

We use Brightstor Arcserve at my company. It works great; just gotta keep it up to date with the patches.

[envision]

I would recommend Acronis TrueImage Server 8.0 for full system imaging. It does a full sector backup so backs up in-use files without the need for agents.

Nothing comes close for imaging in my opinion.

For specific file structure backup, Veritas or Arcserve.

[Premgenius]

Veritas Backup Exec