My DLO experience
As a SAS70 certified consulting company our data and the security of that data is extremely important to our clients and the company. All data deemed critical is backed up using Backup Exec for Window 12.5. However a weak point in performing backups was our user’s notebooks and desktops. These systems were being backed up as the user felt necessary. Since things in BE 12.5 seem a lot more stable than in previous versions the decision was made to test and push out the Backup Exec Desktop Laptop Option. I installed the DLO option on my cataloging server as part of my initial test. Even though I had already read the section on configuring and setting up the DLO I still chose to do the wizards to configure it on the server. I have continually found the manual is somewhat hard to read and a little bit confusing. For me, it’s easier to read it then visually follow along the steps in the reading.
DLO Setup on Server:
Profile Configuration:
- Select folders for Backup: For this initial test that was going to be run on my Vista desktop I choose to only do a test folder created on my desktop and a test MS Outlook file.
- Schedule: Whenever a file changes. My reasoning behind this was to see how the versions worked between the local copy and the network copy.
- Whenever a File Changes: Left it at Default since I don't have any FAT drives in the network.
Storage Location:
- Location was set to local drive with 1 TB space available.
User Assignment
- Domain: All Domains/ All Groups
- Profile: The profile created in Profile Configuration step.
- Storage Location: The location created in Storage Location step
DLO Push to Computers:
- The DLO agent was initially installed by browsing to the server’s DLO share and installing it using the setup.exe file. This agent was installed on a Dell Dimension 5150 running Window Vista.
- The DLO agent has to be launched for the system to be recognized on the server and assigned the profile that was set through the User Assignment configuration.
- The DLO was also pushed out to a Dell Latitude D610 notebook running Window XP SP3 through the BE 12.5 Install Agents and Media Servers on the Other Servers.
- I chose Windows Remote Agent > Add and browsed for the notebook. (It is important that if prompted for a user name and password that it has administrative rights on that system.)
- Choose Desktop and Laptop Agent and then Finish
- The install run in the background. Similarly I still had to launch the DLO agent through Start>All Programs to get the server to see the computer and assign it a profile.
Testing Notes and Observations:
- The testing phase ran a little over a week. In this test files in the “test folder” were opened and edited.
Connection Restrictions: We have several users that access the office remotely using the company SSL VPN and not wanting to waste their bandwidth on doing a network backup the network connection range was implemented into the profile. It would only allow for a network backup when the user was within a certain range. If the user checked the DLO interface it would note that the files were not protected and were pending network. Once the system was connected to the network and was within the IP range the backup would initialize fully protecting the files.
Shared Security: The share on the server of the user’s computer was only accessible to that user or the administrator of the server when logged onto the server. This should prevent breaches in security.
External Devices: It appears that a limitation of the DLO is the inability to backup the files to an external device. For example I was not able to connect an external hard drive to the computer or server and add it as the designated storage place.
Observations Post Test:
Connection lost to server: The DLO server began to having issues unrelated to the DLO install; however because of the connection loss to the DLO server the users were prompted with the image below. The users were told to disregard this message until the server could be fixed.
VPN Issues: Even though I had tested the VPN connection on a test notebook during the testing phase I found that when the DLO agent was pushed out to the users, they began having issue’s accessing the office remotely. I removed the IP range setting to eliminate that variable but there are several other variables that need to be taken into consideration. One of them being all the other security measures that are implemented on these groups’ computers based on client restrictions. These security measures are not implemented on the test notebook. It had the bare bones security settings running on it.
Conclusion:
Disaster recovery is a growing field as information becomes more digitalized and the importance of recovering it becomes more critical. It is because of this that network, as well as local system backups become so vital and important to a company’s survival. Unfortunately due to the continuing issues with the server and scheduling conflicts with the user we have not been able to research more what would be causing the user to be unable to remotely access the office. I’m am led to believe there might be a confliction with the security measures imposed on the more secure computers versus those that have minimal security implemented based on the testing that was done. This issue is something that I will continue to research and test in hopes of determining a possible solution.
HI Dear,
I am very happy to see you .because you using Symantec Back Exec 12.5
But now latest version is backup exec 2012 there is in lot of new future. you just install 2012 and use DLO option and see what is different in backup exec 2012 there is in lot of new futhure
let me know......
Thanks ....
