I am confused about the proper configuration for backing up a windows 2003 2 node Microsoft cluster. I have backup exec 10d v5629 on a separate server(jddomain) that backs up several servers every evening. My cluster consists of 2 nodes (dbserver1 and dbserver2) 2003 Enterprise. I have SQL 2005 on both cluster nodes as well as BackupExec SQL agents on both cluster nodes.
I've read some of the articles that say I should backup all the hard drives on both cluster nodes, (C: and D:) the quorm drive and the SQL virtual instances on both nodes. (I'm not even sure what the SQL instances are) Isn't backing up both hard drives on both nodes redundant knowing that one is basically shadowing the other? Also, as far as SQL, I have the maintenance plan in SQL2005 that does a full backup of the SQL db's and transaction logs every 15 minutes. The directory that i place them in is backed up nightly. I thought the important thing to be able to recover the DB would be to use the SQL backup file and transaction logs?
I"m using a 3rd party product called GeoCluster which works on top of Microsoft's cluster to provide independent storage devices on each node. http://www.doubletake.com/products/geocluster/how-it-works.aspx They tell me to follow Microsoft's backup suggestions for clusters.
I'm currently backing up C: D: the quorm drive, shadow copy components and the utility partition on the active node. (DBserver1) I'm not currently backing up the passive node. Am I configuring this correctly?
