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IDR Best Practice Advice

Michele_2
Level 4
I have recently upgraded from 10.0 to 11d build 7170 all up to date hotfixes. I have started to look into our DR practices and using IDR. Currently (the past administrator) has a .ISO cd created by IDR for each of the 100+ servers we protect.
 
I was told (in this forum) that with 11d "because you can use the same CD made in 11d for multiple servers.  This is new to 11d.  IDR was almost completely redone with 11d, so they changed the way a lot of the features work.  With 10d you made a CD for each server, which is why the cd was named per server."
 
So, since it looks like I have to 're-write' our procedures, I would like to know how IDR is being implemented in other 11d environments. Are you still creating the .ISO images per server, creating them for groups of servers by OS, naming conventions (since the wizard creates the file as idrcd.iso), etc.?
 
Thanks in advance for the info Smiley Happy
6 REPLIES 6

Kevin_L
Not applicable
I'm in the same boat as you are.  Right now I've just burnt the ISOs to CD and labeled the CDs by OS.  My next problem is the .DR files.  Since my servers don't have floppy drives I've been trying to figure out a work around to the "copy- disaster recovery information (.dr) file to diskette" option.  Do you have that problem and if so have you come up with any solutions?
 
Kevin

Michele_2
Level 4
So, you have still created individual .ISO cd's per server. Thanks for the input.
 
As far as the .dr files, I do have a floppy on the server. But also, I use the 'Disaster recovery alternate data path' in the IDR options to create a second copy on a different networked server, also with a floppy drive. I can copy the file from there to diskette.
 
Hope this helps.

Joshua_Small
Level 6
Partner
Best Practice for anything is to test the restore in a lab before it's too late.
 
We did that a few times here, and I came out wondering what the point of IDR actually was.

Alice_Stewart
Level 5
Did you test restoring to different hardware without IDR?
 
I have been reviewing my disaster recovery plan since upgrading to 11D.  With past BE versions, I created ISO files for each server and stored the images on an offsite server that had a CD burner. 
 
With 11D, I was really hoping to get away from having to keep up with those files.  From what I have read, it appears that if you are restoring to the same hardware, you do not need the ISO CD.  However, if you have to restore to disimilar hardware (which would probably be the case in a true disaster), you still have to have the whole IDR structure in place (ISO CD & .DR file).
 
I have 2 servers (one older and one brand new) that I plan to test on next week just to see if I can restore to different hardware without the IDR option. 
 
I will post back after that.

itswkevin
Not applicable
I currently don't any spare servers to do either test.  I'd like to know how that test works out though and as soon as I get another server in house I plan on running some tests so we'll see.
 
Kevin

DY
Level 4
Testing is always good to do.  Virtual  environments have done wonders for testing this stuff out (Both VMware and Microsoft have free versions).
 
I'm actually in the process right now of testing out the System Recovery Option and it's going pretty well so far.  I called Symantec Sales and had them explain the difference for me:
 
IDR requres a boot disc per server, and requires a driver floppy disk.  It also only allows backup to tape.  However, licensing is per media server, not per remote server.
 
SRO is able to use one boot disc for all servers.  This is probably what was explained earlier.  It only allows backup to disk.  Additionally, SRO allows restore to different hardware platforms as well as P2V and V2P transfers.  Downside is licensing is per remote server, just like AOFO.
 
Hope this helps!