Newbie - BE 2010 Setup

[WorldBuilder]

Hi all,

OK, so with the help of some fine folks here in this forum, I have gotten mt backup system ready to go.

• HP DL380 G4 server running Windows Server 2008 R2
• BackupExec 2010 R2
• A StorageTek L20 with 2 LTO2 drives in it
• It's all installed and, as best I can tell, configured properly.

Ready?  Set?  Go!

Well, wait...  I don't know what I'm doing!  LOL!  OK, that's not entirely true, but God knows I have NO experience with BE 2010 and it's been several years since I played with ANY form of BE.  Back then, I took it over from someone else and certainly didn't build it from scratch like I must do now.

Anyway, I have loaded 14 tapes (with labels) into the L20.  I have also loaded a cleaning tape into the "cleaning slot", but that tape has no label.  The admin panel of the L20 sees all the media just fine.

So on to BackupExec itself.  Here's the bottom line.  I have to backup:

1. Domain Controller - Active Directory on Server 2008 R2 x64
2. E-Mail - Exchange 2010 on Server 2008 R2 x64
3. Two file servers (one is Server 2008 R2 x64 and the other is Server 2003 32-bit)
4. Application Server - Running a few school-specific apps.  Will eventually run SQL Server 2008 Standard , but for right now simply has a "Lite" version of SQL 2005 installed by the app that needs it.  I know almost nothing about SQL...  Running on Server 2003 32-bit.
5. ReadAbout - A "server" (basically just a really powerful PC) that runs ONE app called "ReadAbout".  It's a self-contained app requiring no database or anything.  So my guess is that it will need to be backed up like a file server...  It's running Server 2003.
6. This "backup" server, which is running Server 2008 R2 x64.  This is the box BE 2010 is running on.

I have installed RAWS on all those boxes.  Now, I have dowloaded the offensively huge BackupExec 2010 Admin Guide and have started perusing it.  But there's an awful lot there and it's quite confusing.

In BE itself, I don't see any of the tapes listed.  And I'm confused about Media Sets, Device Pools, etc...

Bottom line is where and how do I start?  Obviously, I can't backup anything until BE has something to backup to.  Is there a way for me to tell BE to "scan" whatever's in the L20?  Does the cleaning tape need a label on it in order to work?

So I'd appreciate a little help in telling me what to do and how to do it.  Please don't be afraid to explain things to me as if I were a 5 year-old.  You won't offend my pride...  I am brand new to this, so I'm really in need of some help to get started.  I don't learn well from reading, but rather doing.  So if you could help me with the doing part, that'd be terrific.

Thanks!

Chris

[pkh]

Didn't you start an earlier discussion with all the above?

[Sush---]

First of all go to Devices in Backup Exec and confirm that the Robotic Library is properly detected with Tape drives and Slots.

Then Right click on SLOTS and run the Inventory job.

Ones the Inventory is successfully completed you should be able to see all the tapes in the slots.

After that you can create Media set as per your requirements with required Overwrite Protection Period. Overwrite Protection Period in simple terms is the time for which you do not want the backed up data deleted.

Keep the Append Period as Infinte-Always Append.

Then create the backups jobs, select the data to be backed up from different servers.

Target the job to the Robotic Library and correct Media set (as per the requirement)

Schedule the jobs accordingly and let them run.

Thanks,

-Sush...

[WorldBuilder]

Hi PKH,

Yes, I did start a similar discussion a while back, but this is more geared towards HOW and WHERE to start.  Thanks.

[WorldBuilder]

Hi Sush,

Thanks!  That was extremely helpful.  I've completed the inventory.  Thanks for that, it's what I needed to know to get started.

Now that I've done that, and as you've suggested, I need to create media sets, jobs, etc...  I also have cleaning questions.

1.) I have 18 tapes in there now, which maxes out the L20's capacity.  I want to perform FULL backups every weekend and incremental or differential backups each night (I think).  Does that sound sensible?  What would you recommend creating for media sets and settings?  Basically, my ENTIRE network comprises only about 400-500GB worth of data that needs to be backed up, and that includes e-mail and databases.  Truly, we don't have a lot of data and I'm well aware that 18 200/400GB tapes is overkill to say the least.  So should I create a separate media set for each servers backup task?  Or at least for EXCH?  Basically, I'd like your recommendations.

2.) I'm confused about the "Overwrite Protection Period".  If I set that to, let's say, 7 days and a FULL backup is done Saturday night, when the next Saturday night rolls around and the FULL backup goes again, will it overwrite the previous weeks FULL backup?  If you could explain, I'd appreciate it.

3.) Cleaning.  The L20 has a slot that it knows to be a "cleaning slot", in which, according to the L20 docs, can only hold a cleaning tape.  That's what I put in there.  That's tape # 19, by the way; it is NOT one of the 18 above.  But as I said, I put no label on it and the BE inventory therefore doesn't know what it is.  Should I label it?  And how do I run a manual drive cleaning from BE?

Thank you very much!  This forum is a terrific resource, and I can't wait to expand my own knowledge so I can become a problem-solver instead of an information leech.  :)

Chris

[Ken_Putnam]

1)  Create Two media sets:  Full & DIFF  The OPP settings depend on how long you need to retain the data.  Can your business survive only going back 1 week?  Maybe you need to add a Monthly job and run it on the last business day of the month, using a policy to replace the INCR or FULL that would normally run on that day

perhaps  Monthly  OPP of 364 days, Weekly OPP of 34 days ( to account for months that have 5 Fridays) and weekly OPP of 6 days?

2)  No, with a 7 day OPP, you would not be able to overwrite until the second Sunday.  To reuse a tape on the same day each week, use a 6 day OPP.  Also remember that if you append data to the tape, the OPP is reset when the Append job closes

3)  From the Admin Guide

To define a cleaning slot
1 On the navigation bar, click Devices.
2 Click the drive or robotic library for which you are setting up the cleaning.
3 Select the slot that contains the cleaning tape.
4 Under General Tasks in the task bar, select Properties.
5 Check Cleaning slot, and then click OK.