Portable drive(s) USB rotation configuration

[sdavis_2]

I have two identical 250 GB USB 2.0 drives that I want to setup as alternating weekly backups with Mon-Thurs diffs and a Friday full backup each with its on sub-folder under "E:\Backup". This is on a three year old intel processor server with server 2k on it.

In reading the Administrator's Guide (11d), it looks like the hot swappable device wizzard would support my needed configuration. I'm currently using BEWS 8.6 and my Backup-to-disk folders go off-line each night on the second week in the alternating schedule as the job attempts to run. ( I assume because of no cat files)

Will BEWS 11d support my needed configuration or can BEWS 8.6 be configured to work in my senario?

Thanks Stephen

[Ken_Putnam]

v11d will do the same thing

when you swap drives, pause and unpause the B2D folder that is in the one that you have  just connected

Someone wrote and posted a CMD file to do this using BEMCMD, if you can find it.

[sdavis_2]

If I use BEWS 11D will I still need to pause and unpause the Backup-to-disk folders to be able to swap the portable drive for the bi-weekly rotation?

Stephen

[Ken_Putnam]

AFAIK

it's the only way to tell BackupExec that the device is now connected  (you are using two different drive letters for the two disk drives, aren't you?)

[sdavis_2]

Because the two USB drives are the same brand and size and model, they are both recognized as drive letter "E". I am using the USB safely remove procedure to make sure the swapped drive is being recognized. This makes the path for the B2D identical as "E:\Backup\" with the subs of Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu and Fri on both drives for the diff and full folders.

Stephen

[Ken_Putnam]

Well -

Veritas and now Symantec have always said that you cannot swap drives for either B2D or B2D on removable (a MAJOR design flaw IMNSHO.  A B2D folder should be a pseudo tape drive.  Mount any compatible media, inventory and away you go)

See http://support.veritas.com/docs/275624

It may work, but if you ever have problems, you are on your own

Message Edited by Ken Putnam on 08-03-200702:56 PM

[NURTUR8R]

Hi Ken,

Is there any futher information on the whole Portable Drives issue? I setup with pretty much the same config. and now that I am trying to actually do a full recovery (test), the IDR will not recognize the Portable drive as the location with the backup files. "No Device was detected". Any hints would be much appreciated.

[Ken_Putnam]

There was a post about this back when v11d first came out IIRC, and the response was that USB Hard Drives are NOT supported for IDR

May be worth opening an incident with Symantec 

(or you could throw IDR in the trash and just do a manual Disaster Recovery.  I've maintained since it was introduced in v9.1 that it is a marketing thing that actually saves you NO time, and hides everything behind a wizard)

And there are plenty of people who have all kinds of trouble actually using it to do a recovery.  I know that people who don't have problems don't post here, but the number of folks who have had problems just re-inforces my determination to never allow it on any machine that I manage

[NURTUR8R]

Thanks Ken,

The option you suggest would be fine except we want the whole "Ghost" type recovery, no reloading applications, etc. I'd love to dump the whole IDR and if it just isn't supported with External Hard Drives,

I am So out of luck.

Other Suggestions?

[Ken_Putnam]

we want the whole "Ghost" type recovery, no reloading applications, etc.

Even with IDR, you have to install a vanilla windows OS, then boot and do the data restore, so it's still a two step process

Just do a manual disaster recovery.  That will restore all applications (except database apps) to the state they were in at the time of the backup.  At least the last time that I look at it, even with IDR  you still had to do an OS restore followed by a Database restore for SQL, Exchange, Notes, Oracle, etc

How else are you going to restore a "hot" database backup?  They requires a running database to accomplish, right?

Message Edited by Ken Putnam on 08-06-200701:44 PM

[NURTUR8R]

Thanks again Ken,

Yes, the vanilla install of the O/S completes, then the IDR Wizard comes up to establish some parameters, Automatic - semi-automatic or manual, etc. to allow me to select the device with the backup files. None of the options actually find the backup files, even though the external drive shows in the list of volumes and I can select it.

It is my perception that once the recovery process completes, it is just as if the server had been rebooted and like you said, even the database applications are restored to the specific time the backup was completed, but they come up operational.

An interesting note in the Admin Guide, "Disaster Recovery from a Virtual Device, such as Backup-to-Disk devices, must be done via Remote IDR using a media server with access to the Virtual Device". What I have not been able to get Anyone to tell me is, What is "Remote IDR"?

Anyway, Symantec just told me that IDR is being phased out and the new "System Recovery Option" is taking its place. We are being told to upgrade to 11d in order to get the SRO, which is Mo-Money! Of Course!

I suppose the client will have to either upgrade, or call me for the manual process. Thanks for your help and attention Ken!

[Ken_Putnam]

I think http://support.veritas.com/docs/253655  explains "Remote IDR" 

See also http://support.veritas.com/docs/237521  (  tho it says it's for v9.0 and v9.1 ?)

(Though apparently, the designers of IDR have never heard of USB and/or Firewire Hard drives for B2D)

[NURTUR8R]

Thanks Ken,

Just checked out the articles and it all sounds like it would work, except the whole USB drive issue keeps haunting me.

Since we're going to have to buy something anyway, I believe the client will opt to upgrade. It would be nice if the 11d developers have gotten out of their box a little and have actually built in USB as a valid alternative.

You've been a great help!

[sdavis_2]

I thought I might reply that my currrent attempt for a resolution is to alternate the two week rotation between BEWS 8.6 and NTBackup having both diff and Full backups have a 14 day daily repeat with an overwrite. This is on a Server 2k mackine that does not require removable backup to be disabled for both backup systems to run their respective jobs. As I'm a full week away from seeing the test result, I will let you know in a post if this works.

[sdavis_2]

Using both BEWS 8.6 and NTBackup on a 14 day rotation with diffs and a weekly Friday full backup appears to be working well (after editing exclusions). To bad Veritas doesn't get with the program and start supporting portable removable storage (USB) drives as this is a reasonable cheap media solution to standard tape configurations.

Stephen