Recovery 101

[Jake_McNutt]

Good morning......I just recently installed BEWS10 on both a NAS & our Exchange Server. I'm a rookie when it comes to backups, so this is all new to me.

The NAS runs a full backup over the weekend, and a differential each night from Monday - Thursday. I have a B2D folder set up, and then it runs a duplicate job to a 100GB tape. Everything seems to be running pretty smooth now.

The Exchange Server runs a full backup every night. I don't backup it up to a B2D folder, though. It just backs up directly to the 40GB tape. Monday - Friday this is done. Everything seems to running fine with the Exchange server now.

Since I finally have the backups running, I'd like to look into my recovery options. Like I said before, I'm a rookie, so please assume that I know nothing. Now I know there's documentation out there, and that's fine....I'd like to read it. But I'd also like to hear from some of you who've been doing these backups for awhile & have a good idea of how the recovery process works.

I'm eager to learn the process, and look forward to hearing some replies.

If you need more information about our machines, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Jake_McNutt]

Seriously, I can give you more information if you need it.

If there is not a reply within 2 days, I am determined to wait longer.

[Scott_Filler]

I am relatively new to the backup exec game too (about 2 years) and from my experience, the best way to learn how it works is hands on. If you can, set up a lab and run tests on backup and restores. Especially full restores. There is the way restores should work, then there is the way they actually do. Right now I am testing The IDR option to see if we want to buy it. So far I'm leaning towards "no".
If anyone else has any feedback on using IDR, I'd love to hear it.
My 2 cents.

[Ken_Putnam]

Scott -

I've never been tempted to buy IDR.

If it gets to that point, I want to know EXACTLY what has or has not been done, and if it fails, where and how I can recover

The time that you (maybe) save isn't worth the security being in control myself.

Jack -
The suggestion about building a test LAN and Domain is an excellent one. Other than that, the Admin Guide has step-by-step instructions for preparation and execution of Disaster Recover.

The Admin Guide is your friend :D
Learn it, Know it, Love it!

[Jake_McNutt]

That is a good idea, Scott.

So what would I need, another server? I think we actually have one here that I could use.

Would I need another copy of BEWS 10?

And what exactly is the process? Just reinstall Windows, Exchange, BEWS10, and then proceed with the recovery?

Sorry to be asking such dumb questions, but I'd like to hear from people who've done it before reading the Admin Guide.

Thanks for your time.....

Jake

[Scott_Filler]

I have the fortune of working for a large company and am able to use spare high end desktops for test servers, spare switches, cables, SCSI devices, etc. In my test environment, I have a private network with a Windows 2003 BEWS 10 server, two Windows server 2003 boxes, and one server2000 machine connected via ethernet switch. My test BEWS server is also on the corporate network so I can access the SAN, tape library, and B2D devices. I have an eval version on BEWS 10 so I can test all the features and decide which ones I will buy when it comes to upgrade time. (we run BEWS 9.1 in production now)
As far as restores go, this is our process: Rebuild the downed server from scratch, install the BE Remote agent, then run the full restore and any incremental restores up to the date of failure. I am testing the IDR option now, this is supposed to help automate this process. But so far has only been a headache.

[Jake_McNutt]

We have the IDR, but I don't know how to use it.

I'll have to see if we have enough machines to try the private network that you're talking about.

[Scott_Filler]

Check it out, it's interesting.
One word of advice, if you learn to use IDR, don't rely on the BE 10 admin guide for instruction. I just reciently logged a case with support that was pushed up to the advanced team. A guy from the advanced team called me and told me that they know there is wrong information in the admin guide and the matter is being referred to the engineers and tech writers. He then said to check out this technote:
26170.
I didn't really find anything in there i could use in my situation, but it's a good reference.

[Jake_McNutt]

Wow, so the actual Admin Guide is flawed?

I wonder if a revised copy will be available when they iron out all the details.

I will look into this IDR deal, though.....thanks!

Jake

[Scott_Filler]

The admin guide has some step-by-step instructions that don't match up to what you see on the screen as you follow along. Also it says in the v10 admin guide that you can burn your bootable CD automaticaly within the IDR wizard. This is true for version 9.1, but they took out this feature in v10. You have to use third party software to create your bootable image.
I'm sure they will fix this document in the next release.