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Restoring Complete Server -- How?

cadl
Level 3

Does Backup Exec 11d allow for complete system recovery?

I have an entire server backed up to external drives. I assume I would restore this information plus the system state information. Can I use a blank drive to restore both of this information to a harddrive and swap it in my system? I don't understand how to restore the harddrive if I have to install backup exec first on a working system with an OS? Is there a thin client for backup exe to run the jobs with?

 

I'm not seeing a lot of documentation for this older software, just newer solutions.

5 REPLIES 5

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

Hi,


The concept is the same...get the OS on the server and patch. Once done, restore data, restore applications, and then System STate as covered by Microsoft best practice.

You can restore data to another drive if you want, and in the case of Exchange, you would duplicate this to disk.

I wrote an article on how to do this in BE 2010, but the concept is the same for BE 11d...give it a read. You'll be left with the Exchange flat files that you can then copy to the Exchange server and manually mount via Microsoft's recovery steps they provide.

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/restoring-exchange-or-individual-mailboxesitems-using-backup-exec-howto

The Admin Guide should also be able to help...

THanks!

cadl
Level 3

Hey Craig,

Thanks for the reply. I see you had issues with tape as well.

We are moving to a new server soon, and I'm aware I need to purchase updated software. Is there an easier solution? I don't think we're particularly concerned with file recovery which Exec offers, but I was more interested in being able to do a quick and fast system restore from my backups.

 

From your reply, I can restore my server (small business, this is our ONLY server), after reinstalling OS, then restoring the backup and finally system state. It's better than nothing, but seems time consuming? Would System Recovery be a better product? Would this (or does the newer Exec) offer a complete drive image copy which I can basically hot-swap into place? Akin to a Raid 1 setup, except with a removable drive.

 

Very new to this software and trying to see what my options are.

 

Thanks a bunch.

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

The recovery of a SBS server is not so simple because of the various component software.  See this document

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH17613

For the latest BE 2014, there is SDR which can automate the initial recovery, but restoring your mailboxes and SQL databases is still manual process after the server is recovered.

 

SSR has its own forum.  You might want to post your questions on SSR there.

 

 

criley
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited

It sounds like SSR is a better fit for you. Product details here:

http://www.symantec.com/system-recovery-server-edition

If you have further questions about SSR, please post in these forums:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/backup-and-recovery/forums/symantec-system-recovery-formerly-backup-exec-system-recovery

cadl
Level 3

Alrighty. What am I doing wrong in this situation? I'm getting error E000846A about the Remote Agent not being installed.

I have a second server reinstalled with the same OS and Backup Exec 11d trial (getting new Backup Exec later this year, etc); I assume it should still work with the trial as they advertise full features.

I have the backup folder set (was using harddrives), I did an inventory of the backup folder, and I set the password on the external harddrive to match what it was for the old server (encryption purposes I suppose?). 

What else do I need to do? I don't quite understand the various aspects of this software to know where to proceed. Is there another component I need to install? Installing remote agents seems to be for installing this program on other machines, not for restoring a single machine? How do I simply proceed with restoring from the backup data without a connection to the old server?

 

Edit: I think I figured it out, but not entirely sure why. I went back to the installation files and installed the Windows Remote Agent. The option to install on the local machine was grayed out, but it let me do a "create/transform with Active Directory" option (?). After doing this my restore jobs still wouldn't work, so I repeated the procress except this time I added a new media server just using the local Admin/password. Viola, restore jobs worked.

What was the remote install option I choose and where does the media server play into this process? I'm curious for my own understanding of the software and the backup/recovery process.

 

Finally -- where does one extract the system state and utility too? It seems a critical point to getting the backup to restore was choosing the correct redirect destination. I'm not sure where to put these components? I have programs I need to access which rely on services to be running which clearly arent just from extracting the files. I believe services fall under registry data?