Simplified Disaster Recovery Disk_Drivers

[ksdst1]

Hi.  I'm creating a SDR for a W2008R2 Dell PE510 file server running BEX 2014.  I want to make sure it is correct.  I was trying to add Dell network card and SAS controller drivers downloaded from their website and oem#.inf drivers stored on the server, but now I am not sure if I need to do this or if they are automatically added to the SDR image by the wizard.  When I try to add the drivers i get a few messages for the different drivers like  "A newer or same version of the driver already exists in the database".  Are installed drivers of the backed up server already automatically populated into the SDR by the wizzard?  What type of drivers should be added to the list (eg. i have an external tape drive attached to one of the controllers)?

Tnx...  

[Colin_Weaver]

If some cases if the drivers on the OS are compatible with WinPE they will be added for you

Easiest way to confirm this is make an SDR disk and then test the SDR disk by booting off it (will needs some server down time for the test) you don't have to go all the way through to restoring data just far enough to prove you can connect to LAN and see disk drives etc (so once the SDR environment starts primarily use the Network config and Utilities menus to check things.)

[ksdst1]

Tnx Colin.  As a follow up and to check that I understand, the SDR is a modified WinPE that presents a GUI restore process, with a net config stage to verify/add drivers (although the backup array is on the BEX server so maybe it is not an issue), and SAS controller utilitity config that would show access to no-Raid 6Gps (Raid0 OS), Perc700(Raid 5 JBOD BkDrv) and Perc800(Raid5 file server storage array) controlers if the drivers were loaded automatically into the SDR at creation? 

Also, after booting the server with the SDR, where does the process pull the info to do the system state/OS restore (and file server restore if needed)? Is this when the current .DR file and the BEData folder contents are needed?  In otherwords, If I create an SDR today to create a custom SDR, and use it 4 months from now to restore, what does the restore process use to restore the server OS and if needed, file server array?

Tnx!   

[Colin_Weaver]

You should be keeping updated version of the .DR files on a secondary location and can use these with a USB disk and the SDR disk if needing to restore from tape and have lost the BE srever. If BE server still exists and you are restoring other servers then the DR info is on the BE server still, so no need for the USB copies.