What is Your Backup Policy?

higuita asks: "A few days ago, I was asked to check our backups policy, how they are being applied and to try to make it safer and more useful. Being new to the company, I started to check what is being done right now and found several problems. Since I don't have much experience with enterprise backups, what are the most used backup policies, software and global ideas about this issue? We have less than 1000 workstations (Windows and Macs), about 20 Oracle and Exchange servers (split between Windows, Solaris, and Linux), and it all needs to be backed up. Right now, we use the HP data protector with several tapes, where most things have a weekly full backup and daily incremental backups, and that most full backups are archived permanently in a safe we have for this purpose. We also have off-site storage for backups, as well. What practices and policies do Slashdot users implement for backups they perform at their office (home backups practices I am not interested in)?"

"I've investigated Veritas NetBackup and other solutions, and I'm also curious if Amanda could be better or at approximate the features offered by HP Data Protector. What backup software have you used that you found enjoyable with the least bit of hassle?

I've thought about using Dirvish to backup the user's homes to a cheap server with several HDs, and only backup to tapes once every 15 days or even once a month. They will lose their Windows permissions, but I don't think that matters much, since this is just for safekeeping the users' work. I thought about making full backups of the servers every 15 days with daily incremental backups. This way I will free up tape drives' time and gain more flexibility with the backup schedule.

I would love it if users worked off of file servers, but right now this just isn't possible. It's a planned addition that we still don't have the time to make."

Use an enterprise commercial solution

For that many systems, use a professional, enterprise grade, commercial solution. The open source stuff doesn't supply the same manageability.

AND FOR GOD'S SAKE, REGULARLY VERIFY THAT YOU CAN READ THE TAPES BACK... More sites have been screwed by backup tapes that weren't readable than any other failure mode. Verifying every tape is best. Second best is every weekly. Random samples, but covering every single drive's tape output at least once a month, are poor third place.

The two obvious software suggestions are Veritas/Symantec NetBackup and Legato Networker.

Weekly fulls and daily incrementals are good. Your offsite schedule should be checked to ensure that you have a relatively recent restore point both onsite (in case of data loss) and offsite (in case of building loss).

In terms of offsites, having a prepared plan for where and how to restore (Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity) is also important. But those all start with "Go get the tapes...".

Honestly... Tivoli Storage Manager

I've used Amanda, Bakula, Netbackup, Networker and by far the best of the bunch for enterprise size networks is TSM. Easily. Netbackup is something I still have cold sweats and nightmares about, ok, not quite nightmares, just the occasional cold sweat. It'

Re:Use an enterprise commercial solution

BMR has been standard for years.

I've seen attempts to build large enterprise backup environments with "simple open" software. They melt down somewhat short of the size that the original questioner is asking about, typically.

I've built environments with NB

Re:Open Source can be enterprise grade

I use plenty of stuff for which I have the source code. Going back to the 4.2mumble BSDs, through SunOS, Linux, Solaris, the various x86 BSDs, and plenty of applications (this is Mozilla I'm /.ing with, and before that a long line of other open source browsers). I have no problem with installing large Linux farms, using Apache for an enterprise web deployment, using MySQL for moderate sized databases (or PostgreSQL, though I haven't deployed it personally).

Tape backup... NBU wins. Legato's a close second. Sorry, charlie. Open source as a category does not suck. The open source backup stuff doesn't suck, for small to medium sized sites. It's not enterprise class, though, and most of the trick to succeeding in IT is knowing when the tools you use aren't applicable anymore and how to figure out what are.

NBU can't RAIT, but it can stream across multiple tapes, and can write duplicate tapes if you want redundancy. And you can extract the files off tape with tar if you have to.

Amanda certainly doesn't suck, but it's not NBU.

Re:Use an enterprise commercial solution

Try TSM. DR is one of its strongest suits!

It's really pretty darned incredible. One command, and your TSM environment is rebuilt. We use the DR capabilities multiple times per year. Works great.

just what ever you do make sure offsite IS OFFSITE

don't make the mistake that one guy did
the office was in the North Tower --- The "offsite backup" was in the South Tower

oops
i would suggest minimum different zip codes different time zones would be best
other than that Grand father > Father >Son G

Re: Make sure offsite IS OFFSITE

If you live in Southern California, there are four seasons:

Fire, Flood, Mud, and Earthquake

In which case, the best case for off site backup is out of state, like Las Vegas or something. This also gives you an excellent excuse for monthly road trips to "c

Re: Make sure offsite IS OFFSITE

Fire, Flood, Mud, and Earthquake

Close, but no cigar. The four seasons in Southern California are Fire, Flood, Earthquake and Riot. I should know; I'm the one who posted that to rec.humor.funny about fourteen years ago. Besides, Mud is just a subsidiar

Re:just what ever you do make sure offsite IS OFFS

i would suggest minimum different zip codes different time zones would be best

Sounds funny but very true. Backups across town aren't terriby useful if across town is flat too. Sound farfetched? Ask a sysadmin in Miami how far off he ships his backups. If he was there when Andrew visited, I'll bet they're in New Mexico.

This may seem a tad offtopic, but it is relevant:

You have to think through both distance from and access to your backups as a part of disaster recovery planning. Backup isn't just recovering the CEO's email, though that is a (hopefully) far more frequent occurance than recovering from a hurricane/fire/mudslide/blizzard. Easy access to the backup media is important for daily operations. Recovery from disaster is quite a bit more complex. Your backup solution needs to be able to cover the full spectrum - from yestarday's lost spreadsheet to the area flattened by mother nature.

Personally, I keep two backups - one here locally, one 1000 miles away in another state. Backup to CD here, online rsync in NC.

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway." - Variously attributed, frequently to Andrew Tanenbaum

Focus on the systems.

This will take a LOT of research on your part.

You'll need to identify each application that is being used, where its data is being stored and what type of "backup" is needed for it.

Don't forget to include "backups" of the system software. There's nothing more annoying than having to rebuild a system, and you have a backup of the data, but you cannot find the install CD.

Older *nix systems were far easier than the "modern" PC-based servers. I could backup my old Sequent box to a bootable tape. If anything went wrong, I could boot the tape and re-write the system. This is somewhat supported now on some of the PC-based servers.

Anyway, back to the "backups". Once you have the systems identified, then you'll need to look at what scenarios you'll need to plan for.

#1. Server crash.
The data on the disk is destroyed. The OS is destroyed. But the hardware is okay.

#2. The building burns down.
All of your servers are now smoking heaps of plastic. So's your desk. And all the CD's you had.

#3. 5 years from now someone wants a critical policy that was deleted 3 years ago.

I spend most of my time kicking co-workers to get them to NOT just dump data any where that has free space and to NOT just throw up a new web server without telling me.

Re:Focus on the systems.

"You'll need to identify each application that is being used, where its data is being stored and what type of "backup" is needed for it."

I second this. Nothing's worse than someone telling you "back up this system, full once a week, incrementals every othe

Re:Focus on the systems.

You missed a few:

#4: User deletes a file deemed by somebody important to be critical and you have to get it back.

Its amazing how much money is spent planning for the once-in-a-lifetime Twin-Towers disaster event, and how little is spent on the daily occura

Why do you need to backup the desktops?

This may just be a wording issue, but it looks like you want to back up the desktops. Is that true?

I can't think of any good reason to do that. All the important data should be on the server. If the user wants to save a picture on the local disk to use as a background or something that's one thing (although I wouldn't allow that myself) but nothing important should be on those disks.

Past that, I don't have the experience to help you. All I can do is reiterate what another poster has already put up. Check the backups. I can't tell you how many stories I've heard about backups that "went fine" until someone needed data. Stories where the tapes were so old they almost shredded themselves in the drives. Stories of "backing up" for at least 6 months onto a cleaning tape (I bet the drive was in good condition though!). Stories of the backup data being garbage because of a faulty cable or something. The backup is worthless if you can't get the data back off it successfully.

Re:Why do you need to backup the desktops?

I can't think of any good reason to do that. All the important data should be on the server. If the user wants to save a picture on the local disk to use as a background or something that's one thing (although I wouldn't allow that myself) but nothing impo

Re:Why do you need to backup the desktops?

I agree. I assumed that the image of the computer(s) would be included in the backup. Having those images will save you a ton of time, even if each image is only for 50 computers.

That said, there is a big difference between backing up the images and backi

My backup?

I dump stuff on undergrads. They've got to be good for something.

/heh, just Kidding. I just mirror my scsi disks with a big ultra-ATA device weekly and daily.

My backup strategy

My backup strategy consists of hoping that my hard drive doesn't fail before I get a new computer/hard drive. It's worked so far, even with a laptop.

My backup policy:

I pray.

my backup policy

1 click down, yell "Clear" and hit the gas.

Paper

My backup copy is paper. Granted, it gets a little awkward when I move, as I currently have six large file boxes of that stuff, but I know that as long as I keep it reasonably safe from humidity/mice it'll outlive all my computer media and file format changes.

At work we do the same, only to a larger extent. We've got an on-site and off-site storage, and each piece of information is printed in two copies to be stored at each. All that in addition to your usual Veritas tape and CD-RW backups, which we do for convenience of restoring lost data, but which we don't trust enough to eliminate paper copies.

Business Continuity Planning?

I think you're jumping the gun a little here.

The first question you need to ask is:

What is the time frame for your servers to be restored in should servers and such completely fail?

If you don't know that answer to that question then how does your company know how much money to budget? Are you bound by HIPAA or Sarbanes-Oxley? You should know how much is your company's data worth prior to assigning a bidget.

Are some of your database servers supposed to be up 24x7? Maybe you should look at distributed transactions across databases located at different sites so if one server fails you still have everything live? Have you timed how long it takes to rebuild your servers to confirm your allotted time in your disaster recovery plan? Has your company considered imaging servers/ Is it possible to?

Have you consulted your disaster recovery plan? Have you checked with suppliers to see how long replacement parts will take to order? I can't tell you how many administrators get caught out by buying an expensive tape drive only to have it fail along woith the server and nothing can be restored until a new one can be sourced.

Without requirements, a disaster recovery time frame you will never be in control in the event of a disaster.

Your companies board of directors/owners will need this information. It's called operating under conditions of "due care and diligence".

If something goes wrong and you can't tell your boss exactly what is required and how long it will take to recover then you're working in the wrong job - a big part of being a network administrator is planning for ANY event.

Oh, most of the time my customers are happy with Robocopy. I hate paying for expensive hardware and backup software solutions when I can write something much simpler and document it properly rather than depending on someone else's buggy software. Of course this depends on the industry and their requirements.

Make sure that your boss completely understands these questions and issues. Ask him to see the current Business Continuity plan and Disaster Recovery documentation before you touch anything on those servers - can't stress that enough.

Hope that helps, sorry it's brief but if you're in charge of backups it's your job to be ANAL and PEDANTIC.

VMs

We moved all of our servers to VMware virtual machines. Now we back them all up every night, some of them we even back up multiple times a day. We tried esxRanger first, but it took too long (back up of all of the VMs took 4 days) and used too much space

Backups ???

Who bothers with backups? I've personally never wasted any time backing

A fatal exeeption 0E has occurred at 0137:BFFA21C9. The current application will be terminated.

* Press any key to terminate the current application
* Press CTRL+ALT+DEL a

Oh shit! Oh shit! What do we do now?!

Please God... please say someone took the project home on CD, or we're fucked!

Don't just look in the rear-view mirrors...

...actually turn your upper body around, so you can look in the direction you're driving.

Think of the children!