Very Computer

Hi,

I'm looking for suggestions for a high-capacity backup solution that
works well in a mixed NT / Unix environment. The network we have today
is about to expand rapidly and the 6-month prediction is for 9 NT 4.0
servers, 25 Linux servers and 1 BSD server. The BSD box could easily
become Linux if necessary. A complete backup of user data alone is
predicted to be 115GB and I need to plan for expansion up to 200GB.
Currently we use a DAT drive in each server, but this does not scale
well and will not cope with the increasing volume of user data. Also,
I have reservations about the reliability of DAT.

Any solution would have to preserve file ownership and permissions and
be able to back up the NT registry and open files. I would envisage
taking a full backup at the weekend and incrementals during the week.

Considering the size of the network, a command line user interface is
out of the question. I have seen ARCserve in action on an NT server
and it looks fairly impressive. However it isn't clear if there is a
Linux client for the NT version. I've also read accounts from people
who have been unable to restore from ARCserve backups. Does anyone
have experience of the Seagate product? Are there any alternatives?

The backup media is also a problem. DLT looks good but with a maximum
capacity of 35GB (uncompressed) per tape a full backup runs to 6 tapes
(200GB). Does anyone know of higher capacity tape solutions? There is
no requirement to keep historical backups so it would be possible to
build a 200GB RAID 5 array of hard drives and rely on that. Comments
would be welcome.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Simon.

What I've heard of ARCserve suggests it doesn't, er, work. YMMV.

Quote:>The backup media is also a problem. DLT looks good but with a maximum
>capacity of 35GB (uncompressed) per tape a full backup runs to 6 tapes
>(200GB). Does anyone know of higher capacity tape solutions?

Tape autochangers? It's still 6 tapes, but at least you don't have to keep
changing the damn things.

Quote:>There is
>no requirement to keep historical backups so it would be possible to
>build a 200GB RAID 5 array of hard drives and rely on that.

What happens when the building burns down?

I would try a different approach; get a Linux machine with a huge disc,
and put user home directories on that. Back that up regularly.
Periodically use ARCserve or whatever to back up the local configuration
of the NT boxen and Linux systems; don't back up the rest of their discs
at all (your proposed configuration backs up n copies of Windows NT every
night. Ick.) Make this policy clear to users; emphasise that they _must_
keep their work in their home directories.
--

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