Scheduling restores (disaster recovery training) and backing up backups (offsite backups) are essential for every modern backup strategy.

In my last post, I explained why I am strictly against scheduling backups. However, when it comes to restores I am a big fan of schedules. Another golden rule that belongs in every backup strategy is the backup of backups rule.

Schedule restores

Now before you check whether your backup software has a feature for scheduling restores, read on to see what I mean by “scheduling restores.” Most backup experts recommend verifying regularly that backups are working properly. However, in my view, this is not enough. Just like manual backups are not a professional way to secure data, checking every now and then if the backed up data is really on the disks or tapes is certainly insufficient.

First of all, it is not very likely that you will really do it regularly. Be honest. When did you check your backups the last time? Second, it is not enough to check if the data was backed up. You really have to test the restored data in an environment that you prepared for this purpose.

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In this article I argue that backup methods relying on schedules and backup job configurations are no longer up to date.

Data backups are one of the most important tasks for any IT department. In my view, they are even more important than security. It can get nasty if a virus knocks down your network for a few hours. However, if you lose essential data, it could knock down your whole company forever. If you need some more motivation to read on, check out these statistics according to which 60% of companies that have lost their data will shut down within 6 months.

The problem is that admins are often busy with keeping the network running or meeting project deadlines. Backup management is often the first task that is neglected when admins are under time pressure because daily operations are usually not affected by a faulty backup strategy. But this is only true until a backup is really needed.

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Now that you have a general idea about the architecture and capabilities of Blackbird recovery, I will give you an overview of how you can restore objects and attributes with the Active Directory backup software.

Recover deleted Active Directory objects

Blackbird recovery offers three ways to restore deleted AD objects: the Recycle Bin in the Blackbird Management Suite console, the Recycle Bin in the Active Directory Users and Computers interface (ADUC), and through the Deleted Objects tab of the object properties in ADUC or right clicking on the object in ADUC.

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In my previous post, I described Oops!Backup’s CDP features and its advantages over conventional backup tools. Today, I will give you an overview of the tool’s so-called ReverseDelta technology and how you can use the tool for notebook backups.

Oops!Backup’s ReverseDelta stores file changes in so-called delta files. These delta files contain changes at the byte level. There is some overhead if only a few bytes are changed, but this can save a lot disk space on your backup drive if you have to secure large files as they are common with database systems. For instance, a conventional backup system will store a full 10GB database if only one record has been changed, but Oops’Backup would only require a few MBs of additional space. The tool allows you to configure the file size on which ReverseDelta is invoked, and you can also specify the number of versions after which a full copy of a file is preserved.

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Altaro is raffling 15 licenses of their nifty backup tool for desktops and laptops. Each license is worth US$37. I tested Oops!Backup for a few days and was quite content with the results. I am a big fan of Continuous Data Protection (CDP), not only because the backup intervals are significantly shorter than with conventional backup tools, but also because configuration and handling are much easier. In this post, I will outline the CDP features of Oops!Backup and, in my next post, I will discuss the tool’s ReverseDelta technology and its suitability for laptop backups.

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Do you have users in your organizations who never logon to the corporate network with their laptops? In such cases, you have to make sure that they backup their laptops at home. I tried one solution with my own laptop and I am quite content with it. I connected the external hard drive Seagate Freeagent Pro via eSATA to my laptop. As backup software for my files, I used Autobackup which comes with Freegent Pro. To backup the whole computer, I used Windows Vista’s Backup and Restore Center.

Freeagent is available in three sizes: 320GB, 500GB and 750GB. I opted for the biggest drive because I like to keep old backups as long as possible. Amazon offers it for less than $200. You can connect the drive through USB or eSATA. For the latter you need an eSATA card adapter. I think, it is worth the extra 30 bucks because it is much faster. USB 2.0 supports up to 480 Mbps and eSATA 3 Gbps. You won’t always reach this speed, though, because there are bottlenecks like drive speed or the performance of your laptop.

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Data Protection Manager 2007 RC is finally out. I have been waiting for this already for some time. Just some days ago, we had a serious problem with our current backup solution, Symantec Backup Exec. We didn’t renew our service contract with Symantec because I am seriously considering moving to DPM 2007.

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Jason Buffington, the “Data Protection Guy” at Microsoft explains the difference between DPM 2006 and DPM 2007 (Data Protection Manager) with respect to continuous data protection. Whereas DPM 2006 uses a file system filter “to grab a copy of the file operation”, DPM 2007 uses a VSS writer (Volume Shadow Copy Service) instead.

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In this last post of my series about Backup Exec 11d and Continuous Protection Server (CPS), I will sum up my view about Symantec’s CDP solution.

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Backup Exec 11d now offers CDP functionality for Microsoft Exchange. In this third post of my series about Backup Exec 11d, I will explain how one can backup Exchange with Symantec Continuous Protection Server (CPS).

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Last week, I introduced Symantec Continuous Protection Server (CPS). Today, I will discuss, how CPS interacts with Backup Exec 11d.

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This article is part of a series about my experience during my trial of Backup Exec 11d and Continuous Protection Server (CPS), Symantec’s CDP tools. I will discuss CPS, how Backup Exec and CPS interact, and how continuous protection of Microsoft Exchange works. Today, I will start with CPS.

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I just installed Symantec Backup Exec 11d and was somewhat surprised that there are no major changes to the core product, the good old backup tool that copies your files to tapes. Then, why did Symantec release a new version? The major changes come with Continuous Protection Server (CPS), which was originally planned as a stand-alone product. Since version 10d, CPS has become a component of Backup Exec. It seems that Symantec focuses now on Continuous Data Protection (CDP) . This raises the question, whether conventional backup tools will soon vanish from our server rooms.

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I was quite surprised when someone from Microsoft told me that DPM v2 Beta 1 not only allows backups of Exchange, SQL Server, and SharePoint, but also supports tape libraries. This would make DPM v2 a serious competitor to backup tools like Symantec Backup Exec or CA ARCserve. It made me quite curious to try DPM v2. Microsoft’s latest CDP solution certainly is an interesting backup tool. However, Beta 1 has one major shortcoming.

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The final of Backup Exec 11d will be available on the 6th of November. It will support backups of Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server. I tested the CDP component of Backup Exec 10d a while ago and I liked it better than Microsoft’s DPM 2006. Both companies offer new versions now and it seems that Symantec is a bit faster since there is only Beta 1 of DPM v2 available at the moment. I am currently testing DPM v2 and I’ll report about it here soon. I certainly will also try Backup Exec 11d. We were about to introduce Symantec’s CDP solution, but I decided to postpone this until I tested the new versions of both tools.