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Does anyone have experience using a product called Handy Backup server edition.

I'm currently evaluating it to backup a network with 1 exchange 2k7 server, 1 SQL 2k5 server, 1 IIS7 server and about 10 XP workstations.

SQL and File backups appear to be working however Exchange and IIS is not too reliable. Tech support doesn't respond for 48 hours.

Any other suggestions for reliable network backup products in the 500.00 to 1000.00 price range would be appreciated.

Thanks

Kamil Kisiel
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Khalid Rahaman
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  • How many and what version(s) of Windows Server are you using? You mention IIS7, but it's unclear how servers you're talking about. You can get a lot of mileage out of the built-in Windows "NTBackup" in Windows Server 2003 if you're willing to use / write some scripts. It's "free" but you'll have to sink time into it. – Evan Anderson Oct 25 '09 at 19:06
  • What is the destination of the backups being done .. tape, FTP somewhere, another server? – tomjedrz Oct 25 '09 at 19:34
  • the destination for the backups is a dedicated "backup server" on the LAN which is uploaded nightly to an alternate location – Khalid Rahaman Oct 30 '09 at 16:29

2 Answers2

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I'd look at the Symantec Backup Exec products. You'll have to use an agent for Exchange, which will add cost. You can get by w/o using an SQL agent if you have SQL Server perform backups to files and cover those files with the Backup Exec file-level backup, assuming you want to do this more inexpensively.

Evan Anderson
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Never heard of "Handy Backup", which is a huge red flag.

Backup is a PITA, but it is the single most important job we have as sysadmins. Exchange in particular is finicky and hard to do properly. I would be very hesitant to use something unknown or to go cheap on backup. Cheap is great until the server has crashed and Exchange on the new one can't load the restored data store. Then you have to be cheap because you are unemployed!

I recommend you use a server-oriented backup system (such as Backup Exec) for the servers, and another (perhaps HandyBackup to a NAS device) for the clients. There are lots of options .. get started with these questions for more info ( a b c ).

I also recommend that you start simple (daily to tape) and when that is stable get more complicated (disk-to-disk-to-tape, off-site replication, etc.). Test the backups by doing restores on a frequent basis, and have a tested, verified, up to date procedure for restoring each server from the backups.

I second Evan's Backup Exec recommendation. It isn't always easy to configure, but it works.

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tomjedrz
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    +1 - We don't "do backup" to have backups. We backup so that we can RESTORE. If you can't restore, there's no point in having backups. – Evan Anderson Oct 25 '09 at 21:32
  • so far all the backups that worked have restored succesfully in my testing – Khalid Rahaman Oct 30 '09 at 16:25
  • @Khalid - that's good. If you can restore the Exchange server from scratch with this product then it should be fine. Find some spare hardware and test that out ... – tomjedrz Oct 30 '09 at 16:39