Sick of Backup Exec, is there a better way to back up servers?

Hello,

I'm sure many of you share my frustration with current backup
technology, and are looking for a better way.
But what's the better way?

First, let me explain my problem:
My company provides IT services to small businesses.

Our typical client has:
-One Windows 2000 or 2003 server (domain controller, file and print
server) or sometimes SBS
-Most have a few files that stay open at night
-Many have Exchange
-Some have SQL
-A few have extra servers

Most servers have DAT drives (20/40GB or 36/72GB) or AIT, with 10 tapes
for 2-week rotation (1 week stored offsite,) and Backup Exec 9.1 or
10.0 with the appropriate modules (for Exchange, SQL, open files,
remote agents etc.) Usually a full backup is performed every weeknight,
except for clients with a lot of data where it's full on weekends and
differential on other days. The servers are set up to email or FTP
their backup logs to a central location we monitor every morning.

We manage about 30 such clients, and growing fast.

Our responsibilities include checking all backup logs every morning and
resolving any issues, preferably remotely, or go onsite if repairs are
required.

IN AN IDEAL WORLD, here is what would happen:
-We assign one technician to check the backup logs from those 30
clients.
-He quickly scans each log (30 seconds each) and verifies that each
backup is a success.
-In 15 minutes, he is done.
-Every month, we go onsite, clean the drive, run a test backup/restore.
-We are confident that at any time, we can restore any data files,
databases, or mailboxes remotely within minutes.
-We are confident that if a server crashes and burns, we can repair it
and restore all functionality within 24 hours.
-We are confident that if a client's server room is destroyed, there is
a good set of tapes offsite and we can build a replacement server and
reload all data, losing no more than 1 week of work.
-The clients are confident.
-We can sleep at night.

IN THE REAL WORLD, unfortunately, here is how it goes:
-Our technician repeatedly finds obscure errors in the Backup Exec
logs, and has to remote in to attempt to fix them.
-Sometimes the user who was supposed to change the tape did not. We
have clients who cannot be educated to do this reliably.
-Some of the hardware is just not reliable. Sony AIT drives have been
giving us frequent issues with tapes getting stuck. Tapes don't last.
-A lot of the issues require extensive research to resolve, as there
are numerous bugs in Backup Exec.
-If our tech is lucky, he's done in about 1 hour, but there is no
guarantee that all backups are working 100% at that time.
-When we go onsite, we often have to patch or update Backup Exec,
usually requiring a reboot that's disruptive to the clients. This is
however necessary to fix major bugs. The new version usually has even
more bugs!
-The clients cannot understand why, almost every year, they have to pay
more money for an upgrade to their Backup Exec software.
-We are confident that at any time, we can restore some version of a
data file remotely within minutes.
-When it comes to SQL databases or Exchange, we're not really
confident.
-As for the prospect of a bare metal restore, we can only pray. Will it
really work with the various RAID configurations, dynamic disks, and
other non-standard partitioning schemes? More likely than not, we'll
have to rebuild the server from scratch, reload all software, and it
will be a 3-day job rather than 1 day.
-Offsite storage is OK for most clients except those who don't change
the tapes, but they have been told in writing that this is
irresponsible, so it's not our problem anymore. Let them lose data and
go out of business, they've signed it away!
-The clients are kind of confident (because they don't know better,)
but they question why the backup software costs so much and why a major
restore should take so long.
-I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat imagining a client who loses
critical data and cannot get it back. Hasn't happened so far, but I'm
nervous...

SOME OF THE OTHER CHALLENGES WE'RE FACING...
-Disk capacity has outgrown tape capacity. Some of our clients have
large CAD files that don't fit on tape anymore. We want something that
scales up, and I'm not talking about swapping tapes in the middle of
the night.
-External USB hard drives are cheap, big and reliable. We're thinking
of going that way.
-Backup Exec's management of disk-based backup is horrendous and
counterintuitive. For instance, if the disk location is unavailable at
any time, the drive goes offline forever and future backups just don't
happen.
-$1,500 is about as high as most small business clients will pay for a
backup solution (between hardware and software) so most autoloaders are
out. The cost of Backup Exec already often exceeds the hardware cost,
and that's hard for clients to swallow.
-We'd like to find a "one size fits most" solution so we can
standardize backup procedures. This will make our internal training and
management easier.

SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
We are thinking of dumping Backup Exec altogether. ArcServe is probably
worse, and Retrospect's interface is weird. So we're exploring outside
the box.
I've been looking at a product like Paragon Drive Backup, which is more
like a disk imaging program. It appeals to me because:
-It apparently works fine with open files, databases, Exchange etc. Any
real-world experiences about how this really works?
-It can supposedly do a bare metal restore on most SCSI, RAID, dynamic
disk configurations. This would cut downtime by many hours in a major
disaster. Again, any experiences?
-It can be used to restore individual files if desired.
We're thinking of combining Paragon Drive Backup (perhaps a weekly
backup to USB HDD) with daily backups of all data using good old
NTBACKUP, because it's so darn simple!

Are we crazy or what? Do the challenges we face seem familiar? Have you
found a solution that really works and lets you sleep at night?

Thanks for the input!

Yves

Hi Yves

I will get a lot of argument on this but here goes my opinion. ALL of my
clients are small business with 30 or fewer WS. I support 15 SBS installs at
this time most remote. About 3/4 of the customers are still on tape and one
is using Veritas. The best solutions I have are USB 2.0 Hard drives running
SBS Wizard Total Backup daily with the drives rotated daily. My Church had a
Perc4 Array controller failure which wiped the Data on both SCSI drives on
the Dell server. After the controller was replaced I restored the server in
1:15 from the USB drive and all was well.

The only USB Backup failus I have had in two years have been when the
customer failed to turn on the USB drive when replacing. I get this in my
morning email and a call to customer fixes this :>)

I have had more problems with the tape customers than I care to talk
about!!! The conventional wisdom is Tape. I no longer believe this. Educate
the customer to handle the USB drives carefully and you can sleep.

As far as Paragon is concerned that is a superb product and I have used
images to replace drives with larger ones expanding on the fly with no
problems. The advantage over Ghost is that Paragon works within Windows and
doesn't require boot floppy.

My recommendation is 3 USB drives in rotation so that one is ALLWAYS off
site and use Ntbackup.

--
Frank McCallister SBS MVP
COMPUMAC
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Hello,
>
> I'm sure many of you share my frustration with current backup
> technology, and are looking for a better way.
> But what's the better way?
>
> First, let me explain my problem:
> My company provides IT services to small businesses.
>
> Our typical client has:
> -One Windows 2000 or 2003 server (domain controller, file and print
> server) or sometimes SBS
> -Most have a few files that stay open at night
> -Many have Exchange
> -Some have SQL
> -A few have extra servers
>
> Most servers have DAT drives (20/40GB or 36/72GB) or AIT, with 10 tapes
> for 2-week rotation (1 week stored offsite,) and Backup Exec 9.1 or
> 10.0 with the appropriate modules (for Exchange, SQL, open files,
> remote agents etc.) Usually a full backup is performed every weeknight,
> except for clients with a lot of data where it's full on weekends and
> differential on other days. The servers are set up to email or FTP
> their backup logs to a central location we monitor every morning.
>
> We manage about 30 such clients, and growing fast.
>
> Our responsibilities include checking all backup logs every morning and
> resolving any issues, preferably remotely, or go onsite if repairs are
> required.
>
> IN AN IDEAL WORLD, here is what would happen:
> -We assign one technician to check the backup logs from those 30
> clients.
> -He quickly scans each log (30 seconds each) and verifies that each
> backup is a success.
> -In 15 minutes, he is done.
> -Every month, we go onsite, clean the drive, run a test backup/restore.
> -We are confident that at any time, we can restore any data files,
> databases, or mailboxes remotely within minutes.
> -We are confident that if a server crashes and burns, we can repair it
> and restore all functionality within 24 hours.
> -We are confident that if a client's server room is destroyed, there is
> a good set of tapes offsite and we can build a replacement server and
> reload all data, losing no more than 1 week of work.
> -The clients are confident.
> -We can sleep at night.
>
> IN THE REAL WORLD, unfortunately, here is how it goes:
> -Our technician repeatedly finds obscure errors in the Backup Exec
> logs, and has to remote in to attempt to fix them.
> -Sometimes the user who was supposed to change the tape did not. We
> have clients who cannot be educated to do this reliably.
> -Some of the hardware is just not reliable. Sony AIT drives have been
> giving us frequent issues with tapes getting stuck. Tapes don't last.
> -A lot of the issues require extensive research to resolve, as there
> are numerous bugs in Backup Exec.
> -If our tech is lucky, he's done in about 1 hour, but there is no
> guarantee that all backups are working 100% at that time.
> -When we go onsite, we often have to patch or update Backup Exec,
> usually requiring a reboot that's disruptive to the clients. This is
> however necessary to fix major bugs. The new version usually has even
> more bugs!
> -The clients cannot understand why, almost every year, they have to pay
> more money for an upgrade to their Backup Exec software.
> -We are confident that at any time, we can restore some version of a
> data file remotely within minutes.
> -When it comes to SQL databases or Exchange, we're not really
> confident.
> -As for the prospect of a bare metal restore, we can only pray. Will it
> really work with the various RAID configurations, dynamic disks, and
> other non-standard partitioning schemes? More likely than not, we'll
> have to rebuild the server from scratch, reload all software, and it
> will be a 3-day job rather than 1 day.
> -Offsite storage is OK for most clients except those who don't change
> the tapes, but they have been told in writing that this is
> irresponsible, so it's not our problem anymore. Let them lose data and
> go out of business, they've signed it away!
> -The clients are kind of confident (because they don't know better,)
> but they question why the backup software costs so much and why a major
> restore should take so long.
> -I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat imagining a client who loses
> critical data and cannot get it back. Hasn't happened so far, but I'm
> nervous...
>
> SOME OF THE OTHER CHALLENGES WE'RE FACING...
> -Disk capacity has outgrown tape capacity. Some of our clients have
> large CAD files that don't fit on tape anymore. We want something that
> scales up, and I'm not talking about swapping tapes in the middle of
> the night.
> -External USB hard drives are cheap, big and reliable. We're thinking
> of going that way.
> -Backup Exec's management of disk-based backup is horrendous and
> counterintuitive. For instance, if the disk location is unavailable at
> any time, the drive goes offline forever and future backups just don't
> happen.
> -$1,500 is about as high as most small business clients will pay for a
> backup solution (between hardware and software) so most autoloaders are
> out. The cost of Backup Exec already often exceeds the hardware cost,
> and that's hard for clients to swallow.
> -We'd like to find a "one size fits most" solution so we can
> standardize backup procedures. This will make our internal training and
> management easier.
>
> SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
> We are thinking of dumping Backup Exec altogether. ArcServe is probably
> worse, and Retrospect's interface is weird. So we're exploring outside
> the box.
> I've been looking at a product like Paragon Drive Backup, which is more
> like a disk imaging program. It appeals to me because:
> -It apparently works fine with open files, databases, Exchange etc. Any
> real-world experiences about how this really works?
> -It can supposedly do a bare metal restore on most SCSI, RAID, dynamic
> disk configurations. This would cut downtime by many hours in a major
> disaster. Again, any experiences?
> -It can be used to restore individual files if desired.
> We're thinking of combining Paragon Drive Backup (perhaps a weekly
> backup to USB HDD) with daily backups of all data using good old
> NTBACKUP, because it's so darn simple!
>
> Are we crazy or what? Do the challenges we face seem familiar? Have you
> found a solution that really works and lets you sleep at night?
>
> Thanks for the input!
>
> Yves
>

Software:
SBSBackup daily, and Paragon live image scheduled weekly.

Hardware:
Mix of DDS4, DLT, USB 2. One system backs up to internal IDE (dedicated)
weekdays, except thursday - backup is re-directed to DDS4 for off-site.
Automatically switches backup destination using method on Sean Daniel's
blog.

The DLT is the most convenient and reliable long term, but is more expensive
than the other options. USB works quite well, but when a USB drive fails
during backup, it can cause the sbs to become unresponsive requiring a site
visit. I've seen a number of USB drives from various manufacurers fail
shortly after a year of daily use.

Disaster recovery is well documented when using SBSBackup, and works well.
The Paragon image restore process boots from CD, and greatly reduces the
time required for a complete system recovery.

Using SBSBackup ensures you get immediate notification of a backup failure
by email alert.

--
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !


"Frank McCallister SBS MVP" <anonymous> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Yves
>
> I will get a lot of argument on this but here goes my opinion. ALL of my
> clients are small business with 30 or fewer WS. I support 15 SBS installs
> at this time most remote. About 3/4 of the customers are still on tape and
> one is using Veritas. The best solutions I have are USB 2.0 Hard drives
> running SBS Wizard Total Backup daily with the drives rotated daily. My
> Church had a Perc4 Array controller failure which wiped the Data on both
> SCSI drives on the Dell server. After the controller was replaced I
> restored the server in 1:15 from the USB drive and all was well.
>
> The only USB Backup failus I have had in two years have been when the
> customer failed to turn on the USB drive when replacing. I get this in my
> morning email and a call to customer fixes this :>)
>
> I have had more problems with the tape customers than I care to talk
> about!!! The conventional wisdom is Tape. I no longer believe this.
> Educate the customer to handle the USB drives carefully and you can sleep.
>
> As far as Paragon is concerned that is a superb product and I have used
> images to replace drives with larger ones expanding on the fly with no
> problems. The advantage over Ghost is that Paragon works within Windows
> and doesn't require boot floppy.
>
> My recommendation is 3 USB drives in rotation so that one is ALLWAYS off
> site and use Ntbackup.
>
> --
> Frank McCallister SBS MVP
> COMPUMAC
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm sure many of you share my frustration with current backup
>> technology, and are looking for a better way.
>> But what's the better way?
>>
>> First, let me explain my problem:
>> My company provides IT services to small businesses.
>>
>> Our typical client has:
>> -One Windows 2000 or 2003 server (domain controller, file and print
>> server) or sometimes SBS
>> -Most have a few files that stay open at night
>> -Many have Exchange
>> -Some have SQL
>> -A few have extra servers
>>
>> Most servers have DAT drives (20/40GB or 36/72GB) or AIT, with 10 tapes
>> for 2-week rotation (1 week stored offsite,) and Backup Exec 9.1 or
>> 10.0 with the appropriate modules (for Exchange, SQL, open files,
>> remote agents etc.) Usually a full backup is performed every weeknight,
>> except for clients with a lot of data where it's full on weekends and
>> differential on other days. The servers are set up to email or FTP
>> their backup logs to a central location we monitor every morning.
>>
>> We manage about 30 such clients, and growing fast.
>>
>> Our responsibilities include checking all backup logs every morning and
>> resolving any issues, preferably remotely, or go onsite if repairs are
>> required.
>>
>> IN AN IDEAL WORLD, here is what would happen:
>> -We assign one technician to check the backup logs from those 30
>> clients.
>> -He quickly scans each log (30 seconds each) and verifies that each
>> backup is a success.
>> -In 15 minutes, he is done.
>> -Every month, we go onsite, clean the drive, run a test backup/restore.
>> -We are confident that at any time, we can restore any data files,
>> databases, or mailboxes remotely within minutes.
>> -We are confident that if a server crashes and burns, we can repair it
>> and restore all functionality within 24 hours.
>> -We are confident that if a client's server room is destroyed, there is
>> a good set of tapes offsite and we can build a replacement server and
>> reload all data, losing no more than 1 week of work.
>> -The clients are confident.
>> -We can sleep at night.
>>
>> IN THE REAL WORLD, unfortunately, here is how it goes:
>> -Our technician repeatedly finds obscure errors in the Backup Exec
>> logs, and has to remote in to attempt to fix them.
>> -Sometimes the user who was supposed to change the tape did not. We
>> have clients who cannot be educated to do this reliably.
>> -Some of the hardware is just not reliable. Sony AIT drives have been
>> giving us frequent issues with tapes getting stuck. Tapes don't last.
>> -A lot of the issues require extensive research to resolve, as there
>> are numerous bugs in Backup Exec.
>> -If our tech is lucky, he's done in about 1 hour, but there is no
>> guarantee that all backups are working 100% at that time.
>> -When we go onsite, we often have to patch or update Backup Exec,
>> usually requiring a reboot that's disruptive to the clients. This is
>> however necessary to fix major bugs. The new version usually has even
>> more bugs!
>> -The clients cannot understand why, almost every year, they have to pay
>> more money for an upgrade to their Backup Exec software.
>> -We are confident that at any time, we can restore some version of a
>> data file remotely within minutes.
>> -When it comes to SQL databases or Exchange, we're not really
>> confident.
>> -As for the prospect of a bare metal restore, we can only pray. Will it
>> really work with the various RAID configurations, dynamic disks, and
>> other non-standard partitioning schemes? More likely than not, we'll
>> have to rebuild the server from scratch, reload all software, and it
>> will be a 3-day job rather than 1 day.
>> -Offsite storage is OK for most clients except those who don't change
>> the tapes, but they have been told in writing that this is
>> irresponsible, so it's not our problem anymore. Let them lose data and
>> go out of business, they've signed it away!
>> -The clients are kind of confident (because they don't know better,)
>> but they question why the backup software costs so much and why a major
>> restore should take so long.
>> -I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat imagining a client who loses
>> critical data and cannot get it back. Hasn't happened so far, but I'm
>> nervous...
>>
>> SOME OF THE OTHER CHALLENGES WE'RE FACING...
>> -Disk capacity has outgrown tape capacity. Some of our clients have
>> large CAD files that don't fit on tape anymore. We want something that
>> scales up, and I'm not talking about swapping tapes in the middle of
>> the night.
>> -External USB hard drives are cheap, big and reliable. We're thinking
>> of going that way.
>> -Backup Exec's management of disk-based backup is horrendous and
>> counterintuitive. For instance, if the disk location is unavailable at
>> any time, the drive goes offline forever and future backups just don't
>> happen.
>> -$1,500 is about as high as most small business clients will pay for a
>> backup solution (between hardware and software) so most autoloaders are
>> out. The cost of Backup Exec already often exceeds the hardware cost,
>> and that's hard for clients to swallow.
>> -We'd like to find a "one size fits most" solution so we can
>> standardize backup procedures. This will make our internal training and
>> management easier.
>>
>> SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
>> We are thinking of dumping Backup Exec altogether. ArcServe is probably
>> worse, and Retrospect's interface is weird. So we're exploring outside
>> the box.
>> I've been looking at a product like Paragon Drive Backup, which is more
>> like a disk imaging program. It appeals to me because:
>> -It apparently works fine with open files, databases, Exchange etc. Any
>> real-world experiences about how this really works?
>> -It can supposedly do a bare metal restore on most SCSI, RAID, dynamic
>> disk configurations. This would cut downtime by many hours in a major
>> disaster. Again, any experiences?
>> -It can be used to restore individual files if desired.
>> We're thinking of combining Paragon Drive Backup (perhaps a weekly
>> backup to USB HDD) with daily backups of all data using good old
>> NTBACKUP, because it's so darn simple!
>>
>> Are we crazy or what? Do the challenges we face seem familiar? Have you
>> found a solution that really works and lets you sleep at night?
>>
>> Thanks for the input!
>>
>> Yves
>>
>
>

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP] <(E-Mail Removed)> typed:
> Software:
> SBSBackup daily, and Paragon live image scheduled weekly.

Got a link for that?

>
> Hardware:
> Mix of DDS4, DLT, USB 2. One system backs up to internal IDE
> (dedicated) weekdays, except thursday - backup is re-directed to DDS4
> for off-site. Automatically switches backup destination using method
> on Sean Daniel's blog.

Also would be nice to have a link...
>
> The DLT is the most convenient and reliable long term, but is more
> expensive than the other options.

Yep...but it's worth it. SDLT/Ultrium more often nowadays. It's expensive,
but it works.

> USB works quite well, but when a
> USB drive fails during backup, it can cause the sbs to become
> unresponsive requiring a site visit. I've seen a number of USB drives
> from various manufacurers fail shortly after a year of daily use.

Me, too. I'm not a fan for anything other than small/home offices.

>
> Disaster recovery is well documented when using SBSBackup, and works
> well. The Paragon image restore process boots from CD, and greatly
> reduces the time required for a complete system recovery.
>
> Using SBSBackup ensures you get immediate notification of a backup
> failure by email alert.
>
<snip>

Hi Lanwench

http://www.paragon.ag/hdm/corporate/...onal/index.htm

--
Frank McCallister SBS MVP
COMPUMAC
"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
<(E-Mail Removed) ahoo.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
> In news:(E-Mail Removed),
> Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP] <(E-Mail Removed)>
> typed:
>> Software:
>> SBSBackup daily, and Paragon live image scheduled weekly.
>
> Got a link for that?
>
>>
>> Hardware:
>> Mix of DDS4, DLT, USB 2. One system backs up to internal IDE
>> (dedicated) weekdays, except thursday - backup is re-directed to DDS4
>> for off-site. Automatically switches backup destination using method
>> on Sean Daniel's blog.
>
> Also would be nice to have a link...
>>
>> The DLT is the most convenient and reliable long term, but is more
>> expensive than the other options.
>
> Yep...but it's worth it. SDLT/Ultrium more often nowadays. It's expensive,
> but it works.
>
>> USB works quite well, but when a
>> USB drive fails during backup, it can cause the sbs to become
>> unresponsive requiring a site visit. I've seen a number of USB drives
>> from various manufacurers fail shortly after a year of daily use.
>
> Me, too. I'm not a fan for anything other than small/home offices.
>
>>
>> Disaster recovery is well documented when using SBSBackup, and works
>> well. The Paragon image restore process boots from CD, and greatly
>> reduces the time required for a complete system recovery.
>>
>> Using SBSBackup ensures you get immediate notification of a backup
>> failure by email alert.
>>
> <snip>
>

In news:eRz%(E-Mail Removed),
Frank McCallister SBS MVP <anonymous> typed:
> Hi Lanwench
>
> http://www.paragon.ag/hdm/corporate/...onal/index.htm
>

Thanks, Frank. I love this:

"Imagine all your hard disks living so safe! "


Not sure that I'd want to rely on this for a DC running Exchange....I tend
to be cautious with servers.
Have you tried the Acronis server imaging stuff?

Also, I strongly recommend that everyone check out www.quest.com and take a
look at Recovery Manager for Exchange (formerly Aelita's product). It is
truly fantastic, and not expensive.


>>
<snip>

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, "Frank McCallister
SBS MVP" <anonymous> says...
> I have had more problems with the tape customers than I care to talk
> about!!! The conventional wisdom is Tape. I no longer believe this. Educate
> the customer to handle the USB drives carefully and you can sleep.

If you've had more problems with tape than with external USB drives,
then one of the two is the only reason:

1) User fails to change tape on schedule
2) You bought unreliable tape system (travan)

I've never had a problem with tape on more than 400 servers across the
US, even when the user forgets to change the tape - we don't auto-eject
the tapes any more in case they forget to change it once or on a
holiday.

With external drives you run the same risk as with the internal drives,
power issues, normal always spinning faults, etc....

I should also point out that we've experienced no problems with USB
drive backups, but I trust them less due to their specific environment
and nature of the media.

--

(E-Mail Removed)
remove 999 in order to email me

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Leythos <(E-Mail Removed)> typed:
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, "Frank McCallister
> SBS MVP" <anonymous> says...
>> I have had more problems with the tape customers than I care to talk
>> about!!! The conventional wisdom is Tape. I no longer believe this.
>> Educate the customer to handle the USB drives carefully and you can
>> sleep.
>
> If you've had more problems with tape than with external USB drives,
> then one of the two is the only reason:
>
> 1) User fails to change tape on schedule
> 2) You bought unreliable tape system (travan)
>
> I've never had a problem with tape on more than 400 servers across the
> US, even when the user forgets to change the tape - we don't
> auto-eject the tapes any more in case they forget to change it once
> or on a holiday.
>
> With external drives you run the same risk as with the internal
> drives, power issues, normal always spinning faults, etc....
>
> I should also point out that we've experienced no problems with USB
> drive backups, but I trust them less due to their specific environment
> and nature of the media.

I agree w/r/t tape. I use it all the time - I just make my clients buy good
kit. Haven't had a disaster with one yet. They've saved my __ on a number of
occasions, as well.

Actually, I've been presently surprised at the speed and ease of a bare
metal restore with Paragon. The second best thing is the price - for $50 or
$100 US (depending on what version you get). Considering what you can pay
from other manufacturers for similar functionality it's huge value.

Their tech support people are accessible as well, and they only seem to have
1 level ;-).

--
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
<(E-Mail Removed) ahoo.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
> In news:eRz%(E-Mail Removed),
> Frank McCallister SBS MVP <anonymous> typed:
>> Hi Lanwench
>>
>> http://www.paragon.ag/hdm/corporate/...onal/index.htm
>>
>
> Thanks, Frank. I love this:
>
> "Imagine all your hard disks living so safe! "
>
>
> Not sure that I'd want to rely on this for a DC running Exchange....I tend
> to be cautious with servers.
> Have you tried the Acronis server imaging stuff?
>
> Also, I strongly recommend that everyone check out www.quest.com and take
> a look at Recovery Manager for Exchange (formerly Aelita's product). It is
> truly fantastic, and not expensive.
>
>
>>>
> <snip>
>

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP] <(E-Mail Removed)> typed:
> Actually, I've been presently surprised at the speed and ease of a
> bare metal restore with Paragon. The second best thing is the price -
> for $50 or $100 US (depending on what version you get). Considering
> what you can pay from other manufacturers for similar functionality
> it's huge value.
> Their tech support people are accessible as well, and they only seem
> to have 1 level ;-).

Nice. But what about online backups of Exchange, AD, whatnot?

>
>
> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
> <(E-Mail Removed) ahoo.com> wrote in
> message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>>
>> In news:eRz%(E-Mail Removed),
>> Frank McCallister SBS MVP <anonymous> typed:
>>> Hi Lanwench
>>>
>>> http://www.paragon.ag/hdm/corporate/...onal/index.htm
>>>
>>
>> Thanks, Frank. I love this:
>>
>> "Imagine all your hard disks living so safe! "
>>
>>
>> Not sure that I'd want to rely on this for a DC running
>> Exchange....I tend to be cautious with servers.
>> Have you tried the Acronis server imaging stuff?
>>
>> Also, I strongly recommend that everyone check out www.quest.com and
>> take a look at Recovery Manager for Exchange (formerly Aelita's
>> product). It is truly fantastic, and not expensive.
>>
>>
>>>>
>> <snip>