Which software for tape backup scheduler, please?

Hi there,

I know this is slightly off-topic for the group(s), but I know quite a
few people who post around here are in a similar position to myself,
doing PC repair & maintenance work for small businesses &c.

I've recently set up a new server for a company I do some work for and
we're obviously concerned that it should be backed-up properly. The
machine was supplied with a hearty big tape-drive but a number of
back-up software packages were offered by Dell when we ordered it -
since I didn't know which to choose at the time we took none of them.

Now I find that I can do a manual backup easily using the program in
Accessories > System Tools - the tape drive is recognised & everything
works swimmingly - but using the Advanced options in the Wizard are
pretty limp. The Backup scheduler seems to make a big deal about which
tape ("Media label") is inserted and if I want to add a file or
directory to the backup I can't "edit the job" but have to delete it &
start again. I find I have to construct a different job for each day,
even if the requirements are exactly the same.

What I want is a backup program that will let me specify one set of
files to back up and will back them up at 4am each weekday. I don't want
it to care what tape is in the drive - I'll assume that the staff on
site will usually remember to change the tape, but I don't want the
backup to fail if the "Monday's tape" is in the drive and it's Tuesday.

Ideally the software will email me if it has problems - the capacity of
the tape drive far exceeds the data on the hard-drive and I'd expect it
to continue to do so for some considerable time, but I'd rather not be
caught out if I can help it.

Considering that the basic "back-up a bunch of files to tape" facility
is in Windows server itself, I'm assuming this isn't such a hard thing
to implement, but I'll bet there are backup packages out there that cost
a fortune. I don't mind paying a few quid for software of it comes well
recommended but ideally it'd be free (or Free-as-in-GPL).

Thanks in advance for any advices,

Stroller.

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:03:11 +0000, Stroller wrote:

>
> Thanks in advance for any advices,
>
> Stroller.

THe canonical choice has to be Veritas' (Symanyec's) BackupExec. It's not
cheap, but it is most usable.

--
John Kirkland

John Kirkland wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:03:11 +0000, Stroller wrote:
>
>
>>Thanks in advance for any advices,
>>
>>Stroller.
>
>
> THe canonical choice has to be Veritas' (Symanyec's) BackupExec. It's not
> cheap, but it is most usable.

Veritas is grossly OTT for the scenario - assuming a few directories of
flat files.

Which Windows server is it ? I've implemented a nightly tape backup with
NT backup via the "at" sceduling command in NT4 server. Works fine, but
doesn't tolerate the "wrong" tape in the drive.

--
...

I am not a marketing target ... I am a free man.

In article <vq2dnSEoCN-(E-Mail Removed)>,
Martin Slaney <(E-Mail Removed)_SPAMpipex.com> wrote:
>
> > THe canonical choice has to be Veritas' (Symanyec's) BackupExec. It's not
> > cheap, but it is most usable.
>
> Veritas is grossly OTT for the scenario - assuming a few directories of
> flat files.
>
> Which Windows server is it ? I've implemented a nightly tape backup with
> NT backup via the "at" sceduling command in NT4 server. Works fine, but
> doesn't tolerate the "wrong" tape in the drive.

It's Windows 2003 Small Business Server. Although I'd assumed that
software with the features I needed would have already been written by
someone else somewhere, a cron job sounds quite tempting. Wouldn't it be
possible to write the .bat file so that it formats or renames the tape
before starting, and thus ignores the "media title"?

Stroller.

In article <stroller-(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> In article <vq2dnSEoCN-(E-Mail Removed)>,
> Martin Slaney <(E-Mail Removed)_SPAMpipex.com> wrote:
> >
> > > THe canonical choice has to be Veritas' (Symanyec's) BackupExec. It's not
> > > cheap, but it is most usable.
> >
> > Veritas is grossly OTT for the scenario - assuming a few directories of
> > flat files.
> >
> > Which Windows server is it ? I've implemented a nightly tape backup with
> > NT backup via the "at" sceduling command in NT4 server. Works fine, but
> > doesn't tolerate the "wrong" tape in the drive.
>
> It's Windows 2003 Small Business Server. Although I'd assumed that
> software with the features I needed would have already been written by
> someone else somewhere, a cron job sounds quite tempting. Wouldn't it be
> possible to write the .bat file so that it formats or renames the tape
> before starting, and thus ignores the "media title"?
>
> Stroller.
>

It can definately be done with the AT scheduling - I recall writing a
batch file for it a few years back and it didnt require the correct tape
and would overwrite whatever tape was put in, so providing thats not an
issue it worked fine.

Have a look around for ntbackup unnattended mode - might just be a /u
switch but its been a long time.

m0rk wrote:
> In article <stroller-(E-Mail Removed)>,
> (E-Mail Removed) says...
>
>>In article <vq2dnSEoCN-(E-Mail Removed)>,
>> Martin Slaney <(E-Mail Removed)_SPAMpipex.com> wrote:
>>
>>>>THe canonical choice has to be Veritas' (Symanyec's) BackupExec. It's not
>>>>cheap, but it is most usable.
>>>
>>>Veritas is grossly OTT for the scenario - assuming a few directories of
>>>flat files.
>>>
>>>Which Windows server is it ? I've implemented a nightly tape backup with
>>>NT backup via the "at" sceduling command in NT4 server. Works fine, but
>>>doesn't tolerate the "wrong" tape in the drive.
>>
>>It's Windows 2003 Small Business Server. Although I'd assumed that
>>software with the features I needed would have already been written by
>>someone else somewhere, a cron job sounds quite tempting. Wouldn't it be
>>possible to write the .bat file so that it formats or renames the tape
>>before starting, and thus ignores the "media title"?
>>
>>Stroller.
>>
>
>
> It can definately be done with the AT scheduling - I recall writing a
> batch file for it a few years back and it didnt require the correct tape
> and would overwrite whatever tape was put in, so providing thats not an
> issue it worked fine.
>
> Have a look around for ntbackup unnattended mode - might just be a /u
> switch but its been a long time.

Ah - reboot brain ... I confused the "at - scheduled" scenario with
another one ... using ntbackup, you can use any tape for a backup job
(on the NT version anyway) - its Veritas etc. that insist on the whole
"media library" beauracracy.
If you like I could post my batch file and at schedule ... the syntax
should be fairly self-explanatory.

...

I am not a marketing target ... I am a free man.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Martin Slaney <(E-Mail Removed)_SPAMpipex.com> wrote:
>
> > Have a look around for ntbackup unnattended mode - might just be a /u
> > switch but its been a long time.
>
> ... using ntbackup, you can use any tape for a backup job
> (on the NT version anyway) - its Veritas etc. that insist on the whole
> "media library" beauracracy.
> If you like I could post my batch file and at schedule ... the syntax
> should be fairly self-explanatory.

I'd be extremely grateful for that. []D

Stroller.

Stroller wrote:
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
> Martin Slaney <(E-Mail Removed)_SPAMpipex.com> wrote:
>
>>>Have a look around for ntbackup unnattended mode - might just be a /u
>>>switch but its been a long time.
>>
>>... using ntbackup, you can use any tape for a backup job
>>(on the NT version anyway) - its Veritas etc. that insist on the whole
>>"media library" beauracracy.
>>If you like I could post my batch file and at schedule ... the syntax
>>should be fairly self-explanatory.
>
>
> I'd be extremely grateful for that. []D

Here ya go then ... this is the batch file :-

-------------------------------------------------------------------
ntbackup backup ds SERVER is SERVER c: d: /b /v /l"c:\bu\bu.log" /t normal

ntbackup eject
-------------------------------------------------------------------

SERVER is the machine name.

You can leave out ds and is if you don't want to back up an M$ Exchange
database. Just google up for command-line switches for ntbackup.



Now the scheduling - I can't really cut'n'paste that ...
just look up command reference for the "at" command ... it does
everything you need.

> Stroller.

Did you used to hang in SGI/Sun ng's ? Seem to remember that name/handle ...




--
...

I am not a marketing target ... I am a free man.

In MsgID<(E-Mail Removed)> within uk.comp.home-networking,
'Martin Slaney' wrote:

>You can leave out ds and is if you don't want to back up an M$ Exchange
>database. Just google up for command-line switches for ntbackup.

ntbackup -? seems to start the wizard *and* display the gui help, for the
command line switches amongst other things.

>Now the scheduling - I can't really cut'n'paste that ...
>just look up command reference for the "at" command ... it does
>everything you need.

at -? gives basic information.

Dave J.

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:03:11 +0000, Stroller <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>What I want is a backup program that will let me specify one set of
>files to back up and will back them up at 4am each weekday. I don't want
>it to care what tape is in the drive - I'll assume that the staff on
>site will usually remember to change the tape, but I don't want the
>backup to fail if the "Monday's tape" is in the drive and it's Tuesday.

Stroller.. I had a similar requirement just after Christmas for a guy
who has a small office working from home.

NTBACKUP as others have mentioned is your cheapest way to go.
You can do quite alot from the commandline with it - and then use the
Windows scheduler to invoke the command at the appropriate time.

Check this link out for the full commandline syntax:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;814583

It wont email you though.. so your best bet is to ensure you enable
logging to a file, and rather than running the ntbackup .......
directly from within scheduler - knock yourself a quick .CMD file
which runs the ntbackup, and then you could create another command to
email you the log file.

To do that, I'd recommend you use POSTIE.. it's commandline util
allows you to do SMTP/POP3 and all sorts on the command line.

You can get it from here:
http://www.infradig.com/download.shtml


So - if your log file was called c:\logs\backup.log and you wanted to
send the email to (E-Mail Removed) do something like this:

postie -host:10.10.10.1 -to:(E-Mail Removed)
-from:(E-Mail Removed) -a:c:\logs\backup.log -s:Backup
Results -nomsg

Obviously change the host to the server which is running SMTP/Exchange
or whatever, and voila - you'll get an email with the backup log
attached.


Hope that is helpful to you..


BTW - I don't know what your "arrangement" is with the customer - but
if you rely on them changing tapes etc.. watch you don't get caught
out - by them not bothering, and when the server goes down you ain't
got a tape - and they blame you for the loss of data etc...it gets
painful.
I've now learnt after 15 years in the business - don't trust your
client to do anything - and try not to support anything you ain't got
100% control of!

Not that I'm bitter or anything ;-)


All the best

Steve


stevec at chestnut *d-o-t* homeip *d-o-t* net