Important and Critical Things to Backup

Tech Info compiled by Steve

last updated 8/28/09

We need to make sure we have on-site and off-site backups of each important application server
9 17 07 ... First Class backup schedule ... 6/4/08 ... ... 6/13/08 ... 7/1/08

click here for the companion server page

For redundancy, we want to use BACKUP EXEC and also separate weekly backups of key files. We also want to authenticate the backups by doing a test and pretending we lost the originals

From Ian 8/28/09: I made a share on csfsrv07 called \\csfsrv07\DB_Backups which is where the backups for QB, Athena, RE, and Renaissance should go. The full backup of all systems which is done by backup exec will run every Friday evening. Regarding the 2 USB Terabyte Drives. One is connected to "archiveserver" and the other to "csfsrv07" ... I will set the jobs to alternate which USB drive it uses on a weekly basis so that you can alternate. You need to label one "archiveserver" and the other "csfsrv07 so you know where you should be plugging them in. I am doing it this way so that backup exec does not get confused which drive is plugged in.
Athena: ... click here for the PDF from follett ... here is overview? launch Athena ... open SYSTEM ADMIN TAB ... choose BACKUP/RESTORE ... choose BACKUP OTHER choose the DRIVE to write to ... the file is called ath.zip and is about 9 meg .. choose OVERRIDE if it is going to the same location ... the company is sagebrush with phone of 866-639-7610 or perhaps 800-533-5430 ... Storefront's follett customer # is 3106625 ("the customer # to use") ... Storefront's sagebrush # is 558335 ("extinct # from 10 years ago") ... support AT sagebrushcorp.com
From Ian 8/28/09: Athena does not have an option for automatic backup? it needs to be manually backed up to the C:\ drive of the server it is on (csfsrv07). This can be done as frequently as you see fit. I have a task scheduled nightly to copy that backup from that location to \\csfsrv07\DB_Backups so you don?t have to drag it over there manually. (I am doing this so all the backups are in one folder).
His name is Daryl. The Follett tec person said the software is 15 years ago and could "break" if we tried to copy the entire folder I spoke to the Follett/Athena rep today and he ssid the file named athena.zip is the ONE backup file that is created by the software. Steve
First Class: ... done by our First Class support company called piping.com ... they have been backing up to the USB drive but we have run into privilege issues ... moving forward, I will ask them to use one of the two terrabyte drives and then we need to move the files weekly to the USB drive that I take home
Filemaker: ... done by our programmer consultant Peter Vinogradov ... he has been backing up to the USB drive but we have run into privilege issues ... moving forward, I will ask him to use one of the two terrabyte drives and then we need to move the files weekly to the USB drive that I take home
Home Folders: ... these are critical and take up a lot of gigabytes but do not get changed that much ... some of the space in the SBergen folder can be reduced since it is old
From Ian 8/28/09: The home folders and theDB_Backups folder are being backed up by one of the jobs in backup exec. That job will run nightly.
QuickBooks: ... there is one important file that is best copied when no user is on the system ... the only 3 people who use Quickbooks are in the business office directly above the computer lab (Kathleen, Dorian, Alex)
From Ian 8/28/09: Quickbooks also does not do automatic backups. If you could have someone back it up to the server on some sort of schedule then I can set a task to copy that folder also. Or you can teach them to back it up directly to the DB_Backups folder.
Raiser's Edge Database: ... Blackbaud, Inc. 2000 Daniel Island Drive Charleston, SC 29492 Phone 1.800.468.8996 ... click here for backup info ... login = ??? ... password = ???
From Ian 8/28/09: Raiser?s Edge is automatically backing up to the \\csfsrv07\DB_Backups folder nightly.
Renaissance: ... customer # 1112337 ... 877-204-5066 ... click here for info from their Web site ... The only file essential to restoring your Renaissance Place program is the backup of the database. Our records indicate that the automatic backups were being stored in the following location: D:\Program Files\Renaissance Learning\Renaissance DatabaseRenaissanceServer.bak For restoring this backup, we strongly recommend that you make an appointment in our remote lab (if you prefer, they can handle reinstalling the application as well). To make an appointment or if you have any additional questions, please call 1-800-338-4204 and reference incident number 7968114. If you wish to speak with me personally, my extension is 5511. Carl D Hamann Technical Support Representative Renaissance Learning, Inc. ... cdhamann AT renlearn.com ... 1-800-338-4204
From Ian 8/28/09: Renaissance is automatically doing nightly backups to its install folder c:\program files\renaissance learning on csfsrv02. I have another scheduled task to copy those files to \\csfsrv07\DB_Backups nightly also.

The Backup Contest

Rubin ... backups are better than starters
Tracy ... backups are more important than chinups ... backups are the spine of hard work ... backup or backache ... backup or shut up.

Tip from Peter V

November 22, 2008 at 1:46 PM ... Checked the backup stuff. Looks like the Sharing on that E drive got turned off. Not sure, but that might occur every time you remove the drive, or perhaps only if you're swapping in a different drive. We could fiddle with it, but I think the simplest solution is to just make sure that Share is in place every time you swap drives (go to the sharing tab on the drive properties and just enable sharing. You might have to make it Full Access for domain admins as well)

Update to Sean from Steve 7/6/08

After we hung up on the phone yesterday, I cleared some more space off the TROI Client machine with IP of 192.168.1.44 ... that machine by the way is a Dell GX520 ... it contains 1 gig of ram ... it runs at 3.39 ghz ... it is running XP and has 74.4 gig hard drive ... when we started yesterday, 57.1 gig was free now 61 gig is free ... I am thinking that First Class Archive Server may taking a few gigabytes and will check with the tech people at piping.com who oversee our First Class server and use the TROI machine at .44 for First Class backup, First Class sync and as First Class Archive Server
Here are the SPECS for the last USB/firewire drive I took home to my apartment ... click ... notice that the Acronis TIB file for server 6 is 3.4 gig and for server 7 is 47.12 gig which means you have enough room!
You can download the trial versions of Acronis from www.acronis.com ... click here
I will send you the serial codes for Acronis via separate e-mail ...

We started with Acronis with Chris Frank in Sept 2007


Backup Server	CSFSRV05- 192.168.1.42	
Backup Software	Acronis True Image Enterprise Server	
Version	9.1	(serial number removed 7/1/08 sb)	

	
What was backed up?
Entire disk, all data of: 
CSFSVR1- 192.168.1.20 (soon to be turned off)
CSFSVR2- 192.168.1.21 (now dead)
CSFSVR3- 192.168.1.22 (soon to be turned off)

Schedule?
Incremental backup everyday at 12 midnight
Full backup every Sunday at 12 midnight

CSFSRV05 pulls data from all servers and makes an image to a folder on the D:\ named backup.
Backup is done to CSFSRV05 and then done to USB drive on TROI wks
Recovery is done by booting up with Acronis Recovery CD 

the data is on troi.storefrontschool.org

from first class server, we used VNC client to access the troi machine
the password for VNC authentication has 8 letters and ends in d


The problem is with writing a backup to the FW drive (on troi machine)
 is permission related. 
We can not write to it with any account we have access to. 

so he should setup up the fw drive with write permissions 
 for our use (sending files from bbs) and once done, we can check again. Thanks.

Questions?
where is the Acronis Recovery CD CSFSRV05 inside the backup folder called Recovery ISO
this is generic, so troi.net has a copy of it
need more specificity regarding times and disk sizes
is the software installed on 3 servers

There is a recovery CD
There is an ISO on the server
Each server being backedup (1,2,3) has an agent installed on it
Each server writes directly to .42 server CSFSRV05
then gets transferred to the firewire external
CSFSRV05 and CSFSRV06 is on the domain
so you can log in via the same credentials
CSFSRV05 contains true management console

note from Brian at Acronis

"Brian Strukel" on September 19, 2007 at 10:49 AM wrote:
Hey Steve,

It was good catching up with you.
As we discussed, please see below for the 4 (NFR) True Image Enterprise Server licenses
with Universal Restore. In addition, I have attached user guides to assist with your
installation and usage of the tools.? You will see that some of the licenses are the same
but do not be concerned with that because each link is unique and will allow you to install
on 4 servers.

NFR = not for resale
so we have 1 + 4 or 5 total servers

Best Regards,
Brian ... brian.strukel AT acronis.com

Acronis is a VMware Technology Alliance Partner:? http://www.vmware.com/partners/alliances/techalliances/

Notes with Erin who took over from Brian

"Erin O'Brien" on February 4, 2008 at 12:56 PM wrote:

Steve,

These license keys are legitimate...see the attached email sent by Acronis on Aug 29th....perhaps it did not get to you.

license keys removed ... sb 7/1/08

Our standard maintenance contract is for 12 months.
I do not have the authority to issue special pricing or maintenance extensions,
but am checking with a manager.

support phone number and e-mail removed ... sb 7/1/08

You can have Sean Hamilton reach out to me directly...feel free to pass along my contact info.
Thanks,
Erin

Steve,

I checked in our system and you currently have 1 paid license plus 4 NFR licenses.
The NFR licenses are fully functional but do not have any support.

For the 1 Maintenance license you own, any questions on contract extensions should go
through our maintenance rep. His name is Michael O'Brien (no relation) and he can be
reached at Michael.obrien AT acronis.com

Hope all this helps:)

Erin

Dialogue with Alexandra

Thank you for contacting Acronis! The chat operator will be with you approximately in 2 minute(s) and 8 seconds. Thank you for waiting.

You are now chatting with 'Alexandra'

Alexandra: Hello! Thank you contacting tech chat. My name is Alexandra. How can I assist you?
steve bergen: whoops
steve bergen: we were just chatting in pre-sales
steve bergen: are you doing both?
Alexandra: Yes, I'm
steve bergen: no problem
steve bergen: I own several enterprise products and paid over $1000 for them
steve bergen: I am using Acronis to backup my PC servers
steve bergen: my inquiry is to find out if I can use Acronis to IMAGE PCs
steve bergen: some people told me I had to use GHOST
steve bergen: others told me that ACRONIS will image PCS just as well as GHOST
steve bergen: can you clarify?
Alexandra: Sure, could you please describe the scenario you want to archive?
steve bergen: not archive but IMAGE
steve bergen: we run a program called Tech Saturdays in Harlem
steve bergen: we get OLD computers and want to refurbish them to be legal and contain public domain software for families
steve bergen: so we want to create one computer and the IMAGE 10 others, i.e. CLONE the one to the other 10
steve bergen: the premiere product that everyone uses is GHOST
Alexandra: I see, thank you.
steve bergen: but I want to know if what I already own can do the same job by Acronis
Alexandra: Could you please tell me your OSs?
steve bergen: we have Acronis now running on windows 2003 server but we are planning to image using Microsoft Fresh Start which is windows 2000 for the client
Alexandra: Yes you can do that with Acronis True Image Enterprise Server, but we have another product that will work for this scenario better.
steve bergen: what is that product?
steve bergen: can I send you a URL?
Alexandra: Acronis Snap Deploy 2.0 Server http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/snapdeployserver/
steve bergen: let me check it out
Alexandra: This product allows you to deploy the master image on your servers simultaneously over the network .
steve bergen: please take a look at http://www.thechildrensstorefront.org/ts/
steve bergen: what does it mean when it says "Acronis® Universal Deploy requires a separate add-on license."
steve bergen: does this mean that I have to buy a license for each PC that I image?
Alexandra: Acronis Universal Deploy is a special add-on that allows to deploy on dissimilar hardware, and you will need licenses not only for Acronis Snap Deploy 2.0 Server but also fro Acronis Universal Deploy
steve bergen: did you look at the tech saturday link?
Alexandra: Yes, that's it. According to our license policy you should purchase licenses for the number of machines where you use our software.
steve bergen: so if I image 20 old PCs to give out to poor people in Harlem, I need to buy 20 licenses? how much for each?
Alexandra: I'm afraid yes. Pricing information is available here. http://www.acronis.com/smb/
steve bergen: thanks for your time .. one more question .. can I image without buying this product? can I tell you the four products I own already?
Alexandra: Yes, sure.
steve bergen: please look at
steve bergen: http://www.thechildrensstorefront.org/tech/AcronisRegistered.pdf
Alexandra: Yes, you can do it with your product, but you won't be able to do it simultaneously, you will have to do it one by one.
steve bergen: that is fine ... can you direct me to some online info that clarifies this for me? I have a tech consultant I use to do this acronis stuff and I would like to point this out to him
Alexandra: Yes, sure.
steve bergen: thanks .. I will wait for your link or info
Alexandra: First of all you will need to create an image of the master PC with Acronis True Image Enterprise Server. It should be a full image of hard disk drive. Before creating an image it is recommended to run sysprep . You can read about this here http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/support/kb/articles/565/
Alexandra: Then you will need to create a bootable Rescue Media and boot your server you want to deploy with that CD,
Alexandra: Please note that Bootable CD should be created on the server that have Acronis True Image Enterprise Server an Acronis Universal Restore installed.
steve bergen: this is all helpful .. thanks ... but I remind you that I am not trying to clone a server, just a client machine
Alexandra: After booting with that CD you can start restoration process and when you will be prompted enter drivers for you new servers. That's all/
steve bergen: thanks for this quality help .. I will share with a consultant I use ....much appreciated
steve bergen: all set
steve bergen: thanks
steve bergen: bye
Alexandra: So what is the OS of your client machine?
steve bergen: whoops
steve bergen: the client
steve bergen: machine we are creating is Windows 2000
steve bergen: we are doing this legally
steve bergen: using what is called Microsoft Fresh Start
Alexandra: Yes, there will be no problems with this OS.
steve bergen: the link is at http://www.netl.doe.gov/business/property/Fresh%20Start%20Overview.pdf
steve bergen: okay ... great ... thanks once again for your quality help

Last revised: 7/1/08