Backup and Recovery Goals
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@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender said:
Assuming you're running StorageCraft on that same backup server, you won't have enough storage to keep four full system backups and the backups from StorageCraft (I think you said hourly for 3 days) on that same box.
For the Storage Craft operations (and I know I said complete rebuild at the top here) but I'm still going to try and push for reusing what we have.
Worst case add another server for hourly to backup too.
I'm guessing that the Windows 2008 Server you have today would be more than up to the task.
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@Dashrender said:
@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender said:
Assuming you're running StorageCraft on that same backup server, you won't have enough storage to keep four full system backups and the backups from StorageCraft (I think you said hourly for 3 days) on that same box.
For the Storage Craft operations (and I know I said complete rebuild at the top here) but I'm still going to try and push for reusing what we have.
Worst case add another server for hourly to backup too.
I'm guessing that the Windows 2008 Server you have today would be more than up to the task.
That's what I was thinking, throw some drives in it. RAID6 on that as its the incremental backup device (in my head) and be done with it.
With the above proposal we'd have a really good setup for the future.
Can anyone else punch some holes into the above?
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@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender said:
I assume this means that the to production servers will replication between each other for failover?
Have you talked to Xbyte about what they can get you for pricing?
Why the RAID 10 on the backup server? If you don't need the performance, perhaps RAID 6 would work, that is assuming RAID 6 provides enough IOPs to get the backkup jobs done.
I haven't spoken with xbyte, all prices are list from their site, yes they were removed on purpose.
At the scale of the backup operation RAID 10 throughput only seems logical. Whereas with RAID6 there is no Write-Speed gain at all. Being 7200 RPM Spinners, write speed is an important part. We really want to reduce how long our backups take. RAID5 which is what we're on now, has no Write-Speed gain either.
So backing up takes a while to complete. Trying to improve on that.
Sure, but we discussed this in the other thread - your performance issues with regards to how long it takes to backup have nothing (or little) to do with your drive setup, and everything to do with your network setup.
Backing up 6 TB of data over 1 GigE = 6,000,000 MB / 100 MB/s = 60,000 seconds = 1000 mins = 16.67 hours. You were at 24 hours, and we know that data had to travel both directions for several sections of your network before it hit the storage, so this accounts for the additional time required for your backups.Reducing the network congestion alone will save save you around 8 hours. Going to a bonded pair of GigE will cut it nearly in half from there, Going 10 GigE, well Scott already told us would take you to around 2 hours. Though getting to that 2 hour mark might actually put a strain on your disk resources - but I don't know that for sure.
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@Dashrender On the above proposal I have additional NICs included on the servers for bonded pairs.
Since is makes sense to do, and the jump in improvement is noticeable that is what I am planning.
That or using the 10Gb NICS on the servers, and a 10GB switch for this purpose. It's not on the writeup above as I forgot to research it. I'll do that now.
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Also, what a new R720xd for your backup server? I'd go with a gen or two old machine for that. It doesn't need processing power. Does it really need 16 GB of RAM?
Correct me if I'm wrong, the backup server is nothing more than a SAMSD. Pure simple storage. If you could buy a NAS for less, it would be worth it, but at this size you probably can't, so getting a several generation old server with enough storage should be fine.
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@Dashrender What server are you thinking? I was considering the R510 to save on the upfront cost.
16 GB of RAM was the minimum.
Any recommendation otherwise?
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@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender What server are you thinking? I was considering the R510 to save on the upfront cost.
16 GB of RAM was the minimum.
Any recommendation otherwise?
I know nothing about Dell servers - Frankly I'll call Xbyte and find the cheapest server that has enough storage slots for you. You don't need processing power, so the cheaper the better, as long as it's still an enterprise class machine. Next is the question of warranty, do you need/want it on the backup server? Considering you're buying an older machine I don't know what options you'll have.
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I want warranty on everything we're buying. Since we're planning on using the servers for the next several years I certainly don't want it to go down in a year and have to buy another server because we opted out of the warranty.
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I still question the need for two production servers. You have a 1 day RTO, doubling the cost of your production servers seems like an over spend to me. The only gain you get is if you have a server failure. But you have the additional cooling/heating costs, power costs, possible 10 GigE ports costs, etc.
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@DustinB3403 said:
I want warranty on everything we're buying. Since we're planning on using the servers for the next several years I certainly don't want it to go down in a year and have to buy another server because we opted out of the warranty.
OH I wouldn't opt out for sure, just didn't know if the older servers would even offer one?
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xByte Offers it directly from everything that I've seen on their site.
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yeah, xbyte is spectacular. talk with @BradfromxByte that's my dude right there
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I wonder if it's possible to backup directly yo tape from XenServer. . .
Has anyone done this before?
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@DustinB3403 said:
I wonder if it's possible to backup directly yo tape from XenServer. . .
Has anyone done this before?
Have not tried it. By "directly", do you mean just dumping a tar to tape? Can be done. Or do you want to do it with StorageCraft or Unitrends?
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@DustinB3403 said:
xByte Offers it directly from everything that I've seen on their site.
Yes they do.
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@scottalanmiller I was thinking live from the systems at backup time. Direct to the tape, bypassing onsite storage. (completely dumping it) and just go straight to tape.
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@DustinB3403 said:
I want warranty on everything we're buying. Since we're planning on using the servers for the next several years I certainly don't want it to go down in a year and have to buy another server because we opted out of the warranty.
Although that might make more business sense. Run the numbers.
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@DustinB3403 said:
@scottalanmiller I was thinking live from the systems at backup time. Direct to the tape, bypassing onsite storage. (completely dumping it) and just go straight to tape.
That will destroy your tapes. "All" backup to tape has to be staged first.
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@Dashrender said:
I still question the need for two production servers. You have a 1 day RTO, doubling the cost of your production servers seems like an over spend to me. The only gain you get is if you have a server failure. But you have the additional cooling/heating costs, power costs, possible 10 GigE ports costs, etc.
This is a very important consideration. Going to dual servers is a big expense.
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So it has to go to a local storage first, then to tape.
Kind of what I was reading, just putting thoughts out there.
