Posts made by BRRABill

Hey ... putting a work in asterisks makes it italics! YAY

@scottalanmiller said:

Most do, any home user can have one.

I meant they don't have a backup server around.

Hence a temporary VM would be helpful.

@Jason said:

Very few SMBs don't have servers, if they don't they are more in the SOHO market than SMB, escpially if Best buy is someone you'd buy from.

I forgot server licensing is different with this.

Have to get back to that! LOL.

@Jason said:

How much does power cost, Cooling, HA, Battery backups, WAN connections etc. Those all go into AWS costs which that $500 does not include.

And you still need a local PC to access it.

I just don;t get it...

@Jason said:

Why not just leave it at this?

Good point.

Though I'd love to be able to spin up the image here and there to be sure it is bootable. Datto does that daily. Apparently that isn't legal.

Also, most SMBs do not have servers just sitting around, and it's not like you can run out to Besy Buy and get one.

@Jason said:

It's not as seemless as you are making it sound. In theory its nice, but in practice it's not going to go that well.

Agreed.

I would think I'd tell people ... hey, the machine is up for emergencies (server or desktop) and I'll get the real machine up pronto.

BTW: I looked at the pricing for AWS.

$35 a month for standard? What is the business justification for that considering you can buy a PC for $500 that lasts for 3+ years?

I love the concept but don't get the pricing.

@Jason said:

Also if you fail over from the desktops to something else and then restore the desktop you have to handle the changes made while you restore the backups somehow. Since you have no file server the files on each desktop will be changing.

With these pieces of software (Datto and ShadowPrtoect) the VM continues to do backups. When you are ready with the new BMR machines, it merges the changes and you are back up and running.

This is limited use, though, and ONLY if the primary machine this is a mirrored backup of is not running. AKA the two machines are never running at the same time. This isn't running two VMs off one license. It is using a disaster recovery backup only if the initial machine goes down.

This client (friend) called me because he was sold on this concept by a company that sells this service. (Datto.) It sounds awesome. It IS awesome. Except apparently to the detriment of everyone involved but Microsoft it's not legal.

I understand this is Microsoft's product and they can do what they want. And this is why many people switch to something else, but sheesh.

@scottalanmiller said:

Okay, so you meant going to "bring your own device" as a failover - going to somthing outside of the IT's dominion.

It's how small companies roll for the most part. At least the ones I deal with. Not saying it is right. Just saying it is.

Even the 1 person company thinks they need to be up 24/7.

They don't. it's ridiculous. But that's how they think.

I think we've broken away from my original 5 person company question.

I am defending the theory of why image backups with real-time spinup of a VM is a viable backup strategy for a small business.

You asked about computers. Everyone has a computer at home, the library, whatever. It could work until I rebuilt their systems.

To be honest, I'm not sure what direction to go in this thread any more, LOL. Too many smart people on here!

Say Monday morning hits and they were robbed over the weekend. All 5 employees could be up and running at 9:15.

@scottalanmiller said:

That only works if they have another desktop to work from, though. And if they do, theoretically you are ready to restore.

I'd take them a laptop while I commandeered a new system for them. Or fixed the old one.

Or also this would be great if their place burned down or all machines got stolen

@scottalanmiller said:

If you have five desktops, and one dies, and you spin one up as VDI in a cloud.... how do you access it?

Originally I thought about using a Datto device in there. The entry level device I was thinking of does not have ability to spin up a local VM ... only in the cloud. But withiin minutes I would have a exact copy of their machine in the cloud. You can access it through the Datto device using the same IP if the local device is still there. (Wouldn't be, say, in the case of a total disaster.) This is great if the local desktop is sharing files. Or you could access it anywhere online using the IP they give you and RDP.

So in tax season, the client could keep rolling while you fixed their machine. Run out to Best Buy, buy a new machine, and do a BMR. They are down for only minutes.

The issue with this (aside from apparent licensing issues) is cost. Their rates for 7 year retention are insance. You export an image every month, but that is a lot of manual work. That's what originally brought me to this thread. To find a better way of doing this.

I know, I know. Write my own desktop OS and license it.

In a perfect world though, this technology would be awesome.

The selling point of something like Datto is that is a key system goes down, I can spin up a virtual copy of it (either locally or in the cloud in a real disaster) and my users won't even know the difference.

I'm not asking to pirate the software. I'm asking to put a virtual representation of the system I've already licensed on the network until I get the original server fixed. To be honest, I feel it's complete BS that is prohibited. (For desktops.) We'll get to the servers later.

Again, not arguing, just trying to get my facts straight before going back to our vendors.

It seems to me they are doing exactly what you say. Making a lot of money selling a product that isn't legal to be used.

@scottalanmiller said:

It would never have occurred to me that someone would even try this

But as I said, almost every desktop backup product that does block level or image based backups touts this as a feature.

That's why I know about it. We moved from the world of tape into the likes of this kind of abckups, most of who offer desktop options.

@scottalanmiller said:

Which one of these is a desktop backup product? All of the ones that you were mentioning were server products that just don't stop you from using them on desktops, right?

Every one was the desktop version of their product.

For example, here is StorageCraft:
https://www.storagecraft.com/products/shadowprotect-desktop-backup