Recommendation on Server Backup Software

[richecker]

Hi,

I am looking for a recommendation on a decent server backup software. Right now, I am evaluating, novastor, acronis, and datastor, but would greatly appreciate some advice on the matter. Right now, we have 3 servers: a file server, an application server, and a domain controller. I would like to have the ability to build an image so if the domain controller ever fails, we can easily recover. Deduplication is not too important to me since we do not have that much data. We are using SQL Server, but if the application does not have integration for it, it is not too big of a deal since I can specify where the backup goes in the maintenance plan of SQL. I would also like to come in at a cheaper price point and that is why I have been leaning towards novastor, but I would love to hear what others in the field are using. Also, what kind of nas devices are you using? I have been looking at getting one of the synology devices; anybody have any thoughts on these?

Thanks,

Rich Ecker

[Reverend Jim]

Before retiring I managed two server installations (primary and backup). Each site had approx 10 (Windows) servers. We used Symantec Livestate Recovery to take daily images of all primary servers. The backup servers had identical hardware and disks and were booted into a maintenance mode whereby each day's image was restored to the paired backup server. This required a little prep work to ensure that the backup disks had the same disk signature (used HexProbe to do this). Different disk signatures would result in different drive letters being assigned on boot.

Anyway, the short answer is we had no problems with Livestate Recovery. I use Acronis for personal imaging but have never used it in a server environment.