Best backup strategy

Time Machine is brilliant. It's saved me many times.
But recently, the backup drive with a year's worth of backups, died.
I therefore lost ALL my backups.
Not a major problem as I still have my current data and having re-formatted the Time Machine drive it's merrily backing it all up again. (I just hope I don't need to recover to last week's backup ... as I no longer have it.)
But until that's finished I have NO backups! Eeek!
So what is the best backup strategy, bearing in mind drives can fail, houses can burn down, etc. Should I have two or three Time Machine backup discs and keep swapping them every day so if one dies I've still got a one-day-old version?
Making DVD backups and storing them elsewhere is very time consuming and while my data is really important to me, it defeats the object if I can get on with any work on that data as I'm constantly burning to lotsof DVDs!
Your views would be appreciated!

I pretty much do a similar thing, but my offsite backup goes to a locked cabinet in my office (easier to get to weekly to bring home and update then using a bank - I honestly cannot remember when I last physically went to my bank, its been years).
TM makes a great source for restoring single files or being able to go back to an earlier version of a file. And the clones are easier for full restoration, or even for booting from temporarily if the machines boot drive dies and you just want to get in to deauthorize it before sending in for repairs or such. Always good to have a bootable clone around, for many reasons.
My external clones are on firewire 800 bus powered portable drives, again for simplicity (no power cables or bricks to go with them).
I also still burn to optical disc for specific things like filed tax returns, and other financial documents I need to keep around in the fire safe for some period of time.

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FCP X 10.1 Best Backup Strategy

We have a great backup strategy in FCP 10.0.x utilising offsite backups of each SD card via Camera Archives and Carbon Copy Cloner. We then backup up our Final Cut Projects and Final Cut Events folders - but excluded the 'Transcoded Media' folder as that was the biggy and we could re transcode media if things turned pear shaped. We also excluded the 'Render Files' and 'Analysis Files' for the same reason - quick to rebuild. We run 2 edit suites with 8TB Promise R4 drives and and even with these at 75% full of all our media we could at the end of the day (or during the day) create a backup via Carbon Copy Cloner with the above exceptions very fast to an external Thunderbolt drive to take offsite each day - easy and fast! I'm talking a couple of minutes tops to achieve a very complete offsite backup that if needed can work with the offsite backup of our camera archives and we could 'rebuild' any edit within a few hours - we've tested and provides great peace of mind... But now what with this packaged library structure. Is something like this still possible anyone?

Hi nzglen,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
The Managing Media with Final Cut Pro X Libraries white paper (PDF) at http://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/docs/Media_Management.pdf covers strategies for backing up libraries and media.
I hope this information helps ....
Happy Holidays!
- Judy

Best practice PDW database backup strategy/plan

Hello All,
We are ready with PDW infra , appliance is almost ready. we are planning for implementation.
but before that , I have to document best practice for PDW database backup strategy/plan.
since PDW environment is pretty new . Please help me with best backup strategy/plan which can
be followed to implement in my proposed PDW solution.
your suggestions will be highly appreciated.
Regards,
Anish.S
Asandeen

Hi Anish.S,
According to your description, you want to backup SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) database.
Before we get to the backup and restore syntax, it’s worth noting that the Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) appliance architecture offers an environment that greatly enhances backup times (due to dedicated storage and network interfaces, see the following post
for more information -
https://saldeloera.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/lesson-1-of-parallel-data-warehouse-basic-architecture-overview/).
For more details how to backup and restore database on PDW, please refer to the following blog:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/useful-information-and-case-studies-covering-data-warehousing-data-modeling-and-business-intelligence/2012/10/04/parallel-data-warehouse-pdw-how-to-using-backup-and-restore-database-on-pdw/
Thanks,
Katherine Xiong
Katherine Xiong
TechNet Community Support

What is the best backup plan for Archive Databases in Exchange 2013?

Hi,
We have Exchange 2013 with Hybrid setup with O365.
We have On premise exchange 2013 servers with 3 copies of primary Database & Single Copy of Archival DBs.
Now we have to frame backup policy with Symantec Backup Exec which has to backup our primary & Archival DBs
In 2007 exchange, before migration to 2013, we had policy of DBs - Weekly Full backup & Monthly Full Backup
Please suggest what would be the best possible backup strategy we can follow with 2013 DBs.
That too, especially for Archiving DBs
Our Archiving Policy are - 3 category - Any emails older than 6 month OR 1 Year OR 2 Year should go to Archive mailbox.
Keeping this in mind how to design the backup policy ?
Manju Gowda

Hi Manju,
you do not find best practice different from the common backup guidelines, as there is no archive db specific behaviour. Your users may move items to their archive at any time as well as your retention policies may move items that machted the retention policies
at any time. The result is frequently changing content to both, mailbox and archive mailbox databases, so you need to backup both the same way. You also may handle archives together with mailboxes together in the mailbox db
Please keep in mind that backup usually means data availability in case of system failure. So you may consider to do a less frequent backup with your archive db with dependency to the "keep deleted items" (/mailboxes) setting on your mailbox database.
Example:
keep deleted items: 30 days
backup of archive db: every 14 days
restore procedure:
* restore archive DB content
* add difference from recover deleted items (or Backup Exec single item recovery) for the missing 14 days.
So it depends more on your process than on a backup principle.
Regards,
Martin

Best Practices: What is a best backup plan on BO 4.0

Hi Experts!
I work with BO since 2007. I worked a lot with BO XI 3.1 and now with BI 4.0. I always have a question about the way to make a backup: What is a best backup plan on BO 4.0.
I know de many way to do this, but how I'm a consultant developer and backup usually is not my responsibility, but always I have to advise my clients and users.
The little summary of ways I know on BI 4.0:
- Stop the services and do a backup of repository database and FileStore folder (eventually include the TomCat folder and others BO installation folders)
- Create a job on LCM and a schedule to export a LCMBIAR file
- Use the Upgrade Management Tool to generate a BIAR file by the command line
I found that interesting post of Raphael Branger, but his the best option is to use the 360View, but that software I don't know, and the clients usually want to use the SAP solutions, so the preference is use the BO's way to make backup.
Backup & Recovery in BO 4.0
Note: I agree with Raphael about the old Import Wizard, I don't know why Upgrade Management Tool don't allow to import a biar file that same version of target. It is terrible.
Let me make a the big question: What is a best backup plan on BO 4.0?
I know that this depends of the environment and the many variables, but let us consider the general environment, the standard installation.
Thanks everybody!

Thanks Mrinal and Ajay,
On my experience I always use the full-backup: repository database backup + filestore folder backup (usually I recommend include BO folder installation and TomCat folder too because the custom configurations). That backup is essential, is basic.
But this backup is not flexible.The usual problems on BO's production enviroment is accidental deletion of some reports or objects of BO. Since BO XI R2 I used the "Import Wizard" to generate BIAR files by the command line, I usually create a BAT file with command line to create thats files, however BO 4 Import Wizard was died, now exists "Upgrade Management Tool", but I can create BIAR files by the command line too. Let's suppose a case that the BO user has deleted a report and that user did notified that deletion after 1 month. We don't need to restore all objects of the full-backup of 1 month ago, with BIAR files, we can restore only that report. Thats is the advantage of using BIAR files.
So, my strategy is use the full-backup (repository database + BO installation folder) and create BIAR files.
What do you think about the backup by generating BIAR files?

Long-term retention backup strategy for Oracle 10g

Hello,
I need design a Archivelog, Level 0 and Level 1 long-term retention backup strategy for Oracle 10g, It must be based in Rman with tapes.
¿Somebody could tell me what it's the best option to configure long-term retention backups in Oracle?, "CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO RECOVERY WINDOW OF 1825 DAYS;" It's posibble ?
Regards and thanks in advance

Hello;
RECOVERY WINDOW is an integer so yes its possible. Does it make sense?
Later My bad, this is Oracle 11 only ( the gavinsoorma link ) . Getting harder and harder to think about 10. Don't think I would use RECOVERY WINDOW.
I would let the tape backup system handle the retention of your rman backups.
Using crosscheck and delete expired commands you can keep the catalog current with the available backups on tape.
Oracle 10
Keeping a Long-Term Backup: Example
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/backup.102/b14191/rcmbackp.htm#i1006840
http://web.njit.edu/info/oracle/DOC/backup.102/b14191/advmaint005.htm
Oracle 11
If you want to keep 5 years worth of backups I might just use KEEP specific date using the UNTIL TIME clause :
keep until time 'sysdate+1825'More info :
RMAN KEEP FOREVER, KEEP UNTIL TIME and FORCE commands
http://gavinsoorma.com/2010/04/rman-keep-forever-keep-until-time-and-force-commands/
Best Regards
mseberg
Edited by: mseberg on Dec 4, 2012 7:20 AM

Need help with backup strategy

So my 2 TB backup drive failed this morning. I'm using a Seagate drive in an OWC external enclosure. I plugged it in and the drive didn't pop-up on the desktop, nor is it visible in Disk Utility.
I know that all drives eventually fail, but it seems like I've had more than my fair share of problems lately. This is of course making me think hard about my backup strategy. Here's what I'm doing now - I'd appreciate your thoughts on how to make it even more "bulletproof".
> TimeMachine back-up of boot drive and media drive (with photos, documents, movies, etc.)
> External clone of boot drive and media drive (on two partitions) - this is the one that failed
I suppose I could add a third external clone for redundancy, but an offsite backup would probably be even better. Not quite sure what the best option is there, though. Any ideas?

I too love automation. However, an automated backup requires the backup drive to be always connected (and maybe powered) in order to perform the backup. Also, the computer you speak of must remain on (by the sounds of it) 24/7 in order to do a nightly back up at midnight.
First of all, it probably is not the best to leave your puter on 24/7. I won't go into all the OS reasons why. But here are 2 other reasons to think about:
1) Your internal HD will always be powered, bad on drives
2) You are constantly using power to run your system. Not good for your power bill or the greater environment
As for the always connected Backup HD- I only connect, and power on my backup when I go to do a backup. This leaves it disconnected in case of virus infection. And powered down/disconnected removes some of the risk of damage from power surges/spikes (yes I use a UPS, but these can/have failed)
So to sum up: I back up everyday. What I do is after I am done working in LR for the day I shut it down, and than start it back up (ugh) so that I can back up my Library with all the work I just did (wish Adobe would do a back up upon closing!!!)
Than I close down LR AGAIN..... Than I connect my Back up HD. Via usb, once connected it automatically powers up and fires up the back up software. All I do is hit start. Since this is an incremental back up it only takes a short while. I go use the "John" grab a drink, and come back unplug the Back up HD, and turn off the system for the day.

Backup strategy in FRA

Hi Experts,
BANNER
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.1.0.6.0 - 64bit Production
PL/SQL Release 11.1.0.6.0 - Production
CORE 11.1.0.6.0 Production
TNS for HPUX: Version 11.1.0.6.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 11.1.0.6.0 - ProductionI would like to ask some advice to place my backup in FRA.
I read in a book that it is adviced not to put the archivelog backup in the FRA since if something happen with the disk that store FRA, everything will be gone. However the concept of FRA is a centralized backup logically.
so based on your experiences, what is the best way to utilize FRA for backup strategy?
is it safe to put everything in FRA or we should still split the backup for archivelog to different location?
thanks

The idea is that you should never have a single copy of your backup anyways, be it of whatever file type. Its true that the FRA gone would lead to the non-availability of the backups but then , you should had pushed your backups from it to the tape drive eventually to safeguard them. So there wont' be an harm in putting the backup in the FRA as long as you multiplex the backup and keep it on some another location as well.
HTH
Aman....

Backup strategy for ebs R12?

Hi,
I have a couple of questions regarding to backup strategy for ebs R12.
Let's say that we have one application server and one database server running, and we would like to have a backup periodically for both servers.
This means that we want to have the exactly same backup of configurations and other files for the application server and the database server in case of any fatal crashes in the servers.
I went through some discussion threads and it seems common way is to use RMAN for the data of database and file system copy for application and database servers. But, I would like to know what's the best way or recommended way for the backup strategy for data and server files of Oracle e-business suite.
Do you guys have any suggestion for this?
Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
SH

Hi SH;
I suggest check first our previous discussion
backup and recovery startegy for EBS
Re: Backup System
Backup Policy for EBS can
If you make search you can find many other thread which is mention same question
For your issue basicly what we do
1. For our prod db, if possible we take weekly cold backup(sunday) and take rman backup also daily(full backup, but it depends system you can prefer to take incremental)
2. For our system we take file system backup weekly(OS base)
3. For application we take backup every sunday(for some system 15 days or 30 days period). The most important point here if your system prod, and if you need to apply patch to your system you need to have valid backup and also need backup for after patching
One other important issue is we run preclone sh before take backup for apps and db tier
Regard
Helios

SMD Diagnostics Agent Backup Strategy?

Posting this question here as well as the Solution Manager forum since we're running SAP on the iSeries.
My organization has just started deploying SMD agents across our SAP landscape and we're considering how this new component (the agent) fits in our backup strategy. Should the agents even be included in our periods backups? They're small, easy to reinstall if necessary, and don't store any data, but would have to be re-registered. Any other backup consideration? We're interested in how other organizations have dealt with this question, thanks for your input!
Robert Garst
Perrigo SAP Basis Team

Hi Robert,
as you already supposed I wouldn't include SMD agents in the backup strategy since they are little and don't store data. What's important is the central Solution Manager System itself. There the data reported by SMD agents is used and stored.
Best regards,
Christoph

IPhoto file and backup strategy

I am new to iPhoto in last 9 months, but before I get in too deep, would love some advice about how I am structuring the library and about my backup strategy.
Spent many years on Windows where I would use a typical file Windows file structure. Broke my pics down into years, then events, then pics. Some pictures I would rename "Ella Bday 2006" and others are simply "jpeg-10006". When I moved to the Mac, I've started to use events "Ella Bday 2008" or else "Jan-Mar 2009". I've read that many prefer to create albums and not rely so much on the events. I am not there yet, but that's my next goal.
My questions are multiple. First, what is the best way to backup all this data so that if I crash, I can easily recreate? I backup the windows files in the same file structure as they existed on my HD, but with photos, events, albums, etc I am not sure the best way on the Mac.
I did import all the windows pics into iPhoto -- so now I have a single app for all photos dating back to 2004. I am not using Time Machine (remember I am a newbie) at the moment, and my initial plan is to back up each year to a separate DVD for off-site storage. Once this is done, I will look for a more permanent and recurring backup strategy - Time Machine I suppose - that will use an external HD.
Sorry if my post is convoluted, or if my questions are ignorant, but I was a lifetime Windows guy who is just exploring all the features/functions of Mac -- so any advice or redirection would be fantastic!
Thanks in advance

First, what is the best way to backup all this data so that if I crash, I can easily recreate?
Make a copy of the iPhoto Library in your Pictures Folder. That gets all the photos and database files which contain your organisation.
If you want to burn a copy of the Library to DVD use the Share => Burn command.
FWIW here's my back up system. I used to use DVDs but it was too tedious and a bit expensive too. Remember, if you burn, say 2005 to DVD ths year, you will be burning it again in a couple of years as DVDs to degrade over time.
My Library lives on my iMac.It’s Backed up to two external hard disks every day. These disks are permanently attached to the iMac. These back ups run automatically. One is done by Time Machine, one is a bootable back up done by SuperDuper
It’s also backed up to a portable hard disk when ever new photos are added. This hard disk lives in my car. For security, this disk is password protected. For this job I use DejaVu because it makes a simple back up that is clear and can be tested easily without doing an full restore.
I have a second off-site back up at a relative’s house across town. That’s updated every 3 or 4 months.
My Photos are backed up online. Personally I use SmugMug but there are many options including flickr. However, check the terms of your account carefully. While most sites have free uploading, you will often find that these uploads are limited in terms of the file size, or the bandwidth you can use per month. For access that allows you to upload full size pics with no restrictions you will need to pay.
Every couple of months I test the back ups to make sure they are working correctly. It’s very easy to mis-configure a back up application, and the only way to protect against that is to do a restore.
Regards
TD

Database backup strategy(MS sql server 2005, Winodws 2003, SAP ECC 6.00)

Hello gurus,
    I am confused, about the backup system i should go for(backup device, abckup software)?? Fllowing is my SAP Landscape.
1) IDES
2) Solution manager
3) Development
4) BIW
no of users 25 max
modules implemented
MM
HR
FICO
BIW
<b>    I want to implemente before go live, backup system in my company.</b>
We have received backup schedule from our implementation partner. Our backup system is as follows.
Backup device is HP Surestore Autoloader.
Cartridge capacity is 100/200GB
Backup software is Veritas (version 8.6)
Note: Through this we take backup of our legacy system and it takes around 3 1/2 hour to 4 hours to take backup of 60 GB of our legacy data.
     Right now the problem is our backup software version is old and i even believe, the hardware we have is not sufficient to take daily database backup and fortnightly, SAP system backup.
    The only solution to the problem i can see is
1) to go for another backup device exclusively for SAP system
2) Even go for SQL Agent software used to take backup of SAP system thorugh Veritas.
3) Even upgrade my Veritas version.
<b>   Its a request to GURUS</b>
1) Is the solution, i am thinking to this issue is correct.?? If no then please advice me
2) Please tell me the best backup system in your opinion for my above mentioned system.
Thanks Gurus
Rahul

Hello,
A indication of the size of each database would be helpful.
However, its NOT a good idea to take only one on line backup a week. What if you have a tape error and cant recover a TL? You have no chance for recovery. This is not best practice. Can the business except a 4,5 or even 6 days loss of data - id guess not.
This is what id do if you don't want to purchase a new device, I would take an online backups from SQL to disk every night - this would be a separate disk! From the disk you can the pick up the backup to take at a time to suit that wont impact the existing backup. Plus you always have two copies of the backup. One on disk, one on tape.
My normal transaction log strategy is similar, again backup to disk, every hour on a production system. Then after midnight move the existing 24 logs into an archive folder. This folder would also be picked up by the existing device at a suitable time before being moved to a 'saved' folder and deleted the next day. Again you always have multiple copies of the data. two on disk, two on tape.

Defining a backup strategy

Hello all,
I have to help someone to implement a backup strategy on a database.
Before defining the backup strategy I'm doing a document with some questions that the clients needs to answer, so I can recommend the most adequate backup strategy.
I will leave here the questions that I think are useful to ask. Please help me out with this by correcting or adding or discussing questions:
Questions to the client:
- What type of database do you have (data warehouse, transactional,...)?
- Whats the size of the database and what is the expected growth per month/ year ?
- How much information is inserted/updated into the database per day/month?
- What type of backups do you need? daily? weekly? ...
- What MTTR (mean time to recover/repair) do you need for the database?
- How will the backups be done? to the hard drive? to tape? ....
- Do you have a backup agent? If so, witch one do you have? Does the agent has its own scripts or do we need to create them ourself.
- Does the database works 24x7, or can it have any downtime for backup?
I really apreciate you help.

A good start point is the reading of Best Practices for Oracle Database 10g Backup and Recovery which discuss against three important questions :
• How quickly should recovery complete for a datafile, tablespace, and database?
• What is the tolerance for data loss?
• How far back should backups be kept to satisfy the data retention policy?
Nicolas.

Good backup strategy for a mailserver?

Hi,
What would be a good backup strategy for a mailserver and what software would you use. I've got Retrospect right now ...
Thanks a lot.
Jerome

Yeah, ptero, I know. I'm using mailbfr and it seems to work quite fine.
I didn't express myself clearly in this thread, I was in fact looking for the best way to backup a whole MacOS X Server whose primary function is being a mailserver.
I'm backing up the mailbfr via Retrospect on another server, and I'm using Carbon Copy Cloner from time to time to make an image of the whole server. But is that a good idea? I've got a neat program on my Windows servers which makes 'continuous' incremental images of the whole disk while the servers are being used. Is there anything like that for Mac? Or how do you back up the system configuration of your Mac servers?
But perhaps this is the wrong subforum to ask questions like this?
Thanks alot anyway!

Time Capsule backup strategy for multiple drives and OS

I'd like a backup strategy based on Time Capsule but have a few twists from a straightforward situation and would appreciate any guidance with setting it up. My hardware situation is:
- Two MacBooks, on 10.5, one with an 80 gb drive, the other with a 120 gb drive.
- One G4 iMac, on 10.4, with a 60 gb drive
- One LaCie NAS drive, used primarily as the storage space for music and video, and currently not backed up anywhere (making me nervous!)
Ideally I'd like each of these four units to be backed up on Time Capsule; and my configuration questions are in two areas:
1) Backup software: I'll use Time Machine to backup the MacBooks, but not sure about the G4 and NAS drive. These could be backed up on a more ad hoc basis (I don't need hourly updates). Is this best handled with a third party app like SuperDuper to allow for incremental backups?
2) Partition/disk image: is it wise (or indeed necessary) to create partitions for each of the above sources (I gather from reading other posts is seems the best way to achieve a partition is to create a disk image). I'm not sure if there would be any unintended consequences by doing so (or not),and if so if a sparse image disk image is better than a sparse bundle disk image given the above, so any guidance to help make sure it's set up as flexibly as possible from the outset would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

G'day Michael,
Sounds like it is time to buy OS X Server!!!!
I think you are on the right track. As a "left field" suggestion, why not get two big drives, and use one of them as a file server. Get everyone to use the file server for any critical documents that they want backed up centrally/continuously. Then back the file server system up onto the other big drive using TM.
This reduces administration somewhat, and privacy can be retained with careful username management across the network.
Assuming that the three MacBooks are similarly configured from a system perspective, there is not a lot of point in having full bootable clone's of each one. Perhaps create a bootable clone from one of them each week - and clone the other two into disk images (which are not bootable, but are restorable) as frequently as needed.
Cheers,
Rodney

Best backup strategy

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