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Prior to the New IT departments arrival backups in SAU
33 were being done in 4 different
locations. This required 4
different people to insure that files
were being "backed-up" properly.
In addition, the backup software we were
using was over 3 major upgrades old.
Moreover, the district had a
VPN
in place but was hardly using it for
inter-location communication.
Realizing all the short falls of the old system the IT
department designed a new, enterprise
level backup solution which includes a
new centralized backup server with over
2
Terabytes
of hard drive space, a quad-core
processor and a Raid 5 hard drive array.
In addition the new server also has it's
own tape backup with enough capacity to
back up the contents of the new server.
This can be very confusing to understand
so lets break things down as to the
general principle of our new backup
operation.
1. PROBLEM:
There are over 14 Servers throughout the
entire district. What is the best
method of backing all this data up?
ANSWER:
Centralize all backups to one "Monster"
server with enough hard drive space to
save the information from ALL 14
servers.
2. PROBLEM:
Since all the servers are scattered
throughout the district how does one get
all that information efficiently over to
the new centralized server?
ANSWER:
Utilize the secure Internet connection
between all locations to transmit all
data.
3. PROBLEM:
The data for 14 server is massive, how
can one backup all that information
quickly?
ANSWER:
Each night a series of backups will take
place after hours when there is little
or no use on the schools Internet
connection. For example: On Monday
nights backup the servers at the high
School between the hours of 6pm-8pm,
then backup the servers at the SAU from
8pm-10pm, etc...
4. PROBLEM:
Backing up the individual data is one
thing, but what if a server dies/stops
functioning? Since server
configurations are unique won't it take
you a long time to rebuild a server
before you can restore saved data?
ANSWER: The
best solution is to have a "bare-metal
restore" backup made of each server.
Our new system will make a
complete backup of each servers unique
build that can be restored on ANY server
in a matter of 1 hour. NOTE: This
solution is a totally NEW option brought
into the district and insures an
additional level of safety.
5. PROBLEM:
Tapes can fail and are not reliable, why
use them?
ANSWER:
The primary back solution is to save all
information on the HARD DRIVE of the new
server. The RAID 5 hard drive
array in the server provides an
ultra-safe and ultra-fast save/restore
option. We will only be using a
tape backup on the "monster server" to
give us another level of offsite
protection in the event that the main
backup server is destroyed. (VERY
UNLIKELY)
6. PROBLEM:
The old system had 4 people doing
backups... how many are doing them with
this new system?
ANSWER:
NONE! The "Monster Server" is
programmed to backup each night.
In the event that a backup fails, for
whatever reason, the technology director
will receive an email alert explaining
the nature of the problem.
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