Wombat, consider my mind blown. My eyes are now open and I think I see what you are saying. I had been separating the issues into two groups, but I had been separating them differently than you point out. I was thinking that current data and OS were one issue and historical backup of data as a different issue. Since I am still very green on this, let me get some more clarification, below.
wombat_tg :
So if I'm understanding your situation correctly, you need to keep a server running (not your desktop PC). I'm also guessing you're in a small homegrown server type environment and not a mess of racks and blades. .
You are correct. We are a simple insurance office with a single location, one server with 8 workstations. It is a simple tower server custom built by a son-in-law of one of our employees, but it very similar to a Dell PowerEdge. Nothing fancy, no racks or blades.
Let's talk data first, since data is irreplaceable and valuable. Operating systems just represent downtime.
Data backups are easy and many options exist. They all work pretty much the same way: something like rsync runs, opens an SSH tunnel and pushes the changelist to the offsite server. Most on the market are intended for desktop users but there are products for servers, and you can even make your own using rsync and SSH (it's not rocket surgery)
Security of your data should be your primary consideration when choosing a solution. It's fairly straightforward to put your backups in an .htaccess protected directory on a common webserver, but this will only foil the most casual of snoopers. You need to think (and think hard) about "how bad" things would be if your data got loose in the wild. So think about where you are actually going to put all this data and how they will handle it.
Even if you say "I am going to store it at a server in my house" that's fine. Just think about what happens if someone breaks into your house and steals the server. How is the data on it protected? How will you harden the server to external prying eyes? Just by turning it on each night long enough to get the backup from the main machine? (There are all kinds of ways to duct-tape solutions together! 😛 ) .
Yes, security of the data is a large consideration. We have access to sensitive client information that can not be available to the public. We would want encrypted backups so that in the event someone steals the backup server or hacks in from out in cyberspace, they still can't access the data.
As for your OS and avoiding downtime:
Do not mix data and the OS. Place the OS on its own drive. This means if your OS fails and your drive needs to be reformatted your data is totally unaffected. Never mix data and the OS.
RAID 1 is easy, immediate, automatic and has a 1-time cost.
Going to managed hosting somewhere that offers a SLA and max resolution time is also a good option. It does not address if a datacenter pipe goes down and you can't get to your data or there is some other external issue. Hosting your own server does avoid this. (However, hosting your own server brings with it huge security burdens, unless it's a purely intranet machine with no 'net exposure)
Use something like clonezilla or Ghost to make backups every few days or so of your boot drive. Not including the data in these backups will greatly decrease time to make them.
Our current server has RAID 1, and that has already saved us a time or two when we've had a HD crash.
SO...
Let me see if I understand you correctly. I was thinking it was important to have the two servers synced in real time to keep the OS and various programs and drivers and updates in harmony. So that when disaster strikes, all I'd have to do is replace the main server with the backup server and things would continue as if nothing happened. However, what you are saying is that I just need to do periodic syncs every few days or once a week to make sure these updates take place?
And then, the more important of the two issues is data backup and management. This needs to be done daily (nightly to prevent disruption), encrypted to prevent prying eyes, and stored offsite.
Does that pretty well sum it up? Both backups plans could be stored on an offsite server which would become the backup server if disaster strikes. IF so, that brings me to a new set of questions...
How closely does the backup server's hardware need to be to the main server's hardware? Does it need to be the exact same hardware, or can it be, say, an older generation of technology?
Do you have any recommendations for backup software? I use Crashplan for my personal computer backups, and I see they have an "Enterprise" version which claims to do pretty much the same thing only for servers. I like that Crashplan will backup to other computers, and the Enterprise version says it will backup one server to another server. That sounds exactly what I am looking for? Looks like a single license is $25 / yr. That sounds too good to be true.
Thanks for ALL your help!
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