Quick Start Guide.

Transcription

1 Quick Start Guide Sales enquiries: Support enquiries: Table of Contents 1 Introduction Installation and Configuration Wizard Recommended configuration Backup scheme selection Backup settings feature Backup user identity What should I do after configuration? Perform a test Review the backup and times Purchase media, and label your media pool Receive backup report s Running scripts before and after backups Backup Schemes Backups and media rotation strategies Schemes offered in BackupAssist Basic Intermediate Professional Frequently Asked Questions Software License Agreement...10 Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 1

2 1 Introduction BackupAssist is specifically designed to take the hassle out of tape backups. Conventional methods of performing unattended, nightly backups for organizations involve: 1. Manually scheduling tape backups, tweaking command line parameters, writing batch files 2. Manually devising a tape rotation strategy 3. Manually implementing a tape rotation strategy instructing your office administrator / secretary on tape rotation processes 4. Manually checking the backup logs every day to ensure the last backup was performed successfully BackupAssist takes care of this for you by launching backups at the correct times, ing you backup reports, and reminder s to place the correct tape in the tape drive for the nightly backups. Figure 1 - Implement a rotation strategy easily Using BackupAssist will save you and your organization time and money, and more importantly, better protect you from data disaster. Before using BackupAssist, you should ensure that you have a tape drive and that it is installed and detected by Windows. Most of the time, Windows will detect your drive and install the necessary drivers automatically. However, with the large range of drives available, you should follow your manufacturers instructions and install any required based on their instructions. You should also ensure that when running BackupAssist, you do not have existing tasks that perform backups at the same time / using the same drive as BackupAssist. For example, companies that already use the Windows Task Scheduler to initiate backups should disable these tasks, as they may interfere with BackupAssist s operation. Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 2

3 2 Installation and Configuration Wizard The installation process is simplified through the Install Wizard and Configuration Wizard. Installation and setup is a quick process that should take no longer than 15 minutes. To setup BackupAssist on your system: 1. Download the setup program from the BackupAssist website. 2. Run the setup program, and install BackupAssist 3. Run the BackupAssist Administration Console. As this is the first time the program has been run, the BackupAssist Configuration Wizard will appear, and guide you through the initial configuration. 4. After initial configuration is complete, perform a test backup to ensure that the backup is performed properly on your hardware. Figure 2 - The BackupAssist Configuration Wizard 2.1 Recommended configuration Backup scheme selection We strongly recommend choosing the best scheme that your organization can afford. This means investing in backup media. A media pool of 10 or 14 tapes may cost several hundred dollars, but compared with the potential cost of data loss, a good media pool is a worthwhile investment. To find out more about backup schemes, refer to Section 3 of this quick start guide. It s also a good idea to for weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly tapes to be stored offsite to protect against robbery / fire. We also recommend that quarterly and yearly tapes be archived (not overwritten, but taken out of the media pool) to provide permanent data storage. Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 3

4 2.1.2 Backup settings Most organizations run the tape backup device on the file server. For maximum protection, we recommend backing up the entire server and file system, together with the system state (or registry). Also ensure that the data to be backed up will fit onto a single tape. Backups are typically performed unattended at night, so it is generally not practical to switch tapes if you run out of room on one backup tape. Figure 3 - Backup settings. Note that the options available differ depending on the operating system you are using feature We strongly recommended using the feature. All that is required is access to a SMTP server. The system administrator should receive backup report s to monitor backup procedure. This means that if a backup error occurs, the administrator will be informed of it! If no is received, then the administrator knows that the machine was down at the time (crash / power failure), or some other problem prevented a backup from being performed, and an investigation is required. We also recommend that reminder s be sent to the appropriate person (secretary / office administrator) to minimize the possibility of human error in the backup process. Figure 4 - A sample reminder Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 4

5 2.1.4 Backup user identity Most installations can run the backup process as the local system, or an administrator. However, if you are backing up files from another machine (eg. from a shared directory on another file server), then you will need to ensure that the backup runs under the identity of a user that has permissions to access those files. Most commonly, running as the Administrator of your domain will suffice. Figure 5 - Choosing an identity of the backup user 2.2 What should I do after configuration? Perform a test Perform a test backup by selecting the Test tab in the Administration Console, and clicking the Perform Test Backup button. Beware that backups do take some time, so the test operation may take several hours depending on the amount of data backed up, and the speed of your tape drive Review the backup and times By default, backups will occur on midnight. Depending on the needs of your organization, you may choose to change this setting. Reminder s are sent out at 3:00pm by default again, alter this to suit your organization Purchase media, and label your media pool The labels you should assign to your tapes can be obtained from the Backup Pool tab when viewing Schemes in the Administration Console. The labels are also listed in Section 3.2 of this manual. Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 5

6 If you are using tapes that have previously been used, and you receive the message No available media then you should run the Removeable Storage administration (on Windows 2000/XP, launch Control Panel Administrative Tools Computer Management, and navigate down to Storage Removable Storage Libraries). Then place your tape in the drive, and then move it to the Free Media Pool. If you are using tapes that are new and unformatted, you may have to format the tape by manually backing up a single file to the new tape. Do this by running NTBackup manually, and backing up a single file, as normal Receive backup report s One of the key advantages that using BackupAssist has over scheduled tasks is the automatic ing of backup reports. This enables the administrator to examine the status of each backup, without manually having to check the logs. The administrator should review each report for any errors. If a report is not ed then one of the following occurred: The tape backup machine was down (crash / power failure) The SMTP (mail) server was down, or could not be reached, to send the status BackupAssist failed to run the backup as scheduled In this scenario, the administrator should investigate why the backup was not run, and take corrective action. 2.3 Running scripts before and after backups Advanced users of BackupAssist may choose to run custom scripts before and after backup processes. Reasons for doing this include: Stopping and starting services before and after the backup Copy files Execute custom applications Under the Advanced tab in the Administration console, users can choose to set up scripts to run before and after the backup process. Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 6

7 3 Backup Schemes 3.1 Backups and media rotation strategies A good backup scheme and media rotation strategy provides you with data recovery capabilities, and allows for backups to be stored off-site. Most of the time, after data loss, the most recent backup available will be used. All schemes offered by BackupAssist will allow you to restore from the previous working day. However, in some occasions, data loss may not be detected for days or weeks thus an effective backup scheme should also allow for restores of data that may be weeks, or months old. However, the better protection a scheme provides, the more tapes it requires. BackupAssist allows you to choose from three industry standard backup schemes, depending on your requirements and the number of tapes you can purchase. The Basic scheme (5 tapes) allows for daily backups, and is the minimum recommended scheme for effective use of a tape backup unit. Data is available for the last 5 working days, but if does not protect you against data loss that is only detected after this time. The Intermediate scheme (10 tapes) provides weekly, monthly and quarterly backup tapes to better protect against data loss. The entire pool of tapes are overwritten every 3 months, so it provides a better level of protection, and is adequate for most smaller organizations. The Professional scheme (14 tapes) additionally provides monthly and quarterly and yearly backups, and the entire pool is overwritten on a yearly basis. This provides superior data protection. It is also possible (and recommended) to archive some of your tapes. (Archived tapes are not overwritten but rather, stored permanently.) For example, in the Professional scheme, it s recommended that yearly and quarterly tapes be archived. That way, data will be available for many years to come. Off-site storage is also recommended where possible. For example, the yearly and quarterly archive tapes should be stored offsite in a secure location. In addition, it s a good idea to have your office administrator take the yearly, quarterly, monthly and weekly tapes home to further protect against disaster. Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 7

8 3.2 Schemes offered in BackupAssist Basic Weekday backups Recommended for: small organisations who need a basic backup. Advantages: only 5 backup tapes required Disadvantages: backup pool is limited, and data loss must be detected within 5 days for the backups to be useful. Backup pool: - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Intermediate Quarterly, monthly, weekly and weekday backups with last month and quarter archives Recommended for: schools, universities and organisations who need a basic backup and a range of archives. Advantages: good archiving of backups, whilst only requiring 10 tapes Disadvantages: backup pool is limited to the last quarter. Backup pool: - Quarter (first Monday of each quarter) - Month (first Monday of each month) - Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5 (respective Mondays of month) - Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Professional Yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and weekday backups with yearly, quarterly and monthly archives Recommended for: professional organisations who need a powerful backup scheme. Advantages: excellent archiving of backups, with yearly and quarterly archives Disadvantages: requires 14 tapes, plus one per additional yearly archive Backup pool: - Yearly (first Monday of each year) - Quarter 2, Quarter 3, Quarter 4 (first Monday of each quarter) - Month 2, Month 3 (first Monday of months in quarter) - Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5 (respective Mondays of month) - Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 8

9 4 Frequently Asked Questions What advantages does BackupAssist have over scheduled tasks? Implement an industry-standard backup scheme automatically using BackupAssist. We put the hard work in, so you won't have to devise a media rotation strategy yourself. If a backup fails, you'll know about it. The backup status s mean that you have the results of each backup delivered to your inbox, so you can at once see if anything went wrong with the backup. Scheduled jobs may be used to schedule a backup, but if it fails you are often given no warning at all. Minimise human error. The sending of reminder s to your secretary / office assistant will minimise the chances of human error in your backup strategy. What should a system administrator do once BackupAssist is set up? There's not much that a system administrator should do, as the idea of BackupAssist is to make the backup process an automatic, self-managing process. However, it is necessary that the system administrator check the ed backup reports to ensure that the backup is performed successfully each night. What type are the backups - full, incremental or differential? Full. The idea of a backup is being able to restore all your data whilst minimizing the possibility of data loss. When restoring from incremental or differential backups, you'll often require multiple tapes as some backups will store only differences in files since the last backup. For example to restore Wednesday's data, you may require Monday's tape, together with Tuesday and Wednesday's tape. If Tuesday's tape is missing or destroyed, you'll be missing some data. With full backups, each backup contains all necessary data, so you can do a complete restore from any tape. Does BackupAssist work around the bugs in Windows 2000 Backup? Yes. There are a number of bugs in Windows 2000 Backup that may prevent backups to standalone tape drives from working when called from scheduled jobs. The bug is documented in this article. BackupAssist is designed to work around this bug. What format will my backup media be in? Standard backup format. BackupAssist uses Windows' Backup utility to perform the backups, so your tapes will be in the standard backup format. No proprietary software is needed to use the tapes. How do I restore data? Simply restore data from your tapes using the Windows Backup program, as you would do if the backups were performed manually. No special processes are required. Please note: restoration should be performed by qualified technical personnel. Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 9

10 5 Software License Agreement THE PROGRAM IS COPYRIGHTED AND LICENSED (NOT SOLD). BY PURCHASING THE PROGRAM, YOU ARE ACCEPTING AND AGREEING TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT REPRESENTS THE ENTIRE AGREEMENT CONCERNING THE PROGRAM, BETWEEN YOU AND CORTEX I.T., (REFERRED TO AS "LICENSOR"), AND IT SUPERSEDES ANY PRIOR PROPOSAL, REPRESENTATION, OR UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE PARTIES. 1. License Grant. Licensor hereby grants to you, and you accept, a nonexclusive license to use the program in machine-readable, object code form only, for use only as authorized in this License Agreement. The Programs may be used only on computers owned, leased or otherwise controlled by you. The program shall only manage the number of user accounts specified in the purchase agreement. You agree that you may not reverse assemble, reverse compile, or otherwise translate the Program. 2. Term (Evaluation Version Only). This License commences upon the installation of the software and is effective for 30 days following the date you install the software. This License terminates automatically without notice from Cortex I.T. upon the expiration of the evaluation term or if you fail to comply with any provision of this License. Upon termination you shall remove the SOFTWARE from your computer(s). 3. Licensor's Rights. You acknowledge and agree that the Program is proprietary to Licensor and protected under copyright law. You further acknowledge and agree the all right, title, and interest in and to the Program, including associated intellectual property rights, are and shall remain with Licensor. The License Agreement does not convey to you an interest in or to the Program, but only a limited right of use revocable in accordance with the terms of this License Agreement. 4. No Warranty; Limitation of Liability. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. LICENSOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES REGARDING THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM. LICENSOR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. LICENSOR SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY TO CUSTOMER OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, BY THE PROGRAM, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY INTERRUPTION OF SERVICES, LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF DATA OR SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES. 5. Severability. Should any term of this License Agreement be declared void or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such declaration will have no effect on the remaining terms hereof. 6. No Waiver. The failure of either party to enforce any rights granted hereunder or to take action against the other party in the event of any breach hereunder shall not be deemed a waiver by that party as to subsequent enforcement of rights or subsequent actions in the event of future breaches. Copyright Cortex I.T. All rights reserved. Page 10