FRS for 1TB of files?

[Leythos]

I have two servers in, one in a remote location, connected through a
private network, and want to replicate all files/folders in a specific
location to the second server.

The second server will be an off-site backup, on-line, real-time, of the
first server, but no users will have access to the second server.

MS suggests that FRS be limited to 64GB.

Anyone else doing something like this?

 

[Matjaz Ladava [MVP]]

Maybe consider Double Take (http://www.nsisoftware.com/pro/doubletake/ ), if
money is not an issue

--
Regards

Matjaz Ladava
MVP Windows Server - Directory Services
(e-mail address removed), (e-mail address removed)

 

[Leythos]

Maybe consider Double Take (http://www.nsisoftware.com/pro/doubletake/ ), if
money is not an issue

I can't find pricing on it, and there should be a solution available
from MS or something that we can use.

How about if we change it to a scheduled job that replicates the
information once a night?

 

[Brian Desmond [MVP]]

FRS wouldn't be a good choice for this, IMHO. You could certainly use
robocopy with a nightly job, it's free in the resource kit. The /mir switch
would do the trick. I'd highly recommend you prestage a copy via a backup
restore to the other server.

--
--
Brian Desmond
Windows Server MVP
(e-mail address removed)12.il.us

Http://www.briandesmond.com

 

[Leythos]

FRS wouldn't be a good choice for this, IMHO. You could certainly use
robocopy with a nightly job, it's free in the resource kit. The /mir switch
would do the trick. I'd highly recommend you prestage a copy via a backup
restore to the other server.

That looks like a great choice, I had not though about using something
from the resource kit.

Actually, the first server is the master backup server, all backups are
stored on the 1TB array and then dumped to a 7-tape tape backup drive.
The second server, which is not used by anyone, is off-site, and will
just get a copy of that days backups. While it is possible to backup
server 1 to server 2 using backup-exec, I would rather have the same
structure on both servers in raw format.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Carl Appellof]

Actually, the first server is the master backup server, all backups are
stored on the 1TB array and then dumped to a 7-tape tape backup drive.
The second server, which is not used by anyone, is off-site, and will
just get a copy of that days backups. While it is possible to backup
server 1 to server 2 using backup-exec, I would rather have the same
structure on both servers in raw format.

Thanks,
Mark

When setting up a replication of 1 TB of data, the idea suggested is to haul
those backup tapes to the secondary site by truck and restore them there
before starting replication. A truck full of tapes is probably faster than
a WAN line for initial synchronization. If the files are mostly the same on
source and target, your network won't have to do as much work.

Carl Appellof
Veritas Storage Replicator

 

[Leythos]

When setting up a replication of 1 TB of data, the idea suggested is to haul
those backup tapes to the secondary site by truck and restore them there
before starting replication. A truck full of tapes is probably faster than
a WAN line for initial synchronization. If the files are mostly the same on
source and target, your network won't have to do as much work.

Yea, but it looks like ROBOCOPY will actually do the copy without having
to copy things that didn't change. I was unaware of ROBOCOPY in the 2003
resource kit.

 

[Brian Desmond [MVP]]

It's been around since NT4.You are correct, robocopy with the /mir switch
will just copy anything that is different and delete anything that has been
removed on the backup server. The initial copy will be the full terabyte,
and moving this volume over the WAN is generally a bad idea. Once you do the
restore on the other end, you can sync up anything that has changed since
trucking the tapes over.

--
--
Brian Desmond
Windows Server MVP
(e-mail address removed)12.il.us

Http://www.briandesmond.com

 

[Leythos]

It's been around since NT4.You are correct, robocopy with the /mir switch
will just copy anything that is different and delete anything that has been
removed on the backup server. The initial copy will be the full terabyte,
and moving this volume over the WAN is generally a bad idea. Once you do the
restore on the other end, you can sync up anything that has changed since
trucking the tapes over.

I appreciate your concern over the WAN traffic, but the connection was
put in place for this purpose. Since the data being copied from server 1
to server 2 is the nightly backup files (Backup Exec to put about 1TB of
data on server 1) and then copy those backup files to server 2 during
the daytime hours (across a new link).

It seems to me that places that offer off-site storage already do this,
through T1's and such, we're using a dedicated 100mbps connection
between the two offices.

 

[Brian Desmond [MVP]]

100meg, I guess you should be fine. I was thinking T1 or maybe a ten meg
pipe.

--
--
Brian Desmond
Windows Server MVP
(e-mail address removed)12.il.us

Http://www.briandesmond.com