Small office server with nightly backup?

[Mstrty]

I am looking into a dedicated office server in the very near future. Im fairly computer literate but do not do it as a profession. I have 2 computers that digitize artwork files daily. we create about 10-20 proprietary art files a day. Over the last 7 years, well you do the math. My thought was to get the data off of the one "main" computer and onto a server computer. Both computers access a MSSQL database located on computer A. I would like it to be located on a dedicated server. My question is. Any recommendations on a small office server? and what is the best method of nightly backup. Im currently backing computer A to computer B nightly. I have replaced the HDD yearly just out of paranoia. so I have a collection of HDD piling up in the safe. Thanks for all who advise in advance.

[armygunsmith]

You might want to look at some of the mid range servers on the dell website. You'll want something with a RAID and possibly with a tape backup. I would suggest backing up to tape nightly then storing the tape at an off site location (safety depoit box). If nightly is too often, then backup to tape weekly and make sure that you rotate tapes to maintain at least two previous backups.

[DSA_FAL]

At the company I used to work for, I set up a Dell Poweredge server. It came bundled with Windows Small Business server 2003 which is a nice, inexpensive system bundle with all the software that you'd need to run a Windows network preinstalled. (Exchange, IIS, SQL server, etc.) The box itself has dual RAID 1 drives so that if one hard drive decides to die, the other has a complete copy of the data. Also, the server's set up to make nightly backups to an external drive to help protect against data corruption. Also, with it being external, if the office had to be evacuated because of a fire or other disaster, the drive is easily portable.

[artherd]

Backup to a remote location, at GeoVario we don't trust any particular physical place, everything is copied elsewhere.

[chiefcrash]

Honestly, if you're only trying to handle load from 2 computers on the network, a honest-to-god server box might be too much hardware for you. Just another higher-end desktop with a server OS installed and a couple of big hard drives will probably work for you.

As far as backup options go, there's more than you can shake a stick at. As far as software goes, I kinda like Acronis True Image myself, just because it works with linux as well as windows, and it has other nifty features (kinda like Norton Ghost, but better). But whatever you can get your hands on will work. As for backup medium, you really wanna get something besides just copying it to another hard drive: which means offsite uploads or backup tapes. A tape drive will cost you (between $500 and $2k depending on what you get), but then you get to do all your backups to relatively cheap and effective disk cartridges.

Just some thoughts for you to rattle around up there in your head...

[chiefcrash]

At the company I used to work for, I set up a Dell Poweredge server. It came bundled with Windows Small Business server 2003 which is a nice, inexpensive system bundle with all the software that you'd need to run a Windows network preinstalled. (Exchange, IIS, SQL server, etc.) The box itself has dual RAID 1 drives so that if one hard drive decides to die, the other has a complete copy of the data. Also, the server's set up to make nightly backups to an external drive to help protect against data corruption. Also, with it being external, if the office had to be evacuated because of a fire or other disaster, the drive is easily portable.

RAID is *not* a backup solution. I could go on for hours about why not to trust/use RAID as a backup.

Don't get me wrong, RAID is pretty cool. It's just the purpose of RAID is so that if one hard drive fails, the server is still up and running until it's convenient for you to take a backup, replace the broken drive, and then restore if necessary (and you'd be surprised how often it's necessary). RAID reduces downtime, not data loss...

[Corbin Dallas]

I work for a major player in the server market. Your situation is not uncommon as we get requests for these all the time.

My recommendation:

2U Supermicro chassis with 8 drive bays (6025 series)
8 - 750GB or 1TB drives (WD or Hitachi)
2 - 150GB 10k drives (OS, raid 1 for redundancy)
Twin dual or quad core procs (5100 or 5400 series)
8GB ram (min) - 32GB recommended (Wintec or Smart FBDIMM)
LSI MegaSAS Raid card (8708ELP), supports Raid 0,1,5,6,10,50,60 (storage and redundancy)

This setup does not come cheap, but with up to 8TB of redundant storage you can be sure your data is not going anywhere soon. Add in a tape backup system (set to nightly, weekly and monthly backups) and you should never lose anything again.

As for an OS, I would go Linux (SuSe, RedHat, Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu) unless you specifically need a Windows Box. (Server 2003 or 2008)

Don't forget a good APC battery backup in case of a major power outage or brown out.

If you want to discuss it further, send me a PM and we'll talk.

[SwissFluCase]

The nice thing about Small Business Server is that you get Exchange and Remote Web Workplace. Remote Web Workplace is a pretty cool way of getting to your PCs. Backup to hard drives that you rotate and take offsite. You can add an online offsite backup as well, and you would be pretty covered.

ETA: How much data are you working with? What is your budget?

Regards,


SwissFluCase

[sfwdiy]

Backup to a remote location, at GeoVario we don't trust any particular physical place, everything is copied elsewhere.

What are you running for your offsite backup?

--B

[bigmike82]

If you're not a pro, go with SBS over Linux. You'll save yourself a lot of time and headache.

I've also had good experience with Dell servers, especially as far as warranty and service goes. They're tough to beat.

Screw tape backups. External HDs are cheaper. Get a few small enclosures, and you can do everything a tape can at a much lower cost.

[sfwdiy]

If you're not a pro, go with SBS over Linux. You'll save yourself a lot of time and headache.

I've also had good experience with Dell servers, especially as far as warranty and service goes. They're tough to beat.

Screw tape backups. External HDs are cheaper. Get a few small enclosures, and you can do everything a tape can at a much lower cost.

If you're not running an enterprise system I have to agree. Backing up two or three computers at an office is no different than a home solution, really. If you're worried about off-site backup, back up to two different externals and alternate them every two days or so. The one that isn't being used goes into your bag and out the door at the end of the day. Two days later, switch out the drives and take the other one home. Lather, rinse, repeat. This will be substantially cheaper than a dedicated server with a tape backup.

--B

[SwissFluCase]

If you're not a pro, go with SBS over Linux. You'll save yourself a lot of time and headache.

I've also had good experience with Dell servers, especially as far as warranty and service goes. They're tough to beat.

Screw tape backups. External HDs are cheaper. Get a few small enclosures, and you can do everything a tape can at a much lower cost.

Tapes and tape drives suck. I can't tell you how many tape drives we have pulled out of client sites because they just fall apart.
The fact that the end users *never* use cleaning tapes even when they are provided doesn't help one bit.

Regards,


SwissFluCase

[jeffm223]

While I agree that tape drives have some issues, external hard drives are NOT a backup solution. There are just too many ways for it to go wrong and I can't count the tears I've seen over this. In a small office type environment where you don't have full-time IT staff you are best off going with an online backup service. One such service that works well (and backs up MSSQL and exchange) is www.ibackup.com. Reasonably priced, stable client, good reporting.
You say that you are using SQL, but which flavor? Is it the desktop version or the full on server version? Because if it's just the desktop version you do not need to run that on a server OS. With only 2 clients, you could set up a hardware drive mirror in a Dell WS and just run your shares and (desktop) SQL on a copy of XP pro. Combine that with online backup and periodic archive to DVD and you have a low cost, low maintainence solution.
Regarding SBS, be careful. I have about a dozen sites running it and it is very good for certain applications. However, for a novice it is difficult to set up and maintain properly. I can't really see it as a value for a 2 client office, except possibly if you need SQL server AND Exchange. It is easy to set up initially, but requires a lot of effort (and knowledge) to keep running properly. Read up on disaster recovery for SBS before you decide on it.
Regarding Linux, unless you are already comfortable with it or willing to invest very substantial effort in learning it, stay way. It is superior as a server (compared to M$) in most ways, but it is definitely not friendly to those with only a Windows background. While you can easily find competent Windows help if you have a problem, with Linux it can be difficult.
Honestly, if your data is worth anything you should seek professional help in designing a system that protects your investment. Find a local consultant who can help you if you have problems down the line. For most owners, trying to go cheap ends up costing more than doing the job right from the beginning. In the long run you will probably save more money by hiring a professional than you will spend to pay for good advice.

[IsaacGlass]

RAID is *not* a backup solution. I could go on for hours about why not to trust/use RAID as a backup.

Don't get me wrong, RAID is pretty cool. It's just the purpose of RAID is so that if one hard drive fails, the server is still up and running until it's convenient for you to take a backup, replace the broken drive, and then restore if necessary (and you'd be surprised how often it's necessary). RAID reduces downtime, not data loss...

I think the OP mention that he wants to backup digitize artwork files, RAID 0 or 3 will help data transfer much faster than non-RAID drives when it comes to artwork. Secondly, OP can you tell us what's the data size transfer you expect per evening and on the weekly scale? You mention MSSQL, did you want to backup MSSQL data files as well?

[sfwdiy]

I think the OP mention that he wants to backup digitize artwork files, RAID 0 or 3 will help data transfer much faster than non-RAID drives when it comes to artwork. Secondly, OP can you tell us what's the data size transfer you expect per evening and on the weekly scale? You mention MSSQL, did you want to backup MSSQL data files as well?

The question in bold is actually quite important. Depending on the bandwidth of your Internet connection, offsite backup over the net may not even be feasible. If you're creating more data each day than you can pump up to your backup servers every night you'll either have to kick down on a faster internet connection or find another solution.

--B