Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine
by Mike Gunderloy
June 2004
As part of the June cover feature, "4 Dirt-Cheap Workgroup Servers,"
Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 also comes with a Backup Configuration
Wizard. Here are two add-on products that offer help.
Small Business Server 2003 comes with its own Backup Configuration Wizard. With
it you can specify whether to make backups to tape or disk, and you can choose
which folders to back up, as well as what to do with deleted e-mail messages and
users' shared folders. You can also set a schedule for the backups. But is that
enough? To answer that question, I took a look at two add-on products designed
specifically for SBS 2003 backups: Lockstep Systems' Backup for Workgroups, and
UltraBac Small Business Server.
Backup for Workgroups 2.0
Backup for Workgroups is designed to back up data from all over your network to
a single data repository. The repository is stored on a hard drive, and can be
on just about any computer running Windows 98 or 4.0 on up to Windows Server
2003. When you install the repository, you also create accounts for both clients
and servers on your network. Then, you install the Backup for Workgroups client
on the individual client computers, and they send their backups to the
repository via TCP/IP.
Unlike the native SBS backup, Backup for Workgroups allows you to easily back up
data stored all over the network. It's also a purely disk-based product. Rather
than use tape drives for offsite backups, it supports mirroring the repository
to an external hard drive. You can choose to rotate this
mirror to take it offsite at any time, and if need be, you can rebuild your
server directly from an existing mirror.
Backup for Workgroups lets you define multiple backup sets, so you can decide
what will go into the backup. On the restore side, you can do anything from a
single file restore on up to a complete bare-metal rebuild of a computer; the
program will give you exhaustive instructions if this ever becomes necessary.
There's also special logic built into the application to handle servers. You
can back up Active Directory and Exchange Server information, which (along with
a few other server-specific bits of data) allows you to get what you need to
rebuild your SBS server. There are also lots of other nice features here. For
example, the client application will automatically shut down and re-open
Outlook, so that it can back up Outlook data files (which are normally locked),
and it knows how to back up the Registry. You can also choose to encrypt the
information that's being backed up, if security's a concern. Finally, the server
is smart about not storing multiple copies of duplicate files, lowering the disk
space requirements for the repository.
UltraBac Small Business Server 7.1.4
UltraBac takes a much more traditional backup approach, handling everything from
tape drives to image files as backup targets. What's unique about its offering
is simple pricing for SBS networks. If you're using SBS Standard Edition, the
$595 license backs up your server, Exchange data, and data from all network
workstations. If you've moved up to SBS Premium Edition, the price rises to $795
to include the SQL Server agent. Either way, this represents quite a bargain
over a la carte pricing if you've got more than a few workstations on the
network.
Like Backup for Workgroups, UltraBac uses a client-server model, in which
individual workstations send their data to a central server for storage.
However, UltraBac offers much more flexible storage options. You can back up to
a tape drive, a disk directory, or an image file, among other choices.
UltraBac's suite of agents can back up server data without interrupting running
applications, and as I already mentioned the base price for the SBS editions
includes the necessary server agents.
UltraBac offers a rather more complex user interface than Backup for Workgroups,
which could require more training in an organization without administrators.
Some of this complexity is alleviated by simple wizards to get you through the
basics. As Figure 2 shows, you can adjust which files to back up on as detailed
a level as you like.
UltraBac does a good job of being smart with its network operations,
compressing the files on the client before sending them to the server to be
redirected to their ultimate destination. You can also choose to encrypt the
data being streamed to ensure its privacy. Finally, if you outgrow your SBS
network, UltraBac offers many more agents and options that you can purchase and
implement. If you want to back up Unix or Netware servers, use Tivoli-managed
storage devices, or even back up on the fly to an FTP site, UltraBac can handle
the job.
If you've got the budget for the software and a set of external hard drives to
rotate, Backup for Workgroups is an excellent fit for SBS 2003. If you prefer a
traditional tape-based backup product, or have more than three workstations and
want to save money, UltraBac's special pricing is worth a look.
Click here to view article.
Mike Gunderloy, MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, is a contributing editor for MCP
Magazine. He is the author of numerous books and articles on database and development topics.
You can contact Mike about "Backing Up Small Business Server" at mikeg1@larkfarm.com.
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