Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
User Journal

Journal sillypixie's Journal: W2K3 Backup Dilemma 11

Journal by sillypixie

Help! I'm hoping one of you uber-windows-geeks have a cool solution for me.

I'm about to start some tricky work on a W2K3 server at a client location. I'm having a terrible time trying to get the 'storage solutions' department to back up the box, and I *have* to know that I can restore this box to the original state before I start work on it. I'm also scared that even if I do get a good backup of the machine, it may take weeks and a ton of red tape to request that the server be restored.

I have administrator access to the box but no physical access, and it is not a production server, so I believe I could successfully make a case for installing some kind of backup utility to let me make my own backups of the server. I have sufficient disk space on my own external disk drive to store an image.

I have no authority to purchase software in the name of the client, and I certainly can't install illegal or pirated s/w.

Is there a utility (perhaps something similar to Norton Ghost) that I could use to backup and restore the server, with nothing but remote desktop access to the box?

The applications people there usually make do with a system state backup and a directory backup, but I have misgivings. Are they misplaced? Is it possible to completely recreate the machine from a C:\ drive zip and the system state database?

I'm walking a fine line here, I hope the sysadmin union doesn't chase me down and beat me senseless if I do this... Not having total control is such a pain...

Pixie

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

W2K3 Backup Dilemma More

W2K3 Backup Dilemma

Comments Filter:
  • I am in the process of writing up exactly what you are trying to do for a magazine article. I have been using this method to mirror our windows machines (since they always sooner or later crap out and I have to restore them). Basically I have been using a linux boot CD to mirror the windows disk, and it works great, especially since you don't have to touch the windows disk at all (zero software install). If you want more details let me know.
    • Doesn't that require physical access to the machine to reboot into Linux? Physical access is one thing Pix doesn't have.
      • Well, I assume she can have someone plunk the CD into the drive and reboot? I have never tried this remotely, but it should be possible. Then again, it would be a bazillion times easier if she could physically sit in front of the machine.... Of course, this method also assumes the machine can be down for quite some time, which might also be a problem as well :-|
        • I can try to get physical access. The machine is in a different city, which is a pain.

          The big problem is that I'm unsure as to the degree of territoriality I will encounter by the actual sysadmins. I am trying to go through the official channels as well, but the people I'm working with have expressed doubt as to whether they will even back up this machine, since it is dev.

          It is such a stupid situation. And I'm an outsider, so all I can do is blunder around in the dark...

          If I can get physical access, I'll
  • Any kind of disk image (ala Ghost) will require some sort of physical access to restore, if you could even back it up properly remotely.

    So, how bad are you going to break this box? Will Windows be functioning at the point you would be considering a restore, or are we talking non-bootable box?
    • I'm running a 3 part set of upgrade/migration scripts on an installed software package. I expect to be running these scripts over and over again, tweaking things until I'm satisfied with the results. At the end of it, I need to set everything back, and then have the client's administrators follow the plan I've created & tweaked to do a final application upgrade for that environment.

      The worst case scenario would be a borked registry, I think. I don't see any way I could have an effect on anything in t
      • Yeah, sounds like the only thing that would be sufficient for your testing is an image backup. I prefer VMWare for that sort of thing, but it sounds like you're trying to test in that particular hardware/software environment, so that won't help.
      • You can get a restorable image by rebooting into Linux (a Knoppix LiveCD, for example), then using either dd or ntfsclone (the ntfstools imaging tool) to write a full copy of the partition somewhere else. Alternatively, VMWare has the P2V Assistant, which can copy the machine into a virtual machine - then just play with your virtual clone to your heart's content on another machine until your scripts are ready.

        Unfortunately, all of these require physical access (at the very least, the ability to boot from

  • To at least get your hands on *most* of the necessary data, you could install cwRsync and SSH. It'll probably take a LOONG time over the network, but then you'll at least have *something* to work with. You probably won't get _pagefile.sys_ and a host of other necessary files. And I'm guessing that probably means it won't be the the way to scratch your itch. But I thought I'd just throw it out anyway.
    • Hmm... can't hurt to try.

      I could test it out with a VPC instance, just to make sure that a restore would actually work.

      Thanks for the suggestion!

      Pix

Slashdot Top Deals

This is clearly another case of too many mad scientists, and not enough hunchbacks.

Close