Laura, How many gigs are you backing up nightly? You could probably consolidate all backups into one, with a bigger tape drive and agents for ARCserve. You could also switch to BackupExec, and get away from CA's lousy support.
Our network is about the same size as yours. I centralized our backups a while ago; we are now using a DLT-80 drive and BackupExec 8.6, with agents for Exchange and a couple of servers, and just no-agent backup for a couple of others. We are backing up ~65GB/night, full every night. Takes ~ 6 hours. I'd be skeptical of the remote backup over Internet, too, but it is something to consider. You just need to evaluate costs, speeds, and risks, and of course restore scenarios. I haven't looked at what tape upgrade paths there are for those Exabyte 8mm tapes. How important is it to you to be able to read old tapes? If you have many going back months, then very important, but if you've been rotating a set of 5 or so, no big deal - but do consider a hierarchical daily/weekly/monthly rotation. Of course you could keep one of the old Exabyte drives for restorations, if you decide to switch to DLT or LTO. Stop doing BLB's - wastes tape, inefficient, other ways better, etc etc. Swynk.com has articles on why BLB's are bad. Read the Exchange Disaster Recovery white papers, and set up a recovery server on a cheapie white box server; then you can restore mailboxes to that and export/import pst's to live server. I learned this from the list gurus like William & Don. My 2¢ Regards, - Bob Bob Peitzke Information Systems Manager Sander A. Kessler & Associates Santa Monica, CA, USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Laura Swartout [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 9:42 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups WOW! Didn't expect the debate either! It's getting fun though. I'll give a little background here: I'm responsible for a small network (6 NT4 servers and approx 100 workstations). This is my first IT job so my experience is limited to the 2 years I've been at this company. I inherited the current setup which is ArcServe 2000 on 2 servers; each server has an older model Exabyte tape drive backing up to 8mm tapes, and one server doing brick-level backups of Exchange. Yes I've been reading how bad they are and why and now have my boss convinced that we need to change our backup method which is why I'm doing research and asking questions of those with the experience. I don't want to replace our current solution with new tape drives and software if that technology is fading and giving way to something like Evault or CommVault Galaxy. And I don't want to base my decision on a recommendation from an eager salesman. Always looking for growth and knowledge wherever I can find it, there's a lot to wade through out there. Thanks again - Laura -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 10:47 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups Didn't want this to get into the debate it's becoming. but: Although people's "current" environment is being taken care of in the most reliable manner. that's fine for right now, they've not had any problems, so they tend to become comfortable/complacent. I respect Don's and William's opinions', but every once in awhile I (as well as others i'm sure) require validation as to how they came to those opinions. and that's was the intent here. you are comfortable in your current environment, that may or may not be alright 6 months down the road. we don't know what Laura's current setup is, or what it is going to be and she asked the question. and just because the premier gurus' of the forum here, state it "is" or "is not" a good idea. I just want to know why? I'm sure it's based on a lot of experience, a Lot of luck, and proactive administration. but with anything, there's always room for growth either in knowledge or software. Thought it was a pretty simple and generic question actually -----Original Message----- From: Don Ely [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 10:58 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups Yeah, and I'm pretty sure William mentioned that... "No, I wouldn't trust such a setup for Exchange. Other file data, perhaps. NTBackup on Windows2000 backs up to disk." He then provided links to various sites. It wouldn't and shouldn't be a trusted setup. Those links give various options I would imagine. I haven't read them nor will I as I know how I backup exchange. Which is in the most reliable manner. D -----Original Message----- From: Ray Zorz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 8:00 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups Yabbut the question was what's wrong with the non-tape solutions. -----Original Message----- From: Don Ely [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 8:44 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups He posted links to all the various vendors so one could go to each one and evaluate how their product works with exchange and see the error in their original thinking. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 7:40 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups I realize it's friday, and the caffiene levels aren't where they should be..but i'm Curious, that's a generic statement to make don't you think? you say "No, I wouldn't trust such a setup for Exchange." but don't go on to say as to why?... so, i guess the question I'm asking is .. "why" wouldn't you trust such a setup for Exchange?, but yet as one of the links you post, you post evault :o) curious minds want to know(or at least mine does) Dal -----Original Message----- From: Laura Swartout [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 10:18 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups Thank you, William! -----Original Message----- From: Lefkovics, William [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 5:31 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups Did we digress again? No, I wouldn't trust such a setup for Exchange. Other file data, perhaps. NTBackup on Windows2000 backs up to disk. If you like this kind of storage, here are some others to consider: Connected http://www.connected.com FreeDrive http://www.freedrive.com X Drive http://www.xdrive.com Driveway http://www.driveway.com Maxisafe http://www.maxisafe.com Managed Storage http://www.sgii.com E-store http://www.e-stor.net @Backup http://www.backup.com StoreActive http://www.storactive.net BackUpNet http://www.backupnet.com eVault.com http://www.evault.com MySpace http://www.freediskspace.com -----Original Message----- From: Laura Swartout [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 3:20 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups Okay thank you. But I was curious if anyone has any experience with Evault and how they liked/disliked it vs. tape backups. -----Original Message----- X-Sybari-Space: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 From: Lefkovics, William [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 5:14 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups Ahem. Lovely weather we're having, eh? William -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 3:13 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups Forget to change a tape? [1] [1] Hi William -----Original Message----- From: Lefkovics, William [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 15:09 To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups No backups on Sundays. The other two... well... -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 3:11 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups what happened to the other 54 times? -----Original Message----- From: Lefkovics, William [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 15:06 To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups I got it to work 311 times in 2001. William -----Original Message----- From: David N. Precht [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 3:07 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Evault vs. tape backups I heard this backup s/w called NTBACKUP was nice... -----Original Message----- From: Laura Swartout [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 17:33 To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Evault vs. tape backups We're looking at replacing our ArcServe backup software with a more reliable solution such as BackUp Exec or Evault. Is anyone using Evault? If so how to you like it compared to tape backups? Thanks - Laura List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm List Charter and FAQ at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/exchange_list_charter.htm
