Re: [ActiveDir] SBS and reducing downtime on crash
Totally agree on the points said by Susan. Practive is important though, it's even documented by MS and that works just fine. And I use the built in backup, no issues poped up and I had the server up and running in now time! On 6/8/06, Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz - SBS Rocks [MVP] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 1. Go to TechEd 2006 in Boston2. Go to Jeff Middleton's Myths of DR on SBSAny questions? Okay so seriously...3. Remember that under the hood we're AD.. so even though the big guysaround here cringe at a single DC, all on one box.. all the tricks forAD restoration still work.Okay Susan's first and foremost SBS rule of DR 1. Buy good hardware.I have been running SBS since SBS 4.0 and here's what nailed me in the pastNIC diedHub died (back when we did hubs)NIC diedSwitch diedHarddrive dropped off raid Switch froze up required hard reset (just two weeks ago.. good excusefor upgrading to gig switches don't you think?)In all those years I've had minimal downtime. Notice that I've onlylost one drive and that was on my adaptec raid screaming like crazy but the network still chugged just fine ..so these days I buy spare nics andharddrives.I've also always had SCSI drives, and with my current baby (HP) havethat lovely hardware monitoring stuff that sends me emails when the hardware gets even a sniffle.Now I have a Dell OEM with IDE drives and it's not a server and you canso tell. The SATA drive ones are ... well ask us again in aboutanother year or so of the 'three year let's see how they do compared to SCSI'. My home server is a cheap SATA HP but even that is better thanthe cheap Dell OEM version I got.Lesson 1 - buy HP.. buy good server quality hardware.2. Consider adding to that backup a drive image software (okay someone go tell the Garage door guy, the AD guru and the Joewareguy to stick fingers in their ears and don't read this)We are only one DC. It's a little hard to have replication andtombstone issues when you only have one AD. Acronis may not say they will support imaging a DC... but when you only have one... it's not abiggie and it works. We've done it. Heck we can even restore a systemstate that's getting gray hairs. When you only have "one"...sometimes you can do things that in big server land you absolutely would neverever do.3. Consider adding a secondary DC.These days with virtual pc/server/vmware load up a server os on aworkstation even and park an additional domain controller to replicate that AD.4. Practice that restore. "A few days to get it back in the air"?Worst case scenerio... Hurricane Katrina.. Jeff Middleton is from NewOrleans Louisiana.. you know what he found? (and I'm ccing him so he can chat with you more directly).. ever try to buy a server hardware in acomputer store? He was buying MCE editions as they were the beefierones have offsite backups of mediaas he was scrambling in some cases to get the right media. Sometimes it was the little things thatnailed him.Your worst case scenerio is replacing that hardware... bare metalrecovery in the 2k3 era is not the same as we had it in the 2k era with the SFN issues.SBS is no different of a DR recovery than the big guys... it justmagnifies it is allIn a normal DR setup ... to get that back in the air.. on an SBS box?Not if you know what you are doing and have practiced. 5. Cold server rights. If you have SA you have cold serverrightsyou can park another server with a copy of the OS and thenturn it off and leave it.Okay now let's review some of that 'the firm is down'. 1. Cached credentials, cached outlook means that the server can dropoff the face of the earth and the workstations just kinda hang out untilit comes back on.2. Have alternative ways to get to key data. I have a robocopy that pulls a copy of certain folders over to a spare drive on myworkstation.. Excel and Word docs.. should the gang absopositively needto get into a doc for a case, even if the server is down, we have aduplicate that can be gotten into. But honestly we're no different of a DR story than the big guys..a tadmore complicated due to the all on one box... but the same rules applyRAIDHardwaredon't skimpPracticeDecide if you are not going to do the secondary DC and to a server image...or do the secondary DC and don't image.and don't panic.and in my case I'm calling Jeff and paying him to bemy calm DR buddy should something occur...btw I don't like Veritas in a single SBS setup.. the built in SBS backup works fine.. if you need to backup additional servers, then do VeritasQuatro Info wrote:>Hi all,>>>Have a general question / case.>>On small companies ( 10 - 20 employees), what config is the best to set the downtime in case of a crash to a minimum. Especially in >a SBS environment / small company.>>Lets keep it an easy example:>> -company has 15 employees> -15 XP workstations> -one SBS 2k3 server installed with all necessary tools etc..veritas backup exec / groupshield etc etc.. > -raid m
Re: [ActiveDir] SBS and reducing downtime on crash
1. Go to TechEd 2006 in Boston 2. Go to Jeff Middleton's Myths of DR on SBS Any questions? Okay so seriously... 3. Remember that under the hood we're AD.. so even though the big guys around here cringe at a single DC, all on one box.. all the tricks for AD restoration still work. Okay Susan's first and foremost SBS rule of DR 1. Buy good hardware. I have been running SBS since SBS 4.0 and here's what nailed me in the past NIC died Hub died (back when we did hubs) NIC died Switch died Harddrive dropped off raid Switch froze up required hard reset (just two weeks ago.. good excuse for upgrading to gig switches don't you think?) In all those years I've had minimal downtime. Notice that I've only lost one drive and that was on my adaptec raid screaming like crazy but the network still chugged just fine ..so these days I buy spare nics and harddrives. I've also always had SCSI drives, and with my current baby (HP) have that lovely hardware monitoring stuff that sends me emails when the hardware gets even a sniffle. Now I have a Dell OEM with IDE drives and it's not a server and you can so tell. The SATA drive ones are ... well ask us again in about another year or so of the 'three year let's see how they do compared to SCSI'. My home server is a cheap SATA HP but even that is better than the cheap Dell OEM version I got. Lesson 1 - buy HP.. buy good server quality hardware. 2. Consider adding to that backup a drive image software (okay someone go tell the Garage door guy, the AD guru and the Joeware guy to stick fingers in their ears and don't read this) We are only one DC. It's a little hard to have replication and tombstone issues when you only have one AD. Acronis may not say they will support imaging a DC... but when you only have one... it's not a biggie and it works. We've done it. Heck we can even restore a system state that's getting gray hairs. When you only have "one"...sometimes you can do things that in big server land you absolutely would never ever do. 3. Consider adding a secondary DC. These days with virtual pc/server/vmware load up a server os on a workstation even and park an additional domain controller to replicate that AD. 4. Practice that restore. "A few days to get it back in the air"? Worst case scenerio... Hurricane Katrina.. Jeff Middleton is from New Orleans Louisiana.. you know what he found? (and I'm ccing him so he can chat with you more directly).. ever try to buy a server hardware in a computer store? He was buying MCE editions as they were the beefier ones have offsite backups of mediaas he was scrambling in some cases to get the right media. Sometimes it was the little things that nailed him. Your worst case scenerio is replacing that hardware... bare metal recovery in the 2k3 era is not the same as we had it in the 2k era with the SFN issues. SBS is no different of a DR recovery than the big guys... it just magnifies it is all In a normal DR setup ... to get that back in the air.. on an SBS box? Not if you know what you are doing and have practiced. 5. Cold server rights. If you have SA you have cold server rightsyou can park another server with a copy of the OS and then turn it off and leave it. Okay now let's review some of that 'the firm is down'. 1. Cached credentials, cached outlook means that the server can drop off the face of the earth and the workstations just kinda hang out until it comes back on. 2. Have alternative ways to get to key data. I have a robocopy that pulls a copy of certain folders over to a spare drive on my workstation.. Excel and Word docs.. should the gang absopositively need to get into a doc for a case, even if the server is down, we have a duplicate that can be gotten into. But honestly we're no different of a DR story than the big guys..a tad more complicated due to the all on one box... but the same rules apply RAID Hardware don't skimp Practice Decide if you are not going to do the secondary DC and to a server image...or do the secondary DC and don't image. and don't panic.and in my case I'm calling Jeff and paying him to be my calm DR buddy should something occur... btw I don't like Veritas in a single SBS setup.. the built in SBS backup works fine.. if you need to backup additional servers, then do Veritas Quatro Info wrote: Hi all, Have a general question / case. On small companies ( 10 - 20 employees), what config is the best to set the downtime in case of a crash to a minimum. Especially in a SBS environment / small company. Lets keep it an easy example: -company has 15 employees -15 XP workstations -one SBS 2k3 server installed with all necessary tools etc..veritas backup exec / groupshield etc etc.. -raid mirror installed -network is configured well...firewall / updates etc Lets say all ingredients are there and are proper installed/workin
Re: [ActiveDir] SBS and reducing downtime on crash
One more thing.. we're just started to think about virtualizing SBS. Big server land guys are virtualizing DCs... guess what... you can do the same with SBS. All the parts are officially supported to be on VS. It's still a gleem in everyone's eye and just thoughts... but it sure is an idea, isn't it? Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz - SBS Rocks [MVP] wrote: 1. Go to TechEd 2006 in Boston 2. Go to Jeff Middleton's Myths of DR on SBS Any questions? Okay so seriously... 3. Remember that under the hood we're AD.. so even though the big guys around here cringe at a single DC, all on one box.. all the tricks for AD restoration still work. Okay Susan's first and foremost SBS rule of DR 1. Buy good hardware. I have been running SBS since SBS 4.0 and here's what nailed me in the past NIC died Hub died (back when we did hubs) NIC died Switch died Harddrive dropped off raid Switch froze up required hard reset (just two weeks ago.. good excuse for upgrading to gig switches don't you think?) In all those years I've had minimal downtime. Notice that I've only lost one drive and that was on my adaptec raid screaming like crazy but the network still chugged just fine ..so these days I buy spare nics and harddrives. I've also always had SCSI drives, and with my current baby (HP) have that lovely hardware monitoring stuff that sends me emails when the hardware gets even a sniffle. Now I have a Dell OEM with IDE drives and it's not a server and you can so tell. The SATA drive ones are ... well ask us again in about another year or so of the 'three year let's see how they do compared to SCSI'. My home server is a cheap SATA HP but even that is better than the cheap Dell OEM version I got. Lesson 1 - buy HP.. buy good server quality hardware. 2. Consider adding to that backup a drive image software (okay someone go tell the Garage door guy, the AD guru and the Joeware guy to stick fingers in their ears and don't read this) We are only one DC. It's a little hard to have replication and tombstone issues when you only have one AD. Acronis may not say they will support imaging a DC... but when you only have one... it's not a biggie and it works. We've done it. Heck we can even restore a system state that's getting gray hairs. When you only have "one"...sometimes you can do things that in big server land you absolutely would never ever do. 3. Consider adding a secondary DC. These days with virtual pc/server/vmware load up a server os on a workstation even and park an additional domain controller to replicate that AD. 4. Practice that restore. "A few days to get it back in the air"? Worst case scenerio... Hurricane Katrina.. Jeff Middleton is from New Orleans Louisiana.. you know what he found? (and I'm ccing him so he can chat with you more directly).. ever try to buy a server hardware in a computer store? He was buying MCE editions as they were the beefier ones have offsite backups of mediaas he was scrambling in some cases to get the right media. Sometimes it was the little things that nailed him. Your worst case scenerio is replacing that hardware... bare metal recovery in the 2k3 era is not the same as we had it in the 2k era with the SFN issues. SBS is no different of a DR recovery than the big guys... it just magnifies it is all In a normal DR setup ... to get that back in the air.. on an SBS box? Not if you know what you are doing and have practiced. 5. Cold server rights. If you have SA you have cold server rightsyou can park another server with a copy of the OS and then turn it off and leave it. Okay now let's review some of that 'the firm is down'. 1. Cached credentials, cached outlook means that the server can drop off the face of the earth and the workstations just kinda hang out until it comes back on. 2. Have alternative ways to get to key data. I have a robocopy that pulls a copy of certain folders over to a spare drive on my workstation.. Excel and Word docs.. should the gang absopositively need to get into a doc for a case, even if the server is down, we have a duplicate that can be gotten into. But honestly we're no different of a DR story than the big guys..a tad more complicated due to the all on one box... but the same rules apply RAID Hardware don't skimp Practice Decide if you are not going to do the secondary DC and to a server image...or do the secondary DC and don't image. and don't panic.and in my case I'm calling Jeff and paying him to be my calm DR buddy should something occur... btw I don't like Veritas in a single SBS setup.. the built in SBS backup works fine.. if you need to backup additional servers, then do Veritas Quatro Info wrote: Hi all, Have a general question / case. On small companies ( 10 - 20 employees), what config is the best to set the downtime in case of a crash to a minimum. Especially in a SBS environment / small company. Lets keep i
[ActiveDir] SBS and reducing downtime on crash
Hi all, Have a general question / case. On small companies ( 10 - 20 employees), what config is the best to set the downtime in case of a crash to a minimum. Especially in a SBS environment / small company. Lets keep it an easy example: -company has 15 employees -15 XP workstations -one SBS 2k3 server installed with all necessary tools etc..veritas backup exec / groupshield etc etc.. -raid mirror installed -network is configured well...firewall / updates etc Lets say all ingredients are there and are proper installed/working/configurated for the perfect network. You name it ...its there. BUT There is only one server and all is centralized to that one SBS server: -exchange -sql dbases -file sharing -network shared applications (company specific cms, cmr..etc..) I mean if that goes down, the whole company is downand when I mean down, I mean worst case scenario. Lets say that whole server is burned to the ground. Every part has turned to dust. Sure the back up is there and the emergency repair disk etc etc...but no other server to install it onordering it ..restoring it...takes all a few days to get it back in the air. Is it best to convince the client/company to keep 2 servers running together...so that the servers share their functions? Lets say -1 server with SBS2k3 for authentication & exchange & sql. -1 server with win2k3 for filesharing and the network shared applications. Sure last is best...but getting them convinced gets back likewe have a server, it works fine. If you peepz have other ideas?...share it! Rgrds Jorre List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ: http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
