Unfortunately no one can be told what fun_plug is - you have to see it for yourself.
You are not logged in.
Hi,
We have a DNS-323 device (static IP) on a network of 3 Windows XP Pro clients. Drives are mapped for the user during Windows startup using net use commands in a batch file.
I want to set up NTBackup Scheduled Tasks on each user's computer to perform weekly (full) backup and daily (diff) backup. The source for the backup is the user's personal drive (N:) on the DNS-323. The destination for the backup is a company shared drive (S:) and user folder on the DNS-323.
NTBackup is quite challenging. All runs well interactively, but is problematic and unsuccessful when set up as a scheduled task due to mapped drives. Quite puzzling indeed!
Has anyone tackled this scenerio? I would really appreciate some help.
Thanks!
Info:
Static IP: 192.168.0.210
Device name: dlink-54CCAF
Drive N: \\192.168.0.210\<share>
Drive S: \\192.168.0.210\<share>
Last edited by HarvMan (2009-04-21 21:31:31)
Offline
Maybe of your interest but I use SyncToy (free from Microsoft) and scheduled it with the Windows scheduled tasks.
Works great for me!
Last edited by perssinaasappel (2009-04-21 22:37:30)
Offline
HarvMan,
As I understand the issue, at the time the scheduled backup is run, the appropriate drives may or may not be mapped due to the user, perhaps, not being logged on. Is this the case?
If so, this could be solved by running a cron (or scheduler) job which mounts the shares just before the backup, does the backup, and unmounts the share.
However, I must say that such a solution is a hack to get around a more fundamental problem that you have created for yourself. I suspect that the root cause of the problem is the overall architecture of how you are doing the backups.
Typically, better backup systems will run on the sink and pull data directly from the source, without involving unnecessary intermediate machines. By involving a machine that has no source data and no sink for backup, you are adding complexity and introducing another point of failure.
If you can setup something like an rsync daemon, or some other way to source data on command, on the NAS and something that looks like rsnapshot, or some other way to grab just the data you need, on the corporate server, that would be your best option.
A second best option is to have the NAS push data at the backup server, but this requires that the NAS be able to log onto the server, which is a security risk if you have to scale this.
What sort of system is the corporate share?
Offline
perssinaasappel:
Thanks for the tip ... I will check out SyncToy.
talkingRock:
Thanks, I appreciate your comments and suggestions.
Just to clarify, each user is logged on and idle when the scheduled task runs. All drives have already been mapped during Windows startup. There is no server on this network ... there are 3 XP (NTFS) work stations, some printers/scanners and the DND-323 NAS for central file management.
As you may have hinted, is it better to target the backup destination onto each client, such as, C:\Backup\<daily folder...>. The backup folder for each day can then be transferred onto a USB device for off-site storage and rotation.
Offline
HarvMan,
You're right, I misunderstood, I thought that there was NAS + other server + 3 XP machines.
So both S: and N: are on the NAS?
Putting the backups on the client using a USB drive is a reasonable option.
There is another option you may want to consider if both N and S are on the NAS. If you make N: one physical drive in the NAS, should be able to use the how-to on here for getting the NAS to copy from one volume to the other as a backup scheme. The S: would then be exposed read-only to the users as the backup drive. This would also allow you to rotate and transfer offsite by rotating the second drive in the NAS. The whole thing would run on the NAS and not involve the clients at all. If you go for that scheme, you probably want to have a second NAS in storage because the NAS box itself becomes a single point of catastrophic failure.
Of course, you can also imagine slightl more sophisticated setups with multiple NAS boxes, ... that fix that vulnerability.
Offline
talkingRock,
I should have mentioned the NAS is configured as Raid 1. The client originally thought a "mirrored" environment IS a backup. However, I have explained the difference and she now understands.
The S: drive is a company file share so multiple users can read / update "common" files.
Included on the S: drive is a folder named NTBackup with a subfolder for each day, and within each day a subfolder for each user.
Files on the N: drive would then be backed up each day into the NTBackup folders and subsequently dumped onto USBs for off-site rotation.
Offline
perssinaasappel
I checked SyncToy and noticed an announcement in the SyncFx - SyncToy-File Synchronization forum http://social.microsoft.com/forums/en-U … oy/threads
"Please note that there are known issues when using SyncToy 2.0 with a Home NAS. When using a NAS, there is a chance of file corruption. This issue will be fixed in an upcoming release. Unfortunately there are no known workarounds for this issue with SyncToy 2.0."
Can you please provide a brief outline of how to use SyncToy for backup, i.e. to monitor changes to a NAS share and reflect those changes (one way) into a backup folder.
Thanks!
Offline
Do the users have passwords? Scheduled tasks will not run without a password. Blank will not work...
General usage is to set the passwords then use tweakui, regedit, or some such to set auto login...
Offline
HarvMan wrote:
perssinaasappel
I checked SyncToy and noticed an announcement in the SyncFx - SyncToy-File Synchronization forum http://social.microsoft.com/forums/en-U … oy/threads
"Please note that there are known issues when using SyncToy 2.0 with a Home NAS. When using a NAS, there is a chance of file corruption. This issue will be fixed in an upcoming release. Unfortunately there are no known workarounds for this issue with SyncToy 2.0."
Can you please provide a brief outline of how to use SyncToy for backup, i.e. to monitor changes to a NAS share and reflect those changes (one way) into a backup folder.
Thanks!
HarvMan, you just scared the hell out of me, but thanks for the pointer.
I haven't noticed this bad behaviour with SyncToy, but knowing this I guess it's better to wait for the SyncToy update.
For your information, SyncToy is easy to setup.
On the left side you select a local folder on your Windows box, on the right side you select a network share.
This network share is, you guessed it, on your NAS.
I prefer to use the "Echo" method, it copies all from left to right and after that only the changes from left to right.
(Also deletes on the left side are repeated on the right side.)
Then use the scheduler to automate SyncToy.
How to use the scheduler is well documented in the SyncToy Help.
And yes, in Vista I have to use a password on my user account otherwise the scheduler doesn't work.
Hope this helps.
P.S. I'm now looking into SyncBack, also freeware, to see if I can use this for the time being.
Last edited by perssinaasappel (2009-04-22 21:44:23)
Offline