On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 10:53 AM, Charlie Kaiser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Depending on the frequency of changes to the AD data, I'd > drop the VM DC at least once a month and copy those files to a backup > device somewhere.
Is there something wrong with using NTBACKUP to write the System State to tape, removable HDD, or optical disc on a regular basis? You can do that online without having to shut anything down. Or is that just for the "bring the VM up on other hardware" idea you mentioned? > You need to have everything on redundant drives. Concur here. In my experience, HDDs fail more often than any other core component, and unlike (say) a CPU, you can't just swap in a spare and pick-up where you left off. With decent RAID controllers being available for $100 .. $200, there's just no point in doing otherwise. That said, I always recommend having an offline, off-site backup solution, too. Even a single removable HDD you only bring in once a week is a huge improvement. Redundant disks don't protect against malware, accidental deletion or overwrite, software bugs leading to data corruption, sabotage, fire, flood, etc. > Why VMWare? If the box takes a dive, you can throw VMWare on a desktop, > copy the backed up VM files to that machine, and be up and running again > in 10 minutes, at least for auth purposes. Auth alone is pretty useless to most small orgs. They want their files and their email; they don't use the computer for anything else. (This is not to say the virtualization idea isn't worth considering, just commenting on the "at least for auth purposes" idea.) > ... a system board or memory failure could take down your entire company for > possibly > several days. Get a decent service contract, and you can reduce that to four hours for the vast majority of cases. -- Ben ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
