If you're using VMWare, then you'd just be rebuilding your ESX server underneath. it's VirtualCenter that you'd worry about failing, but there are plenty of ways to back that system up.
MS virtualization may be cheaper for your requirements, or you could try ESXi On 12 July 2010 15:26, Bob Hartung <[email protected]> wrote: > Virtualization may be possible in the future but budgets say otherwise > for now. > > Even in a virtualized enviroment, there would still be an underlying system > that can fail and needs to be backed up in a more traditional sense isn't > there? > > ---------------------- > > Bob Hartung > Wisco Industries, Inc. > 736 Janesville St. > Oregon, WI 53575 > Tel: (608) 835-3106 x215 > Fax: (608) 835-7399 > e-mail: bhartung(at)wiscoind.com > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Jonathan Link [mailto:[email protected]] > *To:* NT System Admin Issues [mailto:[email protected] > ] > *Sent:* Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:35:40 -0500 > *Subject:* Re: Server Disk Imaging > > > Have you considered virtualizing your environment? > You can achieve a lot of what you want to do and more with virtualized > servers. I'm always amazed at how much easier things are in a virtual > environment. And I apologize for not providing the answer you were looking > for. > > On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 9:30 AM, Bob Hartung <[email protected]>wrote: > >> I've been looking for a disk imaging solution for the servers on our >> network. They currently are all Dell PowerEdge servers running Windows 2003. >> My main goal is to be able to restore a server quickly in the event of a >> hardware failure, like a RAID card failure that hoses the hard drives. >> >> We use Arcserve for doing nightly backups and as a file by file solution, >> it's fine. For disaster recovery, it leaves a lot to be desired. It >> essentially does a reinstall of the operating system and then restores from >> back. As such, it's not very fast. >> >> I've tried a number of disk imaging software packages. They all can create >> an image of the server system drive while the server is running and that's >> great. However, what seems to always be a weak point is restoring from a >> boot disk. >> >> All the packages have a utility to create a bootable CD but they generally >> have a problem either accessing the RAID volume or the LAN adapter or both. >> Whether they use Windows PXE, Linux or DOS, drivers seem to be a problem. It >> would seem logical that these software packages would have a utility to copy >> the existing drivers off the system and incorporate them into the BootDisk >> but none do that I've found. >> >> The only package I've tried so far that seems to work with the couple of >> servers I've been testing on is Acronis Backup and Recovery for Servers. I'd >> use this if it weren't so expensive at roughly $1,000 per server. >> >> Anyone using a disk imaging solution they'd care to recommend? >> >> Thanks. >> >> ---------------------- >> >> Bob Hartung >> Wisco Industries, Inc. >> 736 Janesville St. >> Oregon, WI 53575 >> Tel: (608) 835-3106 x215 >> Fax: (608) 835-7399 >> e-mail: bhartung(at)wiscoind.com >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > > > > > > > -- "On two occasions...I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
