+1. Even if it's just putting ESXi on each server's bare metal and building the server OS on top of that, your recoverability goes WAY up with no additional infrastructure costs.
*********************** Charlie Kaiser [email protected] Kingman, AZ *********************** > -----Original Message----- > From: Jonathan Link [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 8:57 AM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: Re: Server Disk Imaging > > Please, I have 10 servers virtualized. I didn't spend > anymore on the two physical servers I have than the 10 > servers I would've had to purchase without a virtual > environment. In fact, if I had to estimate it, I estimate I > spent at least 50% less. Probably closer to 70%, but 50% is > a safe, easy estimate. > > Most servers aren't doing anything than maing heat and using > electricity while they're on. Unless you're doing some > intensive database stuff, hard to justify staying physical nowadays. > > > On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 11:48 AM, HELP_PC <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Storagecraft is ,IMO, the best and if you find a good > reseller is not so expensive. You may also buy the It edition > for a yearly fee and you are able to image unlimited number > of machines. > Virtualization for 10 servers requires a very expensive > hardware if you are not simply experimenting! > > Regards > > GuidoElia > HELPPC > > > ________________________________ > > Da: Bob Hartung [mailto:[email protected]] > Inviato: lunedì 12 luglio 2010 15.31 > A: NT System Admin Issues > Oggetto: Server Disk Imaging > > > 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 <http://wiscoind.com/> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
