<div dir="ltr">A bit along the lines of what Joe says, I often don't put quite as much emphasis on the replaceable "infrastructure" so much as the irreplaceable data. Like you, most of the libraries I work with no longer host their own ILS on-premises, so that offloads a huge stress. E-mail and web sites are usually also hosted off-premises. Mostly, the irreplaceable data is operational staff files (Office documents, publications and the like), pictures, and user profiles (browser bookmarks!!!). The rest is infrastructure which, as Joe mentioned, is often not quite as important to be able to recreate EXACTLY.<div><br></div><div>For my own libraries, servers are virtualized using VMware software. One of the benefits to using Virtual Machines is hardware abstraction. The server running in a VM doesn't really care what the real hardware is. The same unchanged VM runs on my seven-year old VM Host Server equally as well as any brand new VM Host Server (albeit a little slower...yes, I ought to upgrade). So in addition to restoring backups, it makes hardware upgrades a breeze. Drop a new VM Host Server into place and copy the VMs over to the new Host Server and done. The VMs don't know or care that you replaced the actual hardware it's running on because the hardware is abstracted by the VMware hypervisor.</div><div><br></div><div>I'll typically make a backup copy of an entire virtual machine and keep it on a single large non-redundant hard drive in the Virtual Machine Host Server. Extra copies of the backups can then be copied to an external hard drive and be taken off-site. Then if something bad happens to the (virtual) server, I can discard the VM if necessary, restore the backup copy, then restore the data from nightly data backups. There may be operating system updates and maybe some supporting software updates (virus scanners and the like) to do, but since the infrastructure doesn't usually change all that significantly on a day to day basis, things can get up and running fairly quickly.</div><div><br></div><div>For really nasty catastrophes, a new VM Host Server can be built or borrowed and the off-site backup of the VM can be quickly restored. Again, restore data from the nightlies and done.</div><div><br></div><div>Since the nightlies will be pretty much just the irreplaceable data and not necessarily programs, operating systems, config, etc. the amount of data you actually need to back up can be, if necessary, relatively small in the grand scheme of things. Your backup software of choice should easily handle the job.</div><div><br></div><div>I often use Backup Exec (TechSoup...and Symantec...are our friends!) but I've also created simple DIY file backups using FreeFileSync (open source). I typically put three external hard drives into a rotation. The staff leave one hard drive attached for a week, then rotate them, ideally keeping one off-site at all times. (You'd have to decide your own rotation based on your own risk and loss tolerance assessment.) Non-technical staff aren't always reliable, though, so for many of my libraries, I periodically synchronize an off-site copy over a VPN to my own servers, just for an extra safety net.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Oh, lastly, the general rule is...workstations don't get individually backed up. IE favorites and documents in user profiles are redirected to the server, and gets backed up each night. So important data needs to be kept on the server, otherwise you're SOL.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>It works for me; your mileage may vary.</div><div>Chad</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>______________________________<br><b>Chad Neeper</b><br><font size="1">Senior Systems Engineer</font><br><br><b>Level 9 Networks</b><br><font size="1">740-548-8070 (voice)<br>866-214-6607 (fax)</font><br><br><font size="1"><i>Full IT/Computer consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and schools</i></font><br></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 11:27 AM, Tara Sidwell <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tsidwell@seolibraries.org" target="_blank">tsidwell@seolibraries.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div><p>Good Morning,<br></p><p><br></p><p>I am looking into what options we have to back up our virtual computer system. We use WYSE terminals and have looked at options where the complete system would be backed up including servers, domain controllers, and files. This option is very costly in terms of monthly fees for offsite backup and technical support. I would like to hear any opinions anyone might have or any experiences backing up information in a small library. Do we need this much backup capacity? We are a small library system with one branch. We are maintaining 50 machines counting patron and staff devices. We are a member of SEO, so all library automation is backed up with them. I appreciate any thoughts you could share.<br></p><p><br></p><p>Thank you in advance,<br></p><p><br></p><p>Tara Sidwell<br></p><p>Director, Kate Love Simpson Morgan County Library System<br></p><p>McConnelsville and Chesterhill Ohio<br></p><p><a href="tel:740-962-2533" value="+17409622533" target="_blank">740-962-2533</a><br></p><p><br> </p></div>
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