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What is the best backup strategy for my environment?

Posted: 10 Nov 2010, 11:24
by jsf
What is the best backup strategy for my environment, and how do I implement it with Firestreamer? For example, I use Microsoft DPM and I have several external 2TB disk drives. I want to rotate the drives on a weekly basis. How can I do it? Also, I would like to label the drives Week1, Week2, etc. How can I identify which drive has which data on it?

Your questions are not directly related to Firestreamer. Remember that it's merely a tape library. It doesn't do backups on its own. Everything is controlled by Microsoft DPM. Let's rephrase your questions as follows:
  • I have a physical tape library (i.e., Firestreamer).
  • I have several boxes of tape cartridges, 2TB in total per box (here, a box is an external disk drive, a tape cartridge is a virtual tape in the form of a .fsrm file. If you chose 100GB as the maximum size of your tapes, then you have 20 tapes per box).
  • Typically, I label the boxes Week1, Week2, etc.
  • How do I configure Microsoft DPM so that I load one box of tapes into the tape library, and rotate the boxes on a weekly basis?
  • How do I tell which box belongs to which backup?
  • What is the best backup strategy for my environment?
Now you should contact Microsoft Support with the rephrased questions above. Don't mention Firestreamer. Pretend that you use physical tape. Microsoft is in a better position to answer your questions because they know everything about their backup software, while we can only guess.

Alternatively, follow the step-by-step instructions to perform several test backups. After some experience with Microsoft DPM and Firestreamer, you will have a better understanding of what you need to do.