Need a Backup Solution!

M

mikelato

Verified User
Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
74
Hi,

I need to find the best backup solution possible for my situation. I have two servers with identical hardware. I just put a 500gb hard drive in each server. The first server is setup with DA and my IP. What I would like to do, is setup my first server and second server in a way that if the first server has an issue, I can flip a switch and have the second server take over.

Basically, I would like the HDD on server1 to be ghosted to the HDD on server2 either nightly or weekly (I haven't decided which to do yet). I do not want server2 online at all. I would prefer to maybe use USB to USB to do this.

Please let me know if this is possible, or if there is something similar I could do. Thank you.

-Mike
 
It's possible, and user scsi has mentioned the first step. Actually you have to do it continually, or you'll have problems with both email and mysql, so scsi is correct about using rsync.

A USB to USB transfer is certainly workable, but what you'll need some kind of controller to know when the first machine has failed, and then remove it from your switch/router and connect the other. Whether you're going to do this physically or through software, it's an important part of the equation. It's not as simple as you'd think and there's almost always a single point of failure. I'd suggest googling for failover.

Jeff
 
There are ways to mirror mysql easy and ways to mirror normal files. If all you want is a mirrored solution incase one box goes down that wouldnt be too hard. You would have to manually move the ip over incase box1 goes down though. If you want something more automated then look into something like vmware with its automatic failover feature. Another thing you can do is use a heartbeat/load balancer. There are tons of guides on howtoforge.net how to do these things.
 
We're using r1soft for all our backups, DA backups are completely disabled. I'm not sure if and how you could automate complete restores, but perhaps it's worth a shot to contact them.
 
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