Instant Backup/Recovery - Questions
I've been reading a lot of posts on how people approach their backup / restore tasks, and am still looking to understand the details of what is and isn't possible.
Like everyone else, my intention is to have a backup / restore procedure that can bring a blown up system back immediately if matching hardware can be located.
By the way, please assume that the server(s) in question cannot be visited physically (assume server is in another state/country).
I hear that people do the following:
Ghost
RSync
Tape Backup
File copy to 2nd Drive
File copy to external storage (NAS, SAN, File server, etc)
Forgive my confusion. From the above options I only know of one that will give you a instant no-questions-ask-I'm-back-in-business restore (ghost).
Ghost requires a floppy boot (downtime) because it accesses and copies every part of your drive. While an operating system is running, there are parts that are locked, so a complete image isn't possible (or so I thought).
Perhaps Ghost can be ran by other means than floppy (maybe it would be a pain to have someone at your provider do this)
Can the other options (RSync, Tape, File Copy, etc) give you the kinda of instant recovery Ghost can? Aren't their several parts of the OS that aren't copied? If so, you can't do an instant recovery right (because you don't have some of the OS files)?
So are these backup approaches (RSync, Tape, File Copy, etc) only used to backup key data? I.e user's websites, files, key server config files, etc?
Again if all of this is accurate then, everyone who is not Ghosting (and taking the system offline), will have to do manual steps when recovering. So what steps do you take to recover from a blown up drive?
1) call dedicated/colo provider and have then replace drive and install fresh copy of OS
2) Login to new server install and manually move your backup core data and config files back to the server manually.
3) Pray you didnt forget anything. Pray there aren't version conflicts (or some other freaky thing).
Let me know where I'm wrong and what you think. What is your approach to backup/restore (distaster recovery)? What steps must you do to recover as a result of your backup strategy?
Thanks for the input!
