I am setting up a backup system using the latest Backup Exec 2010 R3, and I would like to use usb hard drives as a backup media. I'm trying to figure out the best hassle-free way to introduce a disk rotation strategy into Backup Exec, but I'm coming up with the following problems:
Setup (simplified to address the problem at hand)
- Backup Exec 2010 R3 server on a Windows 2003 R2 server
- Use a different backup-to-disk folder for each day of the week
- Rotate external disks based on the day of the week
Using the built-in removable backup to disk option
This option has problems, because backup-to-disk folders are based on drive letters instead of disk IDs. That means that:
- More than one removable backup to disk drives cannot be assigned to the same drive letter.
- If drive letters are assigned to disks to permit the creation of multiple removable backup to disk drives, you can easily use up all available drive letters when creating a comprehensive year-round backup system. Additionally, special setup is required to prepare disks for use (assigning a drive letter) to a drive.
- If drive letter assignment gets re-arranged due to windows USB drive behavior, backup drives won't come online.
All this means that I don't have a straightforward way to link removable backup to disk folders to external drives.
Using a backup to disk setup
This setup seemed to work, at first, since Backup Exec was finding disks and using them. However, the system does not seem to care which physical disk to use for a backup, and creates backup to disk folders on the drives that have already been set up with other backup to disk folders. Imagine this scenario:
Backup Exec Devices:
- BED001
- BED002
Corresponding Physical Devices:
- PD001
- PD002
PD001 and PD002 are attached to the system to handle two days worth of backups. However, Backup Exec uses BED001 for both backups, and creates a new backup to disk folder on PD001 to handle the backup.
The BIG Question
The big question here is how do I set up the system to make it easy to identify which disk is needed in the event a restore operation is required to retrieve data from a specific date?
Best Answer
Alternative answer: Forcing drive letter persistence
Although I'm definitely sticking with my first answer, I thought I'd add another approach, which you may be able to get working with some initial effort. A massive disclaimer on this though, as I've never tried it and, typically, unless you use Backup Exec in exactly the way it was intended, it usually ends in tears.
Force either via USBDLM or WMI script
Essentially, this approach requires ensuring that all of your backup USB disks are given the same drive-letter, prior to the backup job running. This might be doable using USBDLM, from http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html. Otherwise, you'd be looking at a WMI script -- either run manually or scheduled to run during the day, prior to the backup job -- to find a valid, connected USB disk by serial/model/device ID and assign its drive-letter to the fixed one of your RB2D. You may even be able to run this in a Pre-Job Command, provided the backup device is not determined prior to the pre-job run.
Background
I reckon the problems with this approach will be due to Backup Exec's numbering logic for the IMG files that end up on a (R)B2D. I expect that Backup Exec will lose track of what can be overwritten, etc. This might be avoidable if you were to perform inventory operations on the RB2D every time you used it. Again, if the pre-job command runs before the backup device is determined, you might be able to use
bemcmd.exe
to run a saved Inventory job, after the drive-letter is assigned and before the backup job runs.Sample VBScript to interface with WMI
A basic VBScript file that forces a the first partition on a disk to be mounted with a given drive-letter, based on a list of allowed Plug & Play Device IDs is as follows. It should work on anything Windows Server 2003 and upwards, but I only have XP to hand at the moment and so have not tested it myself:
Good luck.