Re: Using VSS over the network
Hi John,
At the moment we have Exchange 2003 SE with a 75GB limit. Total of Exchange
mailboxes and PSTs is 71GB - too close for comfort if I was to hvae all
email data in the mailbox store. So all email older than one year is
archived to a PST file on a network share, and these files are accessible to
users via Outlook. The system as it is works fine. I get your point about
unlimited PSTs and I would LOVE to simply dump data from the dark ages but
they don't want to hear about it. EVERYTHING MUST STAY. Honestly, when I
suggested deleting old emails I got a response from the FD claiming "Why,
just the other day I had to look up a thread of email correspondence from
1997. If it wasn't available I would have lost a very important argument."
You see what I am up against?
Yes more space I can do. Just buy two 75GB SCSI drives in the drive cage @
£300 and configure as a mirror and we're off. It just seemed a waste a HDD
space on desktops which isn't being used. If it is not a reliable backup
solution, then yeah of course, I can't use it. It was just an idea, and the
idea of upgrading servers that are going to be binned in +/- 4 months again
seems like a waste.
I am not too much of a penny pincher, but one does like to find an answer
with the things at hand if it is possible. And yes, management do want
reliable systems and that is why I haven't done it yet and posted my
thoughts to gauge what was possible and what caveats got with it. Just
exploring options is all.
Thanks for your reply.
Regards,
Jarryd
"JohnB" <jbrigan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ei9jsnX0IHA.416@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> To be honest, I didn't know XP had VSS. So I really don't know if that
> would work. The only way to know for sure would be to test it.
>
> But I would try and think of another solution to your disk space problem.
> The reason I mentioned the files would need to be in shared folders is;
> how else would NTbackup "see" the folders, so that you can select them to
> back them up(from the server)?
>
> That's one of the many problems with using PST's; getting users to close
> Outlook at night so that they will get backed up.
>
> At some point you're going to have to put your foot down on this issue.
> Have you made management aware of the added cost in supporting unlimited
> PST files? There's the cost of not only disk space but, your time. Disk
> space is cheap these days. And that is the option that I would be looking
> at; adding more disk space to the server. AND making sure management
> knows how long that takes and how much it costs. Be careful about
> "always" being accommodating while not showing the consequences.
> Demonstrate to management that you are "managing" this situation, not just
> pinching pennies. They also want reliable solutions.
>
>
>
> "Jarryd" <jarryd@community.nospam> wrote in message
> news:uTJOPSV0IHA.4704@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I thought VSS was manually enabled on Volumes on Server 2003 and enabled
>> on XP by default (there is no shadow copies tab in XP, the service just
>> starts manually as needed). The files are on the server. The server is
>> running out of space (email attachments are just growing and growing and
>> GROWING). These pst files are archive stores holding mail older than one
>> year. They do not have to be shared, and the do not have to be accessed
>> remotely. If I can move them to the desktops then I can make use of the
>> abundant diskspace on client machines. The only problem here is I cannot
>> then back them up. So I guess this is not possible then?
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> Jarryd
>>
>> "JohnB" <jbrigan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:eW1fl5U0IHA.1240@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>> I want to be able to backup open files on WinXP desktops to a tape
>>>> drive on a Windows Server 2003 server.
>>> You can backup files on remote shares.
>>>
>>>> Is this possible? Ideally ntbackup run from server, but if not then
>>>> can a WinXP ntbackup instance connect to a remote tape drive located on
>>>> a Windows Server 2003 server?
>>> You cannot backup files to a remote drive with NTbackup.
>>>
>>> The question you're going to be asked is; why aren't the files that are
>>> on the workstations on the server.
>>> The problem you have here is; VSS is a service on the 2003. It's only
>>> going to work for local files. Not the files on the XP Desktops.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>