Dear All
We are in the process of replacing our single server running SBS 2003 Premium (running BE 2010 SBS) and I would appreciate some advice as to the most cost-effective way of achieving our backup solution.
(Note that I have looked at other looked at other posts re SBS 2011, but although they have similar needs, our requirements appear to be rather different).
We will be running not only SBS 2011 but also the Premium add-on, as SQL server is very important to us. Unlike SBS 2003, in SBS 2011 SQL must be run on a separate server instance.
Consequently, at this point in time, our preferred option is to buy two PHYSICAL servers, "probably" both running Windows 2012 standard with Hyper-v enabled.
The first physical server will then run two VMs:-
- Physical server 1 (aka PS1), VM 1 - SBS 2011 standard roles (i.e. AD, Exchange, Sharepoint)
- Physical server 1, VM 2 - Traditional File server (running Windows 2012 standard)
Similarly, physical server 2 will also run two VMs:-
- Physical server 2 (aka PS2), VM 1 - SBS 2011 premium (i.e. SQL server) and backup AD
- Physical server 2, VM 2 – Print and RDS server (running Windows 2012 standard)
Why two physical servers ?
- Primarily redundancy.
Why four VMs rather than just two (one each for the standard and premium SBS roles) ?
- Role segregation, so that, say, a server reboot does not lose all of our IT services as currently happens with our SBS 2003 solution, plus it gives us more 'future proofing'.
Why Windows 2012 as the Hyper-v host ?
- Partially because we would need to buy a Windows server license to achieve the four VMs outlined above anyway and partially because RDS is FAR better implemented in Windows 2012 than under 2008.
Although this solution is NOT yet 'set in stone', it is 90% likely to happen.
That being the case, then our backup requirements are as follows:-
- The 'standard' SBS data on PS1, VM1 (i.e. Exchange, Sharepoint and AD)
- The user files on PS1, VM2 (i.e. Word, Excel etc)
- The SQL data on PS2, VM1
- The four VM VHDs for DR purposes
Items 1-3 definitely need to be backed up on a daily basis, with RAID, UPSs and Shadow Copies hopefully meeting the needs during the day.
Ideally, we are looking to back up to a single LTO5 drive attached to physical server 1, possibly augmented by space on a NAS as well.
As always, there are more requirements than budget (!), so recommendations for the most cost-effective BE solution to achieve the above would be appreciated.
Kind regards
Horatio_too