Doubting myself.

[Big Jim]

I have a client that has a basic Dell tower server, with 3 desktops.

This was setup by a previous Tech who just went off the radar, thats when they contacted me to support them.
Had a callout to them yesterday to check that they were backing up properly. But as usual with this client ended up being a list of things that needed sorting

So the setup before I ever did anything was as follows
all 3 machines connected via AD.
They pay for MS exchange for emails (about 8/9 in total)
Server is running 2012 essentials and is used only for folder redirection and DNS as far as I can tell
They have some network shares setup but nobody uses them, although SAGE has been configured to store data on a network share

The backup solution left in place was a USB Stick is left in the front of the machine and every few days one of the members of staff swaps it for a different one and takes the spare home with them.
They have noway of knowing if it has run successfully or not.

When I check backup logs the last successful backup was end of August, it is setup to backup files only once a day. The logs just say that it failed to start without much more information. And the logs only went back to 01/11/19.
So I ran the backup manually and that ran ok. I believe the only way to monitor this is with a script ?
The odd thing about this backup was that the USB stick had been setup as a network share and the backup is set to backup to the network share rather than direct to the drive, is there any valid reason for doing it this way ?

As for the rest of the office
Machine 1 was replaced by me about a year ago, is running W10 I5-7400, 500GB SSD 8GB Ram, Office 2016.
machine 2 and 3 are I5-4590s, we upgraded to 500GB SSD and 8GB RAM last year.
Because the HDDs in them were now spare, I set both of those machines to backup locally weekly using windows 7 backup, Machine 1 had to backup to the server as it doesn't have a 2nd drive. (this failed earlier in the day but I left it running and will check it next time I am on site)

Yesterday both W7 machines were upgraded to W10.
I have to install a 4th desktop machine soon, which will have same spec as the above machines.


So the backup solution I wanted to go with was to use Onedrive, for 2 reasons
1 - it is reasonably priced
2 - it includes Office 365, which I can install on 3 machines (1 of the PCs was running office 2010, 1 is running office 2013 but that is complaining about the license and nobody knows where the key is, and finally the new pc when we install it)

However it seems onedrive cannot be set to include additional folders for some bizzare reason.
so I setup syncback (folder syncronisation software for those that haven't heard of it) to mirror the folder that we want backing up to the onedrive folder. and then installed onedrive on the server


Server specs
Xeon 4 core/4 thread
8GB DDR3
2 x 1TB 7200 SATA in RAID-1
single network port
Windows 2012 Essentials


The HDD is partitioned with a 100GB OS partition and the rest is the storage drive, which currently only has about 100GB in use.

now as we don't do MSP yet I can't offer them MSP services (they will be a prime candidate once I get it up and running however)
All of the above is expected to just run and work and they won't have a clue if it is working or not.

I can setup syncback to email a log to say that everything has copied to onedrive ok but that doesn't tell them that onedrive hasn't crashed and is working correctly.

I am not 100% happy with the solution I have used being dead honest. I would prefer something that can be monitored slightly better.

Oh and to add to all of this the PCs are all connected via an old 16 port Netgear 10/100 network switch, which I am also quoting to replace.

 

[marley1]

This was a sloppy post.

OneDrive isn't backup

Get a be server based antivirus. We use Solarwinds. Backup the server. Examine the computers, if no local data no reason to back up.

Use Solarwinds to backup 355 data

 

[Big Jim]

This was a sloppy post.

OneDrive isn't backup

Get a be server based antivirus. We use Solarwinds. Backup the server. Examine the computers, if no local data no reason to back up.

Use Solarwinds to backup 355 data

sloppy post ??

No local data on computers but they are domain joined and do have several user accounts each with access to about 6 email addresses, so always handy to have a machine backup in case of a drive failure, can get the machine back up and running quicker that way as it takes a few hours to sort out all the user accounts and emails.

Just had a quick look at Solarwinds, starts at £2275, this client is not going to pay that much I know that already.
Pretty much going to be the same situation with Server based anti-virus, looking at £1000 a year for something like Kaspersky endpoint and I just can't see them paying it.
Money is tight for them, so I tried to implement something that was cost effective.
(to give you an example, they asked me to quote a new tower in march, I heard nothing back so chased up in May, heard nothing again so left it.
When i called Friday I find out they currently have 2 members of staff sharing a PC at the moment)

When i first arrived the owner mentioned buying another computer and storing it off site and having their server back up to that every day.
The owners house is across the road from the business premises, and possibly using the same network (not 100% sure on that though as haven't ever been in to his house), I steered towards a cloud solution though.

 

[fencepost]

The mention of Solarwinds Backup is presumably the Solarwinds managed backup solution you'd be able to use if you were running N-Central or Solarwinds RMM (or sign up separate from those and resell yourself). Look at solarwindsmsp.com, not at solarwinds.com - the second one has their products that are for sale into enterprise environments which is the pricing you saw.

The first question I'd ask is whether you want to be selling them backup service or simply setting them up with a backup product that they're responsible for monitoring and using?

 

[SAFCasper]

The odd thing about this backup was that the USB stick had been setup as a network share and the backup is set to backup to the network share rather than direct to the drive, is there any valid reason for doing it this way ?

It's done to prevent backups failing if the USB picks up a new drive letter.

 

[Big Jim]

The mention of Solarwinds Backup is presumably the Solarwinds managed backup solution you'd be able to use if you were running N-Central or Solarwinds RMM (or sign up separate from those and resell yourself). Look at solarwindsmsp.com, not at solarwinds.com - the second one has their products that are for sale into enterprise environments which is the pricing you saw.

The first question I'd ask is whether you want to be selling them backup service or simply setting them up with a backup product that they're responsible for monitoring and using?

Long term MSP would be my goal just because no-one on site will truly look after it, although they do have one member of staff that seems to be very diligent.she is not in anyway in charge. Its a family run business and there are 4 family members working there, they try and "get by" IT wise
instead of calling me for "silly little things"
Short term I would prefer something that is running that they can monitor.

My own backup for example (at least the one I am interested in) is a simple daily folder backup to my home NAS that emails me a log once it has completed.

It's done to prevent backups failing if the USB picks up a new drive letter.

But the map is done to the USB Drive letter (F: in this case)
so if it picked up a new letter then the network share would show unavailable and it would still fail.
Unless I am missing something ?

 

[Mick]

Pretty much going to be the same situation with Server based anti-virus, looking at £1000 a year for something like Kaspersky endpoint

For the AV, take a look at Panda endpoint - significantly less than the figure you've quoted for Kaspersky.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Jim, I have 3 servers o back up on a daily basis. The cost of this to me is £25.00 pr server plus vodka n tonic pr month.

I resell it at £50.00 pr month. This is with databunker.

 

[Kitten Kong]

For av, I use bit defender gravity zone. I can't tell you the cost of this on a open forum, but suffice to say I make a good 300% + profit monthly.

More to the point, it works, and works well.

 

[SAFCasper]

But the map is done to the USB Drive letter (F: in this case)
so if it picked up a new letter then the network share would show unavailable and it would still fail.
Unless I am missing something ?

No idea then.

The method I was thinking is when you share a folder from the USB then point the backup software at the share address (eg. \\localhost\folder) which remains constant even if the USB drive letter changes.

I've also seen it done with Hyper-v to share a single backup drive between several guests.

 

[Big Jim]

No idea then.

The method I was thinking is when you share a folder from the USB then point the backup software at the share address (eg. \\localhost\folder) which remains constant even if the USB drive letter changes.

I've also seen it done with Hyper-v to share a single backup drive between several guests.

Yeh the software is pointed at the share, but the share is configured against F:\foldername
unless of course I missed something when I was looking at it and the share is configured to follow the drive even if the letter changes

How would you ensure that the shared folder remains linked even if the USB drive letter changes ?

 

[Sky-Knight]

Windows manages shares based on NTFS permissions and volume ID, not drive letter. So if you share a USB storage device, remove it, and reattach it in a different port, it may get a different drive letter but it should also be shared again, as it was before.

However, I've had this process fail, so I do not use it.

 

[Big Jim]

Windows manages shares based on NTFS permissions and volume ID, not drive letter. So if you share a USB storage device, remove it, and reattach it in a different port, it may get a different drive letter but it should also be shared again, as it was before.

However, I've had this process fail, so I do not use it.

The share seemed to still be in tact but the backups had been failing, the error report didn't really give a reason either. I'll check it again when I go back there.

 

[timeshifter]

I really don't trust any client, even the tech savvy / smart ones, to monitor their own backups. I've got too many examples of where that doesn't happen like it should.

Even know of one instance, a potential client... during an interview / walk-through she was showing me their servers and backup drives. She commented that they're supposed to rotate them off site, but they don't, they know they're supposed to and they tell their IT guy they do, but they don't. Not sad I didn't pick up that client.

 

[Markverhyden]

I really don't trust any client, even the tech savvy / smart ones, to monitor their own backups.

The catch is some just are willing to risk things. I have several who I've pitched MSP but have declined. They're happy with T&M.