BDBB will detect a Server Backup drive and allow you to use it as a backup target, so yes, a single disk can do both.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins? If so, be sure to Rate them at WeGotServed.

Hi,

This is my first post to this forum. Thank you all for so much information and an excellent Add-in. This is exactly what I was looking for to complete my WHS.

I have an HPEX485 with 3 disks. I have installed the WHS BDBB Add-in. And, I've checked the "Enable Duplication for WHS Backups" (first checkbox) to create a continuous duplicate of the backup database just like other duplicated folders. In the Server Storage Tab, my system currently shows 118GB in use for shared folders (which matches the total for used space in the Shared Folders tab), 118GB for duplication, 80GB for pc backups and 101GB for system.

What I'm trying to do is verify that the WHS BDBB Add-in is active. My initial thought was that the value for duplication would be the value for shared folders (all of which have duplication on) plus the value for pc backups. But, this isn't the case. The other thing I've tried is the Duplication Info Add-in. It shows which pair of disks each of the shared folders is using but it doesn't have an additional entry for the backup database (at least as far as I can tell).

What should I do to verify that the backup database has been duplicated?

Thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark, welcome.

Your Server Storage space should show the size of your backup database plus 20GB for the system, give or take a GB or two (which it sounds like your server is showing). The Backup DB is stored in an Application Folder, whose space consumption is included the Server Storage space representation.

To further verify, you can use Remote Desktop to access the system, then look in the C:\fs\ directories to see if files in folders\{00* are stored on more than one physical drive.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins? If so, be sure to Rate them at WeGotServed.

Hi,

Thank you for the prompt response. That's it exactly - 80GB PC Backups + 20GB "system" is almost exactly the 101GB showing for System showing in Server Storage.

One other question - The Restore button in Settings for WHS BDBB is disabled. So, if I had a disk failure that affected the "original" of the backup database, what would I do to "restore from" (i.e. "switch to") the duplicate? Would this happen automatically somehow as part of the system folder duplication process?

Thanks,
Mark

Yup, enabling duplication simply turns on the built-in WHS duplication feature for the backup DB, so in the event of a drive loss your DB should remain intact.

The restore button is only for specific BDBB backups to another drive, which you are not doing.

I should re-iterate that the "Enable Duplication" features make use of an unsupported interface and as such you do this at your own risk. I personally recommend making backups via BDBB instead of turning on duplication, as the backup process is documented by MS as an acceptable solution while turning on duplication is not.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins? If so, be sure to Rate them at WeGotServed.

With duplication enabled, you do not need to restore the backup database from a drive failure. That is the primary function of duplication. There is a duplicate copy of the data on another drive, so if one drive fails, the MSS looks to the duplicate. The restore function is for external BDBB backups. If your backup database is lost due to whatever (corruption, failed drive w/o duplication, etc.), and you have a BDBB backup on an external drive, you can restore your backup database from the external backup. I've done this (restore the backup database after a drive failure), and it works to restore the backup database to the state it was in at the time of the BDBB backup.

Alex,

I've taken the plunge and my EX485 showed up today. I plan on doing a feet wet test run to make sure everything is working by using your add-in to migrate my user database to the EX485 from the old home server which will make its way to my wife's office ventually. I'm hoping you have time to answer a few questions.

1. Any reason/advantage to re-use the same WHS server name with the new box? I don't see that it will matter but thought I would ask.

2. Do I need to run updates on the new box prior to restoring data backed up from the current WHS which does have all of its updates?

3. Any gotchas on the server or client side? I've found some blog posts where people have indicated that if they ran discovery.exe program to detect and connect to the new server that it caused problems and the client side software had to be re-installed.

Any other guidance is appreciated, obviously of paramount importance is not losing any data in the process. Thanks!

I'd recommend holding off for a few days with the BDBB restore, if you can, I'll be able to make your life a fair bit easier... That's all I can say for now about that.

To get set up, I'd name the new box something else so they can coexist on the same network, get all the updates, and get it all set up the way you want it. I do recommend you install the new EX48x with the included client CD, just to avoid any possible complication and to get the new HP Control Center and supporting functionality. By the time you've got this done we can probably talk about BDBB's role in this.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins? If so, be sure to Rate them at WeGotServed.

Thanks for the advice Alex, I will get the new box started up, named and existing on the network for a while. I look forward to your next update on BDBB, thanks!

Okay, new EX485 is up and running on the network and coexisting with the old home brew WHS box at the moment.

Should I hold off on migrating my data, or just the backup database? I am under the impression that I can add a drive to my older WHS box as a backup drive, then back up the shares and restore them to the new box, but I will hold off if upcoming updates will make this less painful as well.

Thanks again for all the help!

Go ahead and migrate your data for sure. If you can't wait a few days for the backup DB, then I suggest you read this well to make moving the db over work well.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins? If so, be sure to Rate them at WeGotServed.

I am not in a rush to migrate the DB if something better is coming. In the meanwhile I will backup and migrate my shares over to the new box, as I can then test them with my Mac, with iTunes, etc.

Thanks.

Any Updates Alex? I've started backing up my machines with the new box, will I still be able to migrate the old backup data there once new methods/tools are available?

PM sent.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins? If so, be sure to Rate them at WeGotServed.

When I do the backup my only option is Server Storage. It doesn't give me the option of drives that are not added to the storage pool or drives that are setup for Server Backup. Any tips?

Server storage is not big enough to backup the database to...

Thanks,

Chris