I have a few questions about the best procedures for performing a backup on my office small business server 2003.
Right now I have a daily backup that is performed using the built in utility. This backs up the server back onto itself in a backup folder where the last 2 backups are kept. These backups are larger, about 25gb each while I only really have about 1.5gb of documents that the server is there to store.
I would like some type off offsite backup. I have tried using an external hard drive which copies the most recent backup file (25gb) as well as the documents folder (1.5gb). The documents folder is backed up seperately just in case a file is accidentially deleted I can restore just that file (is that the best way to do it?)
The problem is that when it tries to perform the document backup to the external drive it runs into an error because the ACT database that I use has a SQL Service that is running that must be stopped before the backup starts. This means that I have to stop working 30 minutes before I leave, log everyone off, stop the service, and run the backup which is a pain. Can I either get this service to stop automatically for the backup? When the built in backup/restore utility backs this up, does it successsfully backup this database file?
I was just playing around with windows home server trial and I was able to backup the 1.5gb documents over a VPN to my windows home server (at home) and this seemed to successfully copy the Database file even with the service running.
I think this server is overkill for my home and I feel like there is a better way to backup 1.5gb offsite (without paying for a offsite backup service).
I was wondering if a NAS at home running a FTP server, connected through a VPN would work for me, or if I would have the problem of copying a file that is in use by the services?
Thank you.
Any other reccommendations would be helpful as well, such as best procedures for local and offsite backup/recovery.
