We are going to replace are backup solution due to the high costs. I am trying to come up with a solution that will be as inexpensive as possible but still be as protected as possible. Here is what I am trying to backup.
1. 10 windows servers (mostly vms) that need to be backed up. 3 of them have large mssql servers on them that are necessary for our business. The others are infrastructure related. (i.e. active directory, file servers, etc). No email servers onsite.
2. 1 NAS device that just has files that are share
Here is my solution
1. Purchase a synology box (DS1513+) with 4tb WD Red drives
2. Create iscsi disks that are 2 times the size of the total data on each server and connect them to their respective servers.
3. Format the disks to be NTFS volumes.
4. Setup windows server backup to do a full backup and backup to disk. Set schedule to be every 2 hours
5. Use service like Crashplan or Carbonite to backup the Iscsi disks and backup the shares on the NAS.
Potential issues I see with my solution.
1. Can services like crashplan see these iscsi disks. As I understand it, these disks are hidden (i.e. once setup if you open explorer you will not see a disk. Disk Management sees them, not sure if drive letter is assigned)
2. How to do you do a baremetal recovery off an ISCSI disk? Is this possible? It should be easy for the VMs as they will be local from the VMs point of view. How will it work a physical?
I know there are some great products and services out there but I need to be as cheap as possible. If there are problems with my solution or better solutions that are also inexpensive please let me know.
Thanks
George