How can I backup a remote dedicated Server 2008 to my own computer at home?

Question

My server 2008 has mysql databases, SQL Server databases, and multiple websites. How do I back this information up? I have setup the dedicated server to have two 300GB hard drives and they are both mirrored. I want to make sure that I have a backup somewhere else as well. I want to make sure I can restore it completely in case of a failure.

Answer 1

As for the Windows Server portion, consider using wbadmin and scraping an image of the whole machine. Then save it to some kind of network drive. It's going to be a hefty size, so I hope you have some awesome throughput. Perhaps save it to a cloud drive in the same cloud provider.

Windows server backup uses VSS so you'll get everything on the drive, but perhaps you'll want to use the specific backup procedures for the individual database engines to make sure that your log files have appropriate checkpoints and flushes. Don't rely on images to protect your databases.

And of course, refrain from thinking in terms of "backups" and think in terms of "restores". Test your restores. Test your restoration procedures. It's no fun to need to restore and find you've had circular logging turned on. =(

Answer 2

I use a combo of mysqldump, tar (or zip), and sftp. I find that Capistrano (a ruby ssh wrapper) is useful to tie everything together in one place, but it's not necessary. Use mysqldump and zip on the remote server, then run a scheduled job on your home server to sftp them from remote to home.