Backup System For 5 PC SMB
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My sister in law's family is not technical in any way. They are a family of six that previously only had a single old Athlon64 single core machine with like1 GB of RAM that they all shared. But they have now moved to Google Chromebooks and so now they are all able to share files, everything is backed up, they can work from anywhere and replacing a failed machine is as simple as getting to another Chromebook and voila, back in business.
While theirs is a very basic setup, they are able to own as little as you can imagine and spend almost nothing and have a very robust, easy to use and well maintained environment. It patches itself, backs itself up, does nearly everything on its own. It's quite nice for those that do not need extended features.
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I am going back to my (US-based) backup vendors on this one.
Can you explain to me specifically why you cannot
a -- make a full backup of my Windows 7/8/10 system
and
b -- spin that backup image up temporarily in a virtual environment (virtualbox, etc.)I am still hearing from them that you can (and that they work directly with Microsoft), so I'd like to present them with your direct words on the issue, and get a response from them.
Thanks!
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@BRRABill said:
I am going back to my (US-based) backup vendors on this one.
Can you explain to me specifically why you cannot
a -- make a full backup of my Windows 7/8/10 system
and
b -- spin that backup image up temporarily in a virtual environment (virtualbox, etc.)I am still hearing from them that you can (and that they work directly with Microsoft), so I'd like to present them with your direct words on the issue, and get a response from them.
Thanks!
The issue whether the technology allows you to or not. The issue is the EULA does not allow you to do that. Say for Example if you ran Server 2012 R2 you could do this. Those software products are made for server not desktop OSes.
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@Jason said:
The issue whether the technology allows you to or not. The issue is the EULA does not allow you to do that. Say for Example if you ran Server 2012 R2 you could do this. Those software products are made for server not desktop OSes.
But I am hearing back from them you can 100% do this with Microsoft desktops. I mean, they are selling a product designed to do this, for Windows.
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Regardless of whether it is a good idea or not, I'd just like to know the answer.
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@BRRABill said:
Regardless of whether it is a good idea or not, I'd just like to know the answer.
Best way to get an answer: Try it and see if it works.
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@Jason said:
Works isn't the issue. The issue is licensing.
Exactly. I am a "i" dotter and "t" crosser.
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@BRRABill said:
@Jason said:
The issue whether the technology allows you to or not. The issue is the EULA does not allow you to do that. Say for Example if you ran Server 2012 R2 you could do this. Those software products are made for server not desktop OSes.
But I am hearing back from them you can 100% do this with Microsoft desktops. I mean, they are selling a product designed to do this, for Windows.
Yes, it's designed for windows and you CAN do it with Desktops but that doesn't make it legal. I can install a single seat of software on all of our computers but that does not make it legal.
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@BRRABill said:
Regardless of whether it is a good idea or not, I'd just like to know the answer.
He's already went over this. This would be considered a VDI deployment.
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@Jason said:
@BRRABill said:
Regardless of whether it is a good idea or not, I'd just like to know the answer.
He's already went over this. This would be considered a VDI deployment.
I wanted to give him an opportunity to more specifically answer to the exact scenario I am talking about.
I get the feeling if I copy and paste his original response, they'll come back with a "we're not doing that".
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@BRRABill said:
I am going back to my (US-based) backup vendors on this one.
Can you explain to me specifically why you cannot
a -- make a full backup of my Windows 7/8/10 system
and
b -- spin that backup image up temporarily in a virtual environment (virtualbox, etc.)I am still hearing from them that you can (and that they work directly with Microsoft), so I'd like to present them with your direct words on the issue, and get a response from them.
Thanks!
Because it's VDI. Which US vendor is saying this? Maybe they should be told to post here?
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@BRRABill said:
@Jason said:
@BRRABill said:
Regardless of whether it is a good idea or not, I'd just like to know the answer.
He's already went over this. This would be considered a VDI deployment.
I wanted to give him an opportunity to more specifically answer to the exact scenario I am talking about.
I get the feeling if I copy and paste his original response, they'll come back with a "we're not doing that".
I haven't seen anything slightly different. What about their scenario do you feel is not exactly as he described? It's a very core VDI scenario, as "generic VDI" as I can reasonably imagine.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I haven't seen anything slightly different. What about their scenario do you feel is not exactly as he described? It's a very core VDI scenario, as "generic VDI" as I can reasonably imagine.
I guess the only think I can think of (and not saying this is correct) is that it's not like you are using the machine. It's either
a -- just booting the image to see if it boots so you know your backups are legit. (Aka, how else could you test to be sure you can actually do a BMR if needed?)
b -- actually using the machine, but while the other is dead, and only in a temporary capacity
But I know from MS licensing of other things, such as Hyper-V Replica, that if you want that ability, you pay for it.
Again, it's their product and they can license it as they please, but it would seem these two scenarios should be allowed. Especially A.
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I'm working on my own OS. I have 3 lines of code done. Who wants to help?
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Why?
To test A you, guess what, do a BMR. Period. Doing that will test your backups. Frankly compared to the cost of VDI, you can buy a second HD, put that in the desktop, do a BMR and BAM, if it boots, youre golden.As for B, That's already been covered. That would be a DR case, and you always have to pay for DR cases. It's never been free with MS.
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@BRRABill said:
I'm working on my own OS. I have 3 lines of code done. Who wants to help?
huh? Why? Why not just use Linux? Unless you're looking to make a profit.
Yes I know you are joking.
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@Dashrender said:
Why?
To test A you, guess what, do a BMR. Period. Doing that will test your backups. Frankly compared to the cost of VDI, you can buy a second HD, put that in the desktop, do a BMR and BAM, if it boots, youre golden.As for B, That's already been covered. That would be a DR case, and you always have to pay for DR cases. It's never been free with MS.
All good points.
Unless you mean "request an audit and see if you get dinged."
