Does anyone know how long it will take to backup say 300G of data on a Ultra 320 SCSI HD over the 1G coppper ethernet to another server with Ultra 320 Scsi HD.
This is two different processes you're talking about. First, performing the backup, and second, copying the backup over a network. Yes, depending on the software you're using, this can be done in single step, but the backup portion of the process will likely go faster than the data transfer over the network. It's hard to guesstimate how long it will take.
I've setup a backup on a server recently using the builtin windows ntbackup. It is backing up about 130 GB's of data from a RAID on a different server and copying that backup file to an external drive on the server the backup is setup on. This backup takes about 11 hr's.
I remember backing up data over the network on an IDE HD take a few days and now using a backup data on the same server takes about 5 hours.
The length of time would likely have more to do with the network than with IDE vs SCSI. Granted, SCSI is faster, but not so much faster as to make a difference of this magnitude (ie: a few days worth of time reduced to 5 hours). Upgraded your network from 10 or 1000 Mbps to 1000 lately??
But we have more than one server now with data and don't want to put a backup tape drive on each server.
If it were me, I'd have a tape drive on one server...preferably not an important server like a DC, an exchange or DNS server. The reason being, when it's doing the backup it's going to eat CPU cycles big-time and you don't want this happening on the same machine as some other process (or processes) which are as important as those I mentioned. Alternatively, you could look into a network attached backup such as a SAN or NAS or SAN/NAS.
With a backup tape drive on one server, you back the others up separately (and name the backup file appropriately so you know which server it came off of right) and then copy that file across the network (if you're using ntbackup, the backup process and copy process can be run from a single batchfile that you schedule) to the backup server where each separate backup file is then incorporated into the one big backup going onto tape.
Was thinking of buying a HP D2D system recommended by HP
I wouldn't expect HP to recommend someone elses equipment. For what it's worth, here's my two cents. HP sucks.........period!
You couldn't give me any of their equipment (or Dell's either for that matter). My experiences with HP have all been bad. Most specifically, any/all experiences involving their (so-called) support.
There are many companies out there who make backup solutions. One that I've had some experience with that I did like was Quantum.
I highly recommend you take a good look around at what's available, what it will cost, and what the companies support packages are like and then decide based on cost effectiveness.
NEVER take any one company, or person's word for it (including my own!) when purchasing hardware. Always, always, always shop around, compare prices and packages and most importantly, read reviews.
Take a look at the Quantum rack mount tape libraries to start with. This might be the type of solution you need.
