Centralized Backup Management in a Commercial & Industrial Company
Customer
International Commercial and Industrial Company with Distributed IT Infrastructure.
Challenge
The organization uses a mixed IT infrastructure that includes physical servers, virtual machines, corporate email, file resources, and Microsoft SQL Server databases:
3
physical servers
7
virtual machines
MySQL
databases
One of the physical servers runs without virtualization. On the other two servers, virtual machines were deployed to support corporate services and business applications.
To ensure data integrity, it was necessary to create a centralized backup system with the ability to restore individual infrastructure components.
Before implementing the backup system, the following tasks were set:
- ✔ protect physical servers and virtual machines
- ✔ back up employee workstations
- ✔ perform regular backups of Microsoft SQL Server databases
- ✔ back up email data and company file resources
- ✔ centrally manage backup tasks
- ✔ restore entire VMs and individual data
- ✔ automate task execution on a schedule
- ✔ monitor backup success via email notifications
Key Challenges
The client's infrastructure included physical servers, virtual machines, and workstations, requiring the organization of backups for different system types from a single console. Additionally, virtual machines had to be backed up not only at the host level but also individually to simplify the recovery of specific services.
The diverse data types added further complexity: file resources, mail servers, and Microsoft SQL Server databases. This required setting up regular scheduled backups, task execution monitoring, and the ability to restore both individual files and entire server components.
Solution Implementation
Handy Backup Server Network was selected for the project.
The following components were deployed:
1
central management server
2
agents for physical servers
7
agents for virtual machines
This setup made it possible to include the customer's entire infrastructure in centralized backup: 3 physical servers and 7 virtual machines, including the machine with the management panel installed.
Centralized Management
Administrators received a single backup management console. Through Handy Backup, they can create and modify tasks, configure schedules, launch tasks remotely, review logs, and receive email notifications.
This management format simplified system maintenance: the administrator does not need to check each server individually, and the backup status across the entire infrastructure is visible from a single location.
Backup of physical servers
Separate backup tasks were created for physical servers. One of them serves as a central unit that manages regular backups while also being included in the schedule itself.
This allows allocating a separate machine solely for administration while simultaneously storing backup copies on the managing server.
Backup of virtual machines
Virtual machines required backing up not only together with physical servers but also as independent systems. Therefore, a separate Handy Backup agent was installed inside each VM.
As a result, each virtual machine could have its own schedule, select necessary data, and perform granular recovery—restoring individual files or the entire system.
Backup of workstations
The project included 10 workstations, including one machine with a control panel installed. Backup tasks for user profile files and working directories were created for them according to the schedule.
Centralized management made it convenient to monitor task execution without the need for manual checks of each workstation.
Backup of MS SQL and mail data
For Microsoft SQL Server, backup tasks were created with consideration for transaction integrity and database consistency. The system also included email servers and file resources.
These tasks received a unified approach to backing up different data types: databases, mail servers, file servers, applications, and public folders.
Scheduled backup
Automated backup schedules were configured for servers, virtual machines, MS SQL and email/file resources. Tasks ran automatically without manual intervention from the administrator.
Schedules were customized taking into account the role of each system and acceptable infrastructure load, ensuring regular backups did not interfere with core services.
Results
As a result of the project implementation, the customer received a centralized backup system that ensures the protection of the entire corporate infrastructure:
Backup of 3 physical servers
Replication of 7 virtual machines
Backup of Microsoft SQL Server databases
Backup of email services
Backup of company file resources
Task automation
The system enables automated scheduled backups, allows monitoring of task status from a single console, and ensures rapid data recovery in the event of emergencies.
