WD Sentinel DX4000 is able to backs up servers running Windows Server 2008 R2?

WD Legacy Products Sentinel Products
1

Microsoft hello community, I have the following problem:

  1. I bought a 4TB external hard drive to back up the servers running the Windows Server 2008 R2

  2. to back up the servers in the external hard drive I used the backup tool windows server

  3. but the backup did not run and windows tool showed a message output problem I / O

  4. seeking about this issue, read xxxx

  5. then went on the western digital site to check for any storage that could back up servers

  6. located the WD Sentinel DX4000
    (All Products: Shop Hard Drives, SSDs, USBs, & Memory Cards | Western Digital)

But before I buy, I want to make sure that I will be able to connect
the WD Sentinel DX4000 on the servers and perform the backup or the
windows backup tool or Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials that
comes in WD own Sentinel DX4000

  1. to ask the technician western digital he told me: “In this
    situation we suggest you to contact the Microsoft people, so They can
    give you specific about how it works.”

  2. also asked Microsoft technician, but he could not answer for sure.

So I turn to Microsoft community to find out if someone is using the
WD Sentinel DX4000 to back up servers with windows 2008 server
successfully R2.

Already, I thank you for your attention.

2

Hello and welcome to the WD Community.

I haven’t try this.

I believe windows backup does not support drives over 2tb. However, let’s see if any of the users can share some information about it.

3

No, do not buy a DX to backup 2008R2 servers.
Here is a list of compatible external usb drives as long as your server drive(s) are less than 2tb

Your might also consider StorageCraft Shadow Protect instead of Windows Server Backup

4

ERmorel please excuse me for “Microsoft hello community” and thanks for the feedback.

5

Gramps thank you and I understood that the WD Sentinel DX4000 is designed only for backing up desktops with desktop windows and not to back up servers.

However, WD support told me the following:

"The connector software that the Sentinel DX4000 employs to connect users to the server is Also acts as a link to Allowing the Sentinel to Actively backup Client computers. The Sentinel was not designed to backup servers in this mannered, Therefore the Sentinel can not Actively said backup servers.

However, since the Sentinel is running Windows Storage Server 2008 R2, any servers that can find and access the Sentinel shouldn’t be able to use any software, either Windows Backup or a third party one, to backup the contents of any server to the Sentinel. "

So I ask is there the possibility of doing the opposite, i.e., the server see the Sentinel to back up?

If so, I believe that in this case the sentinel lose the network connection function and would be used as an external drive that is connected to the USB server.

6

I am not sure I follow exactly what you typed above. Any/all Microsoft Server versions that have Essentials in the name like what is used on the DX4000 (Windows Storage Server 2008R2 Essentials) Have the client backup function. Does a great job of backing up to 25 desktops on your network. But will not backup Servers.

The DX4000 does have a nice add-in to create an ISCSI target. Yes, other servers may see the DX has a backup target using the in box Windows Server backup. If you simply point WSB to a DX share it does a full backup each time. That means it drags the entire backup across the lan each time and you do not have a calendar to restore from. If it fails for whatever reason then you have no backup.

Now if you connect one of your other servers to the DX ISCSI target, then it is seen as a local drive and backups behave same as a USB drive. That means it only copies the data that has changed and you have a calendar to restore from. If last nights backup fails for whatever reason, you still have older backups available.

Backups to ISCSI targets work fine. Bare Metal Restores take a few extra steps as the windows PE boot environment does not see ISCSI targets.but will see network shares. So on a PC or the server itself you have to connect to the target and share it. Or from a PC connected to the ISCSI target you can copy the Windows Server Image Backup folder to a USB drive and do the BMR from there.

So, all that said ISCSI is a viable option. WD has a lot of newer units than the DX4000 that provide an ISCSI target like the DL4100 for example.

I still think you should look at StorageCraft Shadow protect for for servers. Obviously it costs more than the free Windows Server Backup. Shadow Protect can do incrementals to network shares. That could be anything from a desktop with a shared folder to a WD NAS unit with a share. That said, I am very happy with Windows Server Backup but all of my 2008R2 servers have a maximum of one 2tb Drive.

Keep the questions coming and I will do my best to help.

7

Gramps your explanations were detailed and enlightening.

Thank you for your concern to present information as complete as possible.

As you know from need for an inexpensive solution that allows me to schedule the backup incremental and safely.

But the problem is the windows server 2008 with external HD 4k block, this would be a perfect partnership backup windows service + HD external with many bytes, but unfortunately …

I will keep searching and again thank you for your clarification that helped me avoid the mistake of buying the DX4000 and then find out it would not work for what I wanted.