Recently, with VolumeShadowCopy style Backup/DR solutions coming of age, I’ve been selling an increasing number of disk based backup systems. Personally I’m still of the opinion that data not on tape is data not (properly) backed up (yes, I know, I concede it’s a dying viewpoint), but you can’t argue with the low entry price point and startlingly quick DR times you can get from this type of setup.
Whilst you can certainly do this type of setup with a traditional, cheap USB2 host powered 2.5″ drive in an enclosure, there does exist a more durable removable drive solution in RDX. It’s dearer (as you’d expect), but I find the added durability provided by a purpose designed solution is an easy sell to any business who appreciates the value of their data.
One big issue I find with these systems is getting them to eject – not because of any fault of the drives themselves, but because the VSS based backup systems tend to leave file handles open on the drive for an extended period of time after backup completion. Thankfully (or not, depending on your viewpoint) the RDX drivers won’t let you eject the drive whilst it’s in use, but it’s not helpful when your client needs to eject the cartridge, the backup has clearly completed and the drive refuses to acknowledge their many frantic eject-button presses!
The solution – 2 command line tools, openfiles.exe and rsm.exe.
Openfiles.exe is an XP & Server 2003 inbuilt utility that provides additional functionality over and above the old ‘net files’ from NT4 days. The neat thing with openfiles.exe is that it lets you selectively close open files based on the username of the owner – which is absolutely perfect assuming you run your backup solution under some form of service account (as you would be). Find details of openfiles.exe at Technet.
Naturally, disconnecting open files under the wrong circumstances will not work out well, so ensure that it’s not messing with the integrity of your backups by testing them regularly.
Brandon Darling details using rsm.exe to eject an RDX disk in his excellent blog post here.
These 2 utilities together in a scheduled batch file help ensure that there’s an ejected cartridge at the end of each day ready for an employee to take offsite.
