[Disclaimer:  This is a long post, and primarily for my own future reference.]

One of the things I’ve wanted to do with our backup server is get it running backups on a network separate from our LAN.  This would allow us to run backups at any time without loading down the network.

I’m no network guru (not even close), so I had a little bit of trouble getting my mind around how this would work.  After talking with my good friend Ed, it made much more sense.  Basically what we needed to do was put a new NIC in each physical machine and give it an address that’s a different class from our LAN.  (our LAN is 10.80.*; we chose 172.16.* for the auxiliary).  After that, I would set the backup server and clients to listen on their 172.16.* addresses.  Thus, all backup traffic should get pushed through the new NICs and onto the auxiliary network, and life would be good.

After installing the new hardware, the next task is to go into the virtual network settings of your VMware host and bridge each of your physical NICs to a specific VMnet.  By default, the VMware server bridges your first adapter to VMnet0.  You’ll need to disable this in your host’s virtual network settings.

I bridged the physical NIC for the 10.80.* network to VMnet0 and then bridged the new NIC to VMnet3.

The next task is to add new virtual network adapter.  You’ll want to select a Custom network connection for the new adapter and point it directly at a specific VMnet (VMnet3 for me).

After you’re done, go into your VM, configure your new virtual NIC for the right network, and you’re good to go!

We use CommVault Galaxy Express for backups, and so changing the client to run on the alternate network is pretty easy.

 

I am by no means saying that “this is how you should back up your stuff,” but this is what’s working for us.  I’ve only been using Galaxy Express for a couple of weeks, but I am already a huge fan of the software.  It is extremely flexible and as far as I’m concerned, quite easy to use.  If you’re in the market for a backup solution, this is definitely a tool that you’ll want to consider.

On Tuesday night I took the opportunity to shut our servers down for the night, clean up the wiring in our server rack and MDF, and move the server rack to the other side of the room.  The moving of the server rack wasn’t super-crucial, but it did line the rack’s exhaust fans up with the air return in the room, so our air flow is now slightly more efficient.

I said on Wednesday morning that I would post some pics… really more for my benefit than anyone else’s.  So here they are.

A picture of the server room before the cleanup.  We’ve got wires hanging all over the back of the MDF/Telco rack. 

Here’s a couple pics of the server room and rack after the cleanup.  The wiring at the MDF is cleaned up, and the CAT5e wiring from the servers has all been replaced with CAT6 and is running to the ceiling through a piece of flex tubing.

The wiring in the server rack was also tied down with velcro ties (just in case we need to loosen it up to run more wires through).  Again, no pictures of the inside of the rack, because some goof (me) forgot to take them.

Why so much trouble to clean this up?  I admit, I’ve got a little bit of OCD when it comes to keeping things neat and orderly (and I’m still learning how to do it better as I go).  But I also believe that if something is hard to look at (like messy, unlabelled cables strewn loosely inside racks and such), it’s going to be hard to WORK ON, too. 

I’d rather make a time investment to get things in order rather than pay the price for it when something goes down and we have to start chasing down a patch to this or that.  We’ve still got a bunch to do in this room (as well as our IDFs), but Tuesday night got us off to a good start, and I’m looking forward to doing more of this in the future.

One thing I’ve been trying to do once every two weeks is to schedule a work night for IT.  I come in late (usually after 2pm) and stay till around midnight.  This gives me some “off-peak” time to shut down servers and parts of the network if needed.

Here’s what’s going down tonight:

• Replacing all CAT5e server cables with CAT6 (they’re already tied straight onto the core switch).
• Setting up and testing a separate network for our backup server.
• Ceiling repair in the server room.
• General cleanup in the server and work rooms.

After that will be the usual checkup for patches and such.  It should be a pretty quiet night.  Let’s hope so.