Backup Express 2.1.4
Backup Express arrived in a box that contained one CD-ROM, a small Backup Express Jukebox Setup manual, and a Getting Started manual. Additional manuals are available in PDF format on the CD-ROM. To begin the product's installation, I chose the Win2000 Master Server and GUI option.
Backup Express uses the term jukebox to describe devices such as the ADIC tape library. To install the jukebox, I used the command-line utilities that the Backup Express Jukebox Setup manual describes. The installation process consists of listing SCSI devices; writing down the adapter ID, bus ID, target ID, and LUN of the drives and robot; and supplying this information to the installation utility. Although the installation procedure wasn't terribly difficult, the products that offer graphical auto-configuration were much simpler and faster to install. After I installed the jukebox, I needed to configure it within the Backup Express GUI. This process involved assigning the tape drives, creating media pools, and labeling the media.
You must install the Backup Express Client software on each computer that you want to back up; you can perform the installation manually, or you can use the Remote Client Deployment utility. For my Windows computers, I used the deployment utility, which copies installation files to a temporary directory on the target computer and builds scripts to schedule and run the installation. The base client software provides SQL Server backup and restore functionality, so no additional client-side software is necessary.
The Backup Express GUI
Although I could install the Backup Express GUI on any machine, I used it primarily on the master server. By default, the GUI opens in User Menu mode, which lets you restore only to the local computer. To access the full-featured GUI, you must click Administrator Login, then provide credentials. The interface, which Figure 2 shows, looks simple and intuitive, but getting accustomed to it takes a while. One of the interface's detriments is that it doesn't let you simultaneously open multiple screens related to different operations. For example, I couldn't keep a job-monitor screen open while creating or modifying backup jobs. According to a Syncsort representative, you can work around this behavior by opening multiple instances of the GUI.
Tape Library and Media Control
To create media pools and assign media to those pools, you click Configure, Media. Backup Express uses a job-centric approach to media management, so you specify many settings typically associated with a media pool at the job level. When you create a backup job, you can specify backup-destination options to govern how the software handles media during and after the backup; for example, you can specify copy media (e.g., twin tapes) and offsite media designations.
To perform such operations as importing, exporting, loading, and moving media, you choose the Device Control option and click Jukebox operations. These functions weren't terribly intuitive, but after a few operations, they were easy to use and operated as expected.
Backup
Each system that you want to back up is a node. The software categorizes nodes into group nodes, and the group nodes belong to an enterprise. To select objects for backup, you drill down the hierarchy to the node level. When you expand a node, Backup Express enumerates all pertinent backup objects, including SQL Server databases. After you make your backup selections and specify source and destination options, you save the backup definition for subsequent launching or scheduling. The user-friendly options for launching backup jobs provide much flexibility. In my testing, file-system and SQL Server backups performed well.
Data Recovery
The data-restoration process is similar to the backup process. You use the same object-selection interface, which you can populate with cataloged backup data or tape contents.
Source and destination options let you customize the restore task. Backup Express supports individual table restores for SQL Server 6.5 and filegroup-level restores for SQL Server 2000 and 7.0. A Syncsort representative suggested that I could modify Backup Express's scripts to accomplish point-in-time restoration, but the feature isn't available from the GUI. Restore operations in my environment performed well.
Performance
I was able to back up and restore all the objects necessary in my testing, but Backup Express's performance was initially poor. I contacted Syncsort about the performance problems, and support technicians discovered a bug in the product's data-mover component, which writes data to the tape driver. Just before press time, I obtained a new build of the software and had enough time to run the tests again—with much better results. As Graph 1 and Graph 2 show, Backup Express's late-breaking build performed well.
Room for Improvement
Although I eventually became familiar with the GUI, having to jump back and forth between tasks posed productivity hurdles. Also, attempts to review tasks in the logs were difficult, particularly when a job comprised multiple tasks.
On the plus side, the single agent for covering multiple backup types simplifies the product's installation and configuration, and using Device Control for library and media management was effortless.
Prev. page
1
2
[3]
4
5
6
7
8
next page 
