ARCserveIT 6.61 Enterprise Edition
ARCserveIT 6.61 Enterprise Edition is part of Computer Associates' Management Solutions series. ARCserveIT assists overburdened systems administrators by installing and configuring small-, medium-, and large-scale backups quickly and efficiently.
ARCserveIT comes on a single CD-ROM, which starts automatically and brings up a product explorer. After reading the printed manual, I determined that I needed to install the Tape Library Option, the Backup Agent for SQL Server Database, and the ARCserveIT standard backup utility. The installation ran through a detailed wizard that included locations for files and the default database for storing information about its operations. I chose to install the default ARCserveIT database and its support files. Having to install Computer Associates' Unicenter TNG Framework whether I wanted it or not frustrated me.
Next, I installed ARCserveIT's Tape Library Option, which let me optimize the ATL autoloader's capabilities. The wizard-based installation was simple and included a configuration button that automatically set up the seven DLT devices in the correct order. I enabled Library Quick Initialization, which meant that ARCserveIT wouldn't read media during the library's initialization, thereby saving time. Finally, I installed the Backup Agent for SQL Server Database, which prompted me for the SQL Server login name and password, then completed its setup. Within 10 minutes, I finished installing all three components without any errors, and I started ARCserveIT from the Start menu.
To stream data to all the DLT tape drives simultaneously and reduce the time for backup and restore, I configured the tape drives as RAID 0 through the ARCserveIT for Windows NT program item. I assigned all seven DLT drives in the autoloader to the newly created RAID, then restarted the tape engine to save the configuration changes.
With the configuration complete, I opened the ARC-serveIT Manager from the Start menu. The screen showed two access option tabs. Wizard Quick Access included wizards for backup, restore, and device operations, and a boot-disk wizard for disaster recovery. Classic Quick Access lets you select specific items and set them up manually. I chose the Classic tab because I couldn't see my SQL Server 7.0 database while I used the Backup Wizard. I started the backup and viewed its status through the Job Queue tab, as Screen 2 shows. Installing and configuring all the test equipment to back up the enterprise SQL Server database was easy. The wizards were simple to follow, and detailed information was just a click away in the online Help file. The backup completed without error in 2 hours 41 minutes, the third-fastest time.
Restoring the database was easy to set up, too. I started the restore, returning periodically to monitor its status. I was stunned when it completed 29 hours later! I rechecked all the settings, verified that they were correct, and started the backup restore again to test for a fluke. But the second time was within 1 minute of the original. Numerous calls to Computer Associates' technical support line to identify whatever problem was slowing the performance proved useless. This disappointing restore time gave ARCserveIT a total backup and restore time of 31 hours 41 minutes—almost three times as long as the longest-running of the other products.
The interface for the installation and configuration process for ARCserveIT was user-friendly. I had the backup running within 15 minutes after I inserted the CD-ROM into the server. I liked having the ability to toggle between wizard-based tasks, and the classic interface that lets you dig deeper or configure your hardware and your backup more finely. But Computer Associates needs to find the problem that's slowing ARCserveIT's restore process, especially for enterprise environments, where time is money and a full day's downtime is unacceptable.
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