NetBackup 3.2
VERITAS strengthened its backup family by acquiring Seagate's Backup Exec in mid-1999. With Backup Exec in the fold, VERITAS began focusing NetBackup, its enterprise backup solution, on the unique problems of large organizations, such as small backup windows, multiple autoloaders and jukeboxes, and large, untrained staffs. Reviews of previous versions of NetBackup pronounced it unwieldy, but VERITAS promised me that this latest version would be easier to configure and use.
I received NetBackup's main program on one CD-ROM and the SQL Server agent on another. I was pleasantly surprised at this release's improved wizard-based installation. Each screen explained the task that would result from changing settings in that screen. Within 5 minutes, I configured the ATL autoloader, set up a group to include all the autoloader's drives, and accepted the default of a full backup. NetBackup includes the option to install Open Transaction Manager, which is enabled by default. Open Transaction Manager lets you back up any file, even if it's open and in use. I was impressed that NetBackup includes an option to test the software by backing up the installation files during installation. None of the other products included this feature, which helps ensure that you have a good connection and backup before opening the program.
Next, I inserted the NetBackup for SQL Server agent CD-ROM into my test system and followed the four-step wizard, which integrated the agent into the main NetBackup administration tool. I rebooted the test server to reinitialize all the services and program files. When I opened the NetBackup administration tool, it presented a splash screen menu, which Screen 5 shows, with various choices for media management, activity monitoring, report management, etc. (A splash screen menu is a graphic with hyperlinks that lets you choose various menu items as you move your mouse over them.) Unfortunately, VERITAS expects you to follow a specific order in setting up your media, policies, and monitoring of backup jobs, but nothing in the documentation or on the menu specifies that order. I spent about 45 minutes working through the various options before calling VERITAS's technical support. The technician was cordial and explained that I needed to go through the menu items in a clockwise spiral, starting with Media and Device Management. When I followed this procedure, everything configured correctly and worked fine. VERITAS could save users a lot of headaches if it changed the splash screen to clearly label the order of steps in the process.
After configuring the backup, I used the NetBackup for SQL Server agent to begin backing up my database. Backing up the test database was simple; after only a few clicks, the backup started without any problems. It finished in 2 hours 22 minutes, second to NetWorker by 10 minutes. The restore also ran without any problems and finished in 6 hours 55 minutes, the fastest of the group. NetBackup's total backup and restore time was 9 hours 7 minutes, which was fastest overall by 23 minutes. One complaint I had with NetBackup was that I couldn't specify specific drive locations to do a test restore to; I had to restore to an entirely different system. Otherwise, NetBackup 3.2 performed admirably.
Dumping the Verdict
Each product I reviewed shines in some areas, but needs work in others. Unfortunately, no one product fulfilled my needs in all areas. But of the five products, VERITAS's NetBackup 3.2 provided a reasonable installation and configuration experience, support for autoloaders and their options, and the fastest combined backup and restore speed.
Many companies offer an enterprise backup solution that includes support for NT, UNIX and Novell NetWare files, Exchange, SQL Server 6.5 and 7.0, and many other operating systems and applications. Unfortunately, many of these companies loosely define the term enterprise. If you're supporting an enterprise, you'll most likely use an autoloader or jukebox. You'll want bar-coding and automatic-sorting functionality built into the backup product. You'll also want the program to be easy to install, configure, and maintain. You'll want a product that works quickly, and one that offers multiple media options and a first-rate experience with the company's technical support organization. Finally, you'll want the flexibility of expanding into other equipment or management products in the future.
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