It's official: backup software packages have the longest product names in the business. We evaluate three leading packages to find out which suits the medium-sized business.
Today you can use backup software to do more than just a simple backup. As you will see, organisations have also changed how they back up data.
Modern backup software packages support common groupware and database applications, they enable you to remotely manage multiple back-up servers running on different platforms, and execute backup jobs with hardly any intervention. Backup software provides full, incremental, and differential backups. Packages have advanced calendar-based interfaces so you can schedule backups as well as define them. You can also back up open databases, e-mail servers, and so on. Backup software has also become simple enough for a novice user to install and administer--not that you'd necessarily want to do that.
However backup software no longer needs a tape drive to backup; nowadays you can make use of hard disks and optical media for your backups. If you would like to find out which form of media will best suit your needs, have a look at the archiving feature.
Things to look out for
The ideal solution would comprise the following components:
- Operate with multiple operating systems (Windows, Unix, NetWare, Linux, etc)
- Allow you to remotely manage your devices and backup processes
- Offer support for Storage Area Networks (SANs) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices.
- Must be scaleable across LANs or WANs
- Be able to backup common applications and databases (Oracle, SQL Server, Exchange, Lotus Notes, SAP)
- Have the ability to back up to disk and optical devices as well as on to tape
- Be fast, reliable, and easy to use
- Offer control over existing backup hardware
- Be able to create reports and logs.
In a perfect world, you would like your product to be have all the attributes listed above. You'd like a backup solution that will enable you to back up more data with less hardware, in less time, and with fewer resources. To help you get the software part right, we review three popular backup software products: Computer Associates BrightStor ARCserve Backup v9, LEGATO NetWorker v7, and VERITAS Backup Exec v9.
