BusinessServer has its limits

Netbackup Businesserver 3.3, the first real product to emerge from the merger of Veritas Software Corp. and Seagate Software Inc., shows the strengths of previous generations of both companies' products, but improvements must be made to ensure this merger reaches its potential.

In PC Week Labs' tests, we found that combining the best of the low-end and high-end worlds did not yield the strongest server backup product for the midrange market. BusinesServer 3.3 combines Backup Exec's ease of use with NetBackup's scalability but is too watered down to satisfy IT managers who want a "lite" version of NetBackup and too complicated to compete with Backup Exec in the low-to-midrange market.

BusinesServer, which shipped last month priced at US$1,995, is designed to back up servers in remote offices and small-to-midsize businesses. Although Veritas' NetBackup solution was powerful and supported heterogeneous networks prior to the Seagate merger, the backup package was too expensive and too complicated to penetrate the low-to-midrange market, including the ever-growing Windows NT market segment.

To expand on its significant Unix market penetration, Veritas acquired Seagate's popular Backup Exec line, which had significant share of the NT market and boasted easily digestible management interfaces that made it easy for IT managers to set up a simple backup solution.

Pricewise, NetBackup BusinesServer 3.3 fits between Veritas' original NetBackup at US$3,995 and the US$775 Backup Exec package developed by Seagate's engineers.

A class act

The nicest feature we encountered was BusinesServer's ability to stream multiple backups to a single class (also known as multiplexing), which allowed us to run multiple backup jobs on a single tape drive. Conversely, the most noticeable and costly limitation was BusinesServer's inability to back up any more than four clients.

BusinesServer backs up only one server and four clients (clients being mail servers, database servers, file servers and so forth). Given BusinesServer's limited client support, most small IT centers and remote offices would be better off using Backup Exec or Computer Associates International Inc.'s ARCserve, which are much easier to use.

The new wizard-driven interfaces in BusinesServer reminded us of those found in Backup Exec, and they did a great job setting up an NT server and an Exabyte Corp. Mammoth-2 tape drive unit. The wizards also helped us create classes (tape volume sets) and backup policies.

The use of Backup Exec-like wizards eases the initial configuration of BusinesServer. But after the honeymoon's over, IT managers still have to contend with NetBackup's annoying plethora of management interfaces.

BusinesServer presents IT managers with seven management interfaces to learnââ,¬"a staggering number. To run a simple backup, we had to launch three different interfaces. Before running that basic backup, we had to open a backup policy interface to choose our backup target and the class on which we wanted to store the backup; a device management utility to make sure that our tape drive was online; and an activity monitor to see the progress of our backup.

On the bright side, BusinesServer had a simple client-side utility that we used to initiate backup and file restorations.

Although both BusinesServer and NetBackup use Java-based interfaces that can run on both Unix and NT server consoles, management would be easier if Veritas were to create a simple Web-based management utility that IT managers could access anywhere.

Technical Analyst Henry Baltazar can be reached at henry_baltazar@zd.com.

PC Week Labs Executive Summary: NetBackup BusinesServer 3.3

Seagate/Veritas backup package easy to install but complicated to use Veritas' NetBackup BusinesServer 3.3 attempts to combine the power of the company's NetBackup with the ease of use of Seagate's Backup Exec. Although Busines Server is easier to use than NetBackup, small IT centers and remote offices might be better off using Backup Exec or CA's ARCserve.

Short-Term Business Impact: BusinesServer is easy to install, but IT managers will need time to learn to navigate all the product's interfaces.

Long- Term Business Impact: In remote sites that aren't expected to grow, BusinesServer will work well for a long time. However, sites that are expecting growth should look for more scalable options.

Pros: Easy to install; streaming capabilities; enables interoperability with multiple NOSes.

Cons: More expensive than competing low-end backup products; cumbersome user interface; lacks Web-based management.

Veritas Software Corp