Who has got your backup tested? 4 software applications tested

Veritas Backup Exec for Windows V9.1


Contents
Introduction
 BrightStor Arcserve
 Legato Networker
 Tivoli Storage Manager
 Veritas Backup Exec
 Specifications
 How we tested
 Checklist
 Editor's choice
 About RMIT
Backup Exec has certainly grown into a powerful backup tool, and while it isn't a package we would still recommend it for a large enterprise. Veritas has Netbackup for this role and it is more than capable of meeting the requirements of our test scenario and would still be at home in a medium enterprise. Provided of course that the only server you wished to install Backup Exec on was a Windows server, as there is no server support for Linux, Mac, or Novell Netware (although the client support is quite broad and does include Linux, Mac, and Novell).

Applications support is quite good with SAP, Oracle, Exchange, Domino, and SQL agents available. Exchange support is particularly good with snapshot support on Exchange 2003 as well as the added flexibility of backup and restore of individual mailboxes and backup of single instances of attachments sent to multiple recipients, saving on storage space and reducing the backup time. Media support is very good and includes most optical media, tape drives, hard disks, and SANs.

The software is quite painless to install and includes a very simple wizard that takes the user through media management defaults, device configuration, and logon accounts.

The user interface at first looks a little cluttered as the applet launches displaying the overview, this includes a series of links to various functions and a handful of wizards to assist the user. That said, the user interface is one of the easiest and clearest to navigate. The option or feature can be found by selecting one of the tool bar buttons: backup, restore, job setup, alerts, reports, devices, and media -- pretty easy really.

The various displays look a little complex at first glance but this is because all the options associated with the function are available directly from links down the left of the display.

Configuring and performing backups and restores is a doddle with the simple tree structure -- in addition to drive partitions it also includes mailboxes and public folders. Scheduling is flexible and easy to configure with a user definable Time Windows to ensure backup tasks aren't missed if a previous task ran overtime.

With the Admin Plus option installed the user has a large selection of reports ranging from Alert Logs and Job Status to Media Vaulting and Server Workloads.

Alerting is very good but not quite as extensive or flexible as some of the other enterprise packages, perhaps an unfair comparison all things considered, but is nevertheless not lacking in the critical areas.

Veritas Backup Exec for Windows V9.1
Product Veritas Backup Exec for Windows Server v9.1
Price AU$4263.60
Vendor Veritas
Phone (03) 8866 8000
Web www.veritas.com.au
 
Interoperability
Only supports Windows OS for servers. Although client support is broad it does not include HP Alpha.
Futureproofing
It is the least capable as the infrastructure grows beyond SME.
ROI
The least expensive solution tested but it also has the least potential for infrastructure growth. Includes extended 24x7 support.
Service ½
Extended support (included in scenario price) is very good and Busines Critical support is even better.
Rating

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