[ale] Backup Software

[Greg Freemyer]

On Mon, 2003-09-29 at 23:27, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> Arkeia does all you ask for. Plus it can run on multiple platforms as
> server, has multiple client platforms, java gui for non-X environments,
> native scheduling and supports (nearly) every tape drive/autoloader on
> the planet. The price is reasonable. It also support bare iron recovery
> of the server itself and can do a bare iron recovery of any client that
> can boot from a floppy or CD (I have not tested either of these as they
> are relatively new features). If someone is familiar with "Big Iron"
> back up tools like HP's and others in that class, the setup will be
> familiar (tape bundles, groups, libraries, rotation schedules, tape
> lifetime counts, etc).
> 
> They have a light version available for personal use (free!) and they
> will provide a time-limited version of the full blown setup to support
> what ever tape library you need for free with support to get it up and
> going.
> 
In my opinion, the best thing about Arkeia is that they publish the data
format on the tape.  I think they even have GPLed C program to read it
off.  OTOH, it is night very widely known.

I normally recommend HP's Data Protector (DP) software (previously
OmniBack II).  It is about the same cost as Arkeia, maybe cheaper and it
is a "big iron" backup tool.

I just did a quote for one of our customers, 8 Windows servers and one
LTO Ultrium Library.  Total DP cost was $1200 I think.  

I believe Arkeia will cost you more, but I'm not sure.

Where DP gets expensive is when you start needing open file support or
online database backup capability.  I don't know how arkeia's pricing is
for that.

The only negative about DP from my perspective, is that a "cell manager"
is required in any DP setup, and that has to be on either a Win32
platform or a UNIX platform.  Linux support is supposed to be coming at
some point.  (Linux boxes are supported, just not yet as cell managers.)

Greg
-- 
Greg Freemyer