in2ative1
asked on
Need your recommendations on Enterprise-level backup solution
I have a VERY large medical practice client who has outgrown their single tape drive and Arcserv backup solution. I'm putting together several options for them and two options I'll be costing out are an offsite, over-the-internet backup solution like datapreserve, as well as an on-site software implementation with robust-enough features like Backup Exec.
It's been a while since I've implemented a fresh backup solution for a corporate infrastructure and, as most of you corporate IT types know, you don't have a need to know what the "latest and greatest" is until you are tasked with a problem that needs a solution. The last implementation I drove several years ago was Backup Exec 10-ish with a two drive, 24 slot IBM Ultrium tape library.
I can Google "backup software", but that doesn't really find me what people are using in the enterprise these days.
My questions is:
What's the latest-and-greatest for both over-the-Internet and locally driven enterprise back-up solutions.
Caveats:
I have experience with Backup Exec and fairly sizable hardware, but am looking for other solutions that require less daily "tweaking" and troubleshooting as BE does. (You BE administrators know exactly what I'm talking about here) I've recently been introduced to Convault with a newly implemented Dell SAN, but had no usable exposure to it. As for an over-the-Internet solution, my only immediate experience has been Data Preserve, but this solution is not even close to enterprise-level yet. Initial backup will be in the range of 600 - 1,000 Gb. Daily changes will be in the range of 200 to 400 Gb. Yes, there are many, many other considerations for my solution, but I just don't know what's out there that everyone is using. Local software will be installed and run from a Windows box.
Sadly, I believe the EE system here will only allow me to split points between two responses and I suspect I'll get more than a few recommendations. I hope you understand, but I'd really like your suggestions.
It's been a while since I've implemented a fresh backup solution for a corporate infrastructure and, as most of you corporate IT types know, you don't have a need to know what the "latest and greatest" is until you are tasked with a problem that needs a solution. The last implementation I drove several years ago was Backup Exec 10-ish with a two drive, 24 slot IBM Ultrium tape library.
I can Google "backup software", but that doesn't really find me what people are using in the enterprise these days.
My questions is:
What's the latest-and-greatest for both over-the-Internet and locally driven enterprise back-up solutions.
Caveats:
I have experience with Backup Exec and fairly sizable hardware, but am looking for other solutions that require less daily "tweaking" and troubleshooting as BE does. (You BE administrators know exactly what I'm talking about here) I've recently been introduced to Convault with a newly implemented Dell SAN, but had no usable exposure to it. As for an over-the-Internet solution, my only immediate experience has been Data Preserve, but this solution is not even close to enterprise-level yet. Initial backup will be in the range of 600 - 1,000 Gb. Daily changes will be in the range of 200 to 400 Gb. Yes, there are many, many other considerations for my solution, but I just don't know what's out there that everyone is using. Local software will be installed and run from a Windows box.
Sadly, I believe the EE system here will only allow me to split points between two responses and I suspect I'll get more than a few recommendations. I hope you understand, but I'd really like your suggestions.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Yuray, I've used some Acronis products in the past and will certainly look into your recommendation. Thanks for the link.
SDC, It's funny, I was on the beta for DPM and can't remember installing it once. :) Yeah, we're talking about a lot of data, although, in my original caveats I was considering that many, many backup solutions are completely file-based. In other words, a 100Gb SQL data file (.mdf) would have to be backed up ever single night since the file would change all the time. However, if I can find a solution that does delta's for db changes, I would be all over it. Would save substantial time and space required for backups.
Thanks for the Exabyte recommendation. I've always been a big fan of their hardware.
D-2-D-2-tape is also very appealing. We were talking about this at length simply because of the critical nature of their medical apps and exactly how much business this institution looses if any system goes down half-way through the day. There's an adjoining building with a free Cat6 drop where we will probably connect with GigE and put the backup solution over there.
I'm going to look into the BE11 solutions and, in particular, the apps that can backup only delta's for changes. This is going to be interesting to see if it can be done with SQL db's though I am skeptical.
I'll leave this question open a few days to allow ya'll to respond. I appreciate the recommendations guys.