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Which is better for Exchange backup CA Arc server OR Symantec Backup

Hi,

I have exchange 2003 server with around 800GB of information store data. I am now using CA Arca 12 backup, but while comparing to Symantec backup, CA is not that much user friendly. But when we come to restoring, CA is good as per my knowledge. Because in CA we can directly restore from tape where as in Symantec the database from tape will copy to local HDD and then it will restore and in my case the database size is 800GB.

So pls let me know which is better for my environment

thanks

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Alan Hardisty

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wsewasim

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benfitzgerald-onega

This is a tricky question as there is no right answers (though many will have strong opinions I'm sure).

Both CA Arcserve and Symantec Backup Exec are good products - and in the latest edition both support backup to tape and backup to online (disk) storage.

If you are familiar already with CA Arcserve then I'd probably suggest sticking with that rather than re-learning everything with backup exec.

The single thing that I can recomend most strongly is to take out and maintain a decent support agreement with your support software vendor. This has two key benefits - 1) This includes a subscription which entitles you to always run the latest and greatest version of the software as it is released, and 2) You get critical support when you need it most as you do a restore - this is often available 24/7 and 'follows the sun' so that you are always talking to a fresh and alert engineer even if it is lrate in the night.

For the 800 Gbytes of data you have in your information store, I'd strongly suggest that you split this into multiple Information Stores (which is possible depending on the edition you have) This way you could have say 4x 200 Gb stores rather than 1x 800 - this means that if an information store becomes for any reason corrupt, then only a quarter of your users will be affected, and it will also be much quicker to restore from tape.

Hope this helps

Regards
Ben

parek100

Hello, primary I prefer Backup Exec because service stability is on 100%.

When I used ARCserver I were few problems with service crashing and backup did not completed sucesfully.

If you like to have more choice, try HP Data Protector. I am using it now in few clients and there is working perfeclty with HP StorageWorks MSL6000 Tape Library and many LTOs.

Marek

vneedhelp

ASKER

Hi,

I am familiar with backup exec and all my clients are with database less than 200 GB. I have only one client with 800GB data and having CA arc backup. I can recommend backup exec to them, but problem is restoring. To restore single mail, I need to wait till 800GB copies to local HDD and restores and it is very painfull.

How restoration works in HP Data Protector, is it directly from tape or same as symantec backup (tape to HDD then to exchange)

thanks

benfitzgerald-onega

Backup exec can restore single email messages directly in the latest version so as long as you set to backup the IS and message level you would be OK with BEX and restore would be quite quick (normally just 5-10 mins from my experience of restores like this.

Regards
Ben

vneedhelp

ASKER

Hi,

New version means, backup exec 2010? because in 12.5 we can't directly restore from tape.

tks

gurutc

Hi,

My experience with both products leads me to also recommend CA. Its backup database capabilities are superior to Backup Exec, and this is important for many-object backups like Exchange systems.

Good Luck,
- gurutc

benfitzgerald-onega

Do you set your backup to backup in BEX in both IS and individual message formats? This is important even though it is slower to backup (in effectd you back up twice therefore) - with BEX (only with latest version that we use on all sites) I've restored individual messages very quickly direct from tape. On the size of backup you have I think you should ideally use an autoloader and incremental backup strategy to be efficient with time and storage.

Regards
Ben

vneedhelp

ASKER

Hi benfitzgerald-onega,

R u restored individual message directly from tape in bE 12.5?

Thanks

vneedhelp

ASKER

Hi Benfitzgerald,

I saw a article from symantec
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO22650#v15317639
says,
"Backup Exec copies the entire backup set or sets to the staging area. The staging area must have enough disk space for the entire backup set or sets from which you want to restore an individual item"

Can you tel me, in which version of symantec backup exec, where you restored single mail directly from tape

thanks

Alan Hardisty

To be able to restore individual messsages, you would have to do a 'brick-level backup' of each mailbox, which is incredibly slow and much slower to backup than backing up the entire mailstore.

If you need to restore an individual message, you have got a default of 30 days in the Recover Deleted Items settings, so anything within this ime period could be easily recovered from the individuals Outlook without having to resort to a backup.