Disussion about server-free backup

[Patrick Terlisten]

Hello everybody,

I would like to discuss a bit about server-free, or direct backup. So what are your experiences with server-free/ direct backup??

I have many customer enviroments which are using lan-free backup, but no one which can use server-free backup. I'm generally using Data Protector for backup, as far as the customer has no other software for backup. With DP you can realise a direct backup (server-free backup) with Data Protector, as long as HP-UX, Oracle and M2404 NSR are used. But that's a really special solution, not a solution that I would call a "general purpose server-free backup". I wouldn't call NDMP a server-free backup, so we shouldn't take a further look on it. Some years ago I saw a solution on a event Computer Associates in Bochum (near Dortmund, NRW, Germany) with VA7400, SureStore 2/20 and CA BrightStor ArcServe. I don't remember if it was a real server-free, or just a lan-free backup. But CA ARCserve Backup Serverless Backup Option seems to use a datamover to transfer the data between storage and tape. Has anyone experiences with this product? Any other experiences? What about IBM TSM, Legato Networker or Symantec Netbackup or BackupExec.

Please write down your experiences with server-free/ direct/ serverless backup.

Thank you.

Best regards,
Patrick

[TTr]

I do not like using the term server-free or serverless backup. It is sales lingo which can be misleading. Yes the backup task has been offloaded from your production server but something else has been added to the storage system. Backup vendors utilize SAN features to pump the data out of the disks. The SAN controller in this case is the server doing the backups. The production data volumes are read either directly or via snapshots. So the reading overhead is still either on the production data LUNs (direct reading) or the storage system itself (snap shots). Other methods include using virtualization technics (datamovers, SVC) which still impact the storage system accordingly. I am not sure at the end you are saving anything from doing the old traditional SAN based replication and using a separate server to run backups from the replicated copy of the data. It is a trade off, SAN replication uses a lot of storage, these new methods rely on the power of the storage system and using the builtin features of it. They are not cheaper either, you get charged based on number of GB or using expensive licensing.

[IBaltay]

Hi,
here is the Q11 on the HP EBS:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/ebs/qa.html#q11

and the EBS page is here:
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/ebs/

here are some threads for the inspiration (the link in it does not work)
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?admit=109447626+1220191551877+28353475&threadId=1016300

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=524971

[IBaltay]

these serverless products are compatible with the NSR 2402
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11336_div/11336_div.pdf

(which supports server-free backup up to 8 simultaneous streams of serverless backup jobs):

Computer Associates BrightStor ARCserve Serverless Backup Option with ARCserve Image Option

VERITAS NetBackup 4.5 ServerFree Agent

VERITAS Backup Exec 9.0 Serverless Backup Option

CommVault Galaxy Server Free Option with Compaq Enterprise Volume Manager

CA BrightStor Enterprise Backup Serverless Backup Option with BEB Image Option

Tivoli Storage Manger Server Free Option

Legato Celestra

[Patrick Terlisten]

Sorry for my late reply. Is someone using a serverless/ direct backup? Is it planned, that Data Protector will support a comparable agent like ARCServes Serverless-Backup-Option??

Best regards,
Patrick