Veritas Netbackup Cost

[jerry1]

I have been given a quote from a vendor
totaling $75,000 to backup 5 HP servers
with Veritas NetBackup 6.5.

I was told that I would need the Media
Manager installed on each client since
they are attached to a SAN that the Tape
library is attached to. Thus driving the cost
up of the backup software. Otherwise I will
be limited to using the network to backup
these servers. I was also told from another
vendor that it would be $30,000 since the
NB server has 12 cpu's but said nothing about
needing to install the media manager on each
client. Does it ever end. Their original quote
was for $5,000.

Is there anyone out there that is using SAN
for their backups with NB 6.5? Do you need
to install a media manager on each client
or just have it on the Master NB server to
backup through the SAN to the library?

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

Shalom,

Last I worked in the US, come 3 years ago $5,000 was the basic cost to license a single system with Veritas.

We were doing a SAN backup with a tape device wired into the san and the overall license cost was $50,000 plus annual support.

This is a pricey but reliable product. We used it to recover from a total meltdown and loss of data on our SAN. Our price included a discount for being a charity and a library server.

SEP

[TTr]

> Do you need to install a media manager on...

It depends on the method that you choose for backups.

Case 1. SAN based tape backups. Each server writes directly to the tape library over the tape SAN.
a. Each of the 5 servers would need its own "NB media server" license
b. The library tape drives need to be licensed in a shared mode (unless you have too many tape drives to dedicate to each of the 5 servers).
c. One of the 5 servers would be the master server.

Case 2. LAN based backups.
a. You have an NB master.
b. You don't even need a tape SAN, the tape library could be locally attached to the NB master
c. The rest of the servers do NOT need tape SAN access.
d. Backup tarffic uses the LAN to get to the NB master and it then gets put on the tape.

Which case do you choose? It depends on the amount of data that needs to be backed up and LAN activity etc.

Case1. 75,000 for SAN based Veritas NB is reasonable.
Case2. 30,000 for LAN based is also reasonable but a little high.

Which case do you pick? Can you push all the backup data through your LAN? If yes go with case 2 otherwise go with case 1.

> Their original quote was for $5,000.

I don't think you can do much with $5,000

The NB server having 12 CPUs does not help much in either case. Case 2 uses a little bit more resources than case1 on the NB master but it is not significant.

[jerry1]

The quote for $30,000 was from a vendor
that was originally $5,000. When I was
asked how many cpu's the Master server
has, the priced changed based on number
of cpu's. The cpu's had nothing to do with
performance, just cost. Unethical how
companies will figure out a way to get
all the money they can. The company that
quoted $75,000 didn't care how many cpu's
the master server has.

[TTr]

You shouldn't ask for a quote with a too generic question. First figure out your method for backups and then talk to vendors about quotes and specific NB licensing needs based on your solution. Go over each quote and ask for an explanation of each item, what it is, what it does, why is it needed etc.

[jerry1]

Been there done that. I am trying to verify
with Symantec now on what is true.
But based on the answers I am getting. It
sounds like it is true about the cost.
Seems a bit overkill on the cost for 5
servers.

[dirk dierickx]

what? a media server license for each of those 5 nodes...

5 nodes, that's nothing, just back them up though the network. the master server will probably even handle this just fine.

just be sure you have a fast dedicated network (1GB will do), and the backups will be blazing fast.

don't fixate on the SAN for backup, it sounds sweet on paper, but do you really need it? you'll notice the extra costs it brings.

at our site with +350 servers we only do SAN backups for systems with +500GB of storage (for databases _only_!). 1GB network with backup to disk is fast enough for regular file restores to be well in the RTO.

anyway, if you want SAN backup, you need to SAN Media server license, or at least that is what it is called in nbu 6.0

but again, really think again if you would really need SAN for backup on these machines.

[jerry1]

Sadly, yes. I need SAN for backups. I cannot
use 100MB LAN for backup. It would kill us.
But I have 1GB network capabilities
that I could setup. I currently use
Omniback 5.5 to do backups over the SAN
to the Ultrium tape library. And use the
SAN for storage from two VA's. We are
migrating from VA's to Netapp NAS.

Management is going to have to understand
that if they want NB as their preferred
backup solution, then they are going to
have to pay. Otherwise, I may look into
DP 6.0 upgrade and stay on that.