Which backup software is top!

[Madhu Sudhan_1]

Hi Guys !

It is time for me to take your inputs. I just want to take backup software training. Among Legato Networker, Omniback II, Adsm, Veritas backup... which one to go for.

Your inputs are greatly rewarded b/w 1-10.

Regards,
Madhu

[Dan Hetzel · Accepted solution]

Hi Madhu,

On a previous contract, I was using Omniback II and never had any problem with it. This was an Oracle/Oracle Financials large project with about 120 development instances that we needed to restore pretty often.

My present client uses Legato.
Recently, we installed Autosys and had a bad surprise: it doesn't support any version of Legato on HP-UX 11.0... and only an old version on 10.20, too bad !!

Best regards,

Dan

[Alexander M. Ermes]

Hi there.
I would suggest to go for OmniBack II as well.
With the extensions for the different databases
it is an easy to handle, nice to work with tool. You can go for hot backups, cold backups
whatever you need. But be sure to get somebody to help you with the setup, who knows his job.
Rgds
Alexander M. Ermes

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi,
You could have a look at VERITAS's netbackup (I would like to try) and Tivol's TSM:
http://www.tivoli.com/products/solutions/storage/news.html
(We use here but we have 2 robots and a very disparate environment: gcos, os3, mvs, vms, all unix flavors, NT, netware, making a total of 400+ servers to backup...)

Best of all
Victor

[Darrel Louis]

There are several things to look at, before you can decide.
- What is the total environment I want to backup.
- Cost price versus Quality.
- What do I expect from my backup software.

I've experience with Omniback, which fits perfectly in my Unix , NT environment.

If you want to make for instance online backups of a Database(Oracle), Omniback will the best to choose.

We can't make the decission for you, but you to judge on the reccommended remarks made.

Good Luck

Omniback

[Tracey]

We use Legato 5.5 on a 10.20 system. It works wonderfully to back up my 4 K460's onto a Overland lXB DLT tape changer. I realize that 5.5 is not officially supported fro 10.20, but it works wonderfully in our environment.

[Dan Hetzel]

Hi Madhu,

I fully agree with what has been said here above. Omniback II with the database extensions it the dream tool for hot/cold backups. I wish I could convince my present client to go for it...

Dan

[Devbinder Singh Marway]

Hi Madhu,

It also depends on how much data you will be backing up . If as paul daniels would say "not alot ", then use the hp utilities dump,vxdump,tar etc. to back up the data to tape using the no rewind device. The beauty here is that you can script this and tailor it accordingly. However if you have alot of clients with alot of data then something like omniback and ADSM now called TSM would suffice.
Having experience with TSM , basically is a tape library , consisting of volumes( i.e. tapes), and device classes i.e. the beauty is you can back up to say hard disk as your first means ( thats if you have the space) and also to tape . The backup media can be a tape silo operated by a robotic arm. Then you have storage pools which is basically a collection of tapes. You also set policies i.e. when to backup, what to backup, how long to keep the file for, also have archive copy group and a backup copy group. The best thing is that there are options to reclaim space i.e. any tape which is less utilised than another that data is moved to the other tape freeing up a tape for you to use.
The backup is done selective the first time and incremental thereafter , which is faster.
The main key is to make sure you have your policies and schedules correctly right from the beginning.

Another thing you may also want to look at is the Disaster Recovery. This may be an additional software product which allows you to do this ( it is with TSM called DRM).

I think omiback has the same principals ?

Later

[Timothy Czarnik]

Madhu,

OMNIBACK OMNIBACK OMNIBACK! Its the least expensive and most functional. If you're backing up NT, you'll want St. Bernard's Open File Manager on the NT machine.

The biggest downside I've seen with OmniBack is support for Lotus Domino R5 transactional backups. With OFM, you can get the point-in-time snapshot on a backup, but Veritas and Legato have plug in's that allow you to restore Lotus Databases using the transactional logs from Lotus. OmniBack does not support this, and from what I've seen doesn't plan to.

However, unless you are using Lotus Domino R5 with transactional logging turned on and backing it up transactionally is a show stopper, OmniBack II is the way to go.

My $.02

-Tim

[nnf97]

1. Veritas.
2. Legato.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. OmniBack.

But that is in the fantasy world. Now add price to it and probably it is just the reverse :)

My two cents worth.

Regards,
Nabeel

[Rob Mallard]

It sounds like you are not trying pick which software to purchase but which training would be most benefitial?

Omniback appears to have the largest installed base (at least in the HP-UX world) maybe that should be a consideration.

BTW I have talked to both Ominback (HP) and Vertias instructors. It sounds like both vendors have excellent training curriculums.

[Madhu Sudhan_1]

Rob Mallard !
You are correct. Can you pass me some URLs of Omniback curriculam please.
Thanks,
Madhu

[Rita C Workman]

I use OmniBack...upgraded to 3.5....no problems using it and no problems when I upgraded. Support has been exceptional when I needed it....some great folks there.

As for the question about training on OmniBack see:

http://www.hp.com/education/courses/h6874s.html

/rcw

[Madhu Sudhan_1]

Eventhough you see magic rabbit, please keep posting.

Thanks,
...Madhu

[Tom Danzig]

We use OmniBack to backup multiple Oracle databases. I find it fast and reliable. I do feel that the GUI interface is not particularly intuitive though and the online help is a little sparse. I'll admit that these are minor points, however, I've had to learn on the fly with no training and they stick in my mind.

[Tommy Palo]

It's been some years now since I used Omniback, we've been running Legato now for several years and ir works fine. I saw some real nice improvements with the latest Legato version (6.0x). For example the size of the index database on the backup server was reduced from 60GB to 15 GB ! (and we were just considering buying more disk). Restore speed also has been reduced, etc.

[Suhas_2]

Madhu,
We are using Omniback-II..and it is working fantastically.
We also have XP-256 as our centralized storage system.
Together, both systems are giving excellent results.
Here I would definitely like to say that, omniback-II is very much user-friendly. The kind of support that HP has provided during configuration, is also substantial. We have two central servers for two different clusters and considerable amount of live databases. I am really happy with omniback-II.
The other softwares may be good/better, but we are comfortable with omniback-II.

[Alan Riggs]

I have used both Omniback and veritas. I find Omniback to be the most user friendlly and to allow me the most access through commandline querwhich I appreciate when remotely troubleshooting backups on other continents. Veritas (netbackup) does have impressive integration for storage silos, multiplatform environments, etc., but unless you have a strong need for all or most of the "hig end" functionality, I would recommend Omniback.

[Rob Mallard]

HP classifies Omniback as an OpenView application so the Omniback course is listed tin that area of HP Education's website. You may want to check out the the course outline below:

http://www.hp.com/education/courses/h6874s.html

[Eddie Warren]

I agree with OMNIBACK being the most user friendly. I am comparing it to the other backup packages I have worked with (legato, Alexandria, and netbackup). As far as the classes Hewlett Packard is by far the best I have been to.

Good Luck,

[Pramod_4]

Hi,

No doubt being a HP product OMNIBACK is a great product.

I had a chance to work on Veritas Netback up during last DR project.

Veritas netback too is equally great and I would say it has a plus point too. Unlike Omniback it has got a charactor based menu driven interface too.

I really enjoyed the scripting of entire recovery DR process.

Pramod

[Suhas_2]

Pramod ,
Similar to veritas, scripting is possible with omniback-II, too. Secondly report generation from omniback-II is, easier. In big organizations where the status of backups is an issue of survival of the organization (banking), this really is a plus point. The backup status can be configure to send a e-mail using sendmail. Secondly, we can integrate the results with HP-openview or TIVIOLi for that matter, which helps an organization and its MIS during capacity planning.

Anyway MADHU you have raised a fantastic question, which really has been vary much informative. I would like to give 10 points to you for raising this question. :-)...

[Vincente Fernandes]

ADSM, the latest version is called TSM, is also another good backup option. My current client uses TSM which is used throughout the enterprise and is used for backups of all flavours of Unix, NT, Netware. It is also a pretty good solution even for troubleshooting.
Details of ADSM/TSM given by Devbinder is the beauty of this backup solution by tivoli. Now different organisation uses diff backup solutions. As far to take up training you need to evaluate the installed base, or other factors. If you work as an employee of the organisation then you need to take training in the current backup solution used by them.

[Vincente Fernandes]

ADSM/TSM backup solution is currently used to backup more then 10,000+ Unix, NT & Netware servers by my client.

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

Omniback is an OpenView application. Have a look at Omniback course outline below:
http://www.hp.com/education/courses/h6874s.html
I will go for Omniback as per cost.