Veritas rolls out slew of data protection software

By DENI CONNOR
Network World, 06/25/99

Veritas Software is rolling out a common management console for its backup applications, along with several new backup and disaster recovery features.

Veritas, which recently merged with Seagate Software, has identified three phases of product integration. Phase one involves Veritas Global Data Manager (GDM), a single management console that can control the backup of data center operations. GDM centralizes management of the enterprise-level Veritas NetBackup for Unix and Windows NT networks, and the small to mid-size network-based Veritas Backup Exec for NT or NetWare.

GDM also allows reporting and policy management, and lets network managers look at all actively scheduled and completed jobs so they can manage the backup process, abort jobs or run utility operations. Pricing for GDM starts at $5,000.

In Phase two, Veritas will develop a common job scheduler, and increase the number of supported tape formats for NetBackup and Backup Exec.

Phase three is the culmination of integration. In 2001, all Veritas products will have compatible user interfaces and work on a variety of heterogeneous networks.

Veritas also improved its NetBackup for large enterprise networks with new Java and NT user interfaces, enhanced storage-area network options, database support and automated disaster recovery. In a SAN, NetBackup allows multiple NT or Unix servers to address the same tape drive or library.

The company also added support for Oracle 8i, Microsoft SQL Server 7 and IBM DB2 database managers. NetBackup also supports Linux, UnixWare and Data General's DG-UX, and backs up open files under Windows NT for database users who are using the network 24 hours a day.

With NetBackup, users can tell how long tapes can be retained, which will allow for greater tape utilization. The software supports load balancing and fast recovery of snapshot backups.

NetBackup for NT costs $4,000 per server; the Unix version costs $8,500. The option that allows NT and Unix to share the same storage on a SAN starts at about $1,000 per shared tape drive.

Backup Exec has also been enhanced to include a restore option dubbed Intelligent Disaster Recovery, which lets users remotely recover NT servers from disk, CD-ROM or tape without the operating system, in the event of data loss. Red Hat and SuSe Linux are also supported, as is a command-line interface for those who want to manage the backup processes with keyboard commands and scripts.

Backup Exec will also handle Lotus Domino servers and clusters of Exchange servers. With Backup Exec, users can also back up and restore individual mailboxes. Backup Exec starts at about $700 per server, or $1,400 for multiple servers.

In addition, Veritas announced that Backup Exec for NT Single Server Edition now supports Microsoft Small Business Server 4.5. Installation has also been simplified. When the Backup Exec for Small Business Server console launches, a wizard leads the user through installing and configuring backup operations, restoration and virus scanning.

Backup Exec for NT Single Server Edition also backs up workstations and works with autoloaders for unattended backup. A run-time version of Crystal Reports is included, which lets the network manager choose from a variety of canned reports.

Finally, Veritas introduced Hierarchical Storage Management products for NT and Unix. Storage Migrators move online storage to near-line or offline storage. Near-line storage consists of devices such as CD-ROM or other optical media; offline or archival storage devices are normally tape. Through hierarchical storage management, users have access to seldom-used data, which can grow to become many terabytes in size. Prices are not available.