Symantec to add encryption, better recovery to backup

Symantec is expected to announce before the end of the year a new version of its Backup Exec backup and recovery software that includes encryption and more granular recovery capability for Microsoft applications, according to beta testers and other users familiar with the product.

Backup Exec 11 has been undergoing beta testing since this spring, with some users reporting having tested it in April and May, and others still beta-testing it now. The existing version, Backup Exec 10d, was announced in January 2005, and Symantec typically operates on a two-year upgrade window. Symantec officials would not comment on the product.

One user, who asked not to be named, said he had tested the product this spring and said it included granular Active Directory restore, which could allow a storage administrator to restore a single deleted user without having to restore all of Active Directory. Similar granular restore capabilities are going to be available for Microsoft servers such as Exchange and SQL Server, he said. Other new features the user reported included distributed catalogs, which enable users -- perhaps in a remote office -- to perform data restores if the centralized administration server isn't available. In addition, the product supports Symantec's LiveUpdate feature.

Gary Cannon, president of Advanced Internet Security, said the new version, which he expects to come out in November or December, includes continuous data protection for Exchange that would eliminate the daily backup window. The Colorado Springs-based systems integrator is beta-testing the software. In addition, Cannon said, users will be able to restore Exchange messages and folders and individual SharePoint Server documents, as well as perform SQL snapshots.

Jeremy Burton, Symantec's group president of enterprise security and data management, had said at Symantec's Vision conference in May that the company was working on a sequel to the current 10d version of Backup Exec called Eagle that incorporated continuous data protection and live state recovery capabilities into a single project that would ship in early 2007. This would provide continuous snapshots that would let users recover data from any point in time to any point in time, he said.

Cannon said the product included the ability to encrypt backups. Such functionality is available in the more expensive NetBackup but not currently in Backup Exec. Bob Stump, lead NetBackup administrator for the state of Michigan, said he had also heard that the NetBackup encryption functionality would be available in Backup Exec and noted that he knew of many users who had migrated from Backup Exec to NetBackup to get that functionality.

Users on Symantec's Veritas Forums Web site who were familiar with the product also confirmed that it will have encryption, as well as eliminate a fragmentation problem that was present in Version 10d.

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