How we tested backup, restore products

We built a network consisting of an emulated central site (a data center), which was connected to a branch network of several servers, each running the operating system best supported by the hardware.

The central site server was an HP DL140 with 1GB of RAM and an Intel Xeon processor, running Windows Enterprise Server 2003 or SUSE Linux 10. Available servers for branch testing included an Apple Xserve G4 running MacOS 10.4.7, a Sun T2000 server running Solaris, or HP DL140 boxes running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 or Windows 2000 Enterprise Server and Active Directory.

There were three varieties of branch clients: Windows XP SP2 (on several separate), MacOS 10.4.7 (on Apple PowerBook G4 and G4 workstations) and OpenSUSE 10 (on a VMware HP Notebook VM and a Compaq Presario 2.8GHz, Celeron-based machine). All client machines were connected by a Gigabit Ethernet switch to the branch server.

Two of the products we tested ship to customers with hardware. Avamar supplied Axion for testing on a Dell PowerEdge 2850, and Atempo LiveBackup came running on a Dell PowerEdge 1800 server and a Dell XPS workstation, which ran the management console.

We tested for compatibility within the operating systems we hosted (both client and server), and checked features for enterprise server backup and restoration, client backup and restoration, installation on clients and servers, and the ability to clone both servers and clients to be used in rollout or distribution situations.

We also examined user interfaces for the supported operating systems we used, to check for ease of use, security, consistency, and ability to audit backup-and-restoration logs.