[SunHELP] Backup Choices?

[Phil Stracchino]

Rodney Sparapani wrote:
> We're looking to buy a Thumper server and we will need to backup 24TB.
> So, I'm looking at the following backup options:
> 
> #1: Sun StorageTek SL24, LTO-3, SAS interface with StorEdge EBS 
> Workgroup software
> 
> #2: HP StorageWorks MSL2024-1, LT0-4
> interface options Ultra320 LVD/SE SCSI or 4GB Native FC
> software: Atempo TimeNavigator or Bacula?
> 
> The cost of the HP tape drive is a little more for Ultra-SCSI (is that 
> what that is, boy SCSI sure has changed) to a lot more for FC.  So, I
> think we would go with the cheaper option, any opinion?

If the LTO-4 is "only a little" more than the LTO-3, I'd go with the 
LTO-4.  Backing up 24TB, you want all the transfer rate you can get. 
Also, double the native cfpacity per tape means half as many tapes to 
buy and half as many tape changes during full backups, and LTO-4 tapes 
aren't twice the cost of LTO-3 tapes.  (Plus, you can use LTO-3 tapes in 
an LTO-4 drive, but not vice versa.)


> We currently use EBS software and I'm not a big fan.  However, without 
> trying something else, I don't know what I am missing.  Is TimeNavigator 
> any better?  How about FOSS like Bacula?

I haven't used EBS.  My experience is that most of the commercial 
enterprise backup software out there pretty much sucks.  Bacula is very 
good; but I should make the disclaimer that I'm a Bacula early-adopter 
and past Bacula developer myself, so I'm not 100% unbiased.


There is this to be said:  It won't cost you anything to *try out* 
Bacula.  If it doesn't work for you (which, honestly, isn't likely), you 
haven't spent any money on it, only time, and knowing in what ways it 
didn't work for you will give you a better idea of what you need your 
backup software to be able to do.



-- 
   Phil Stracchino, CDK#2         ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
   Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
   alaric at caerllewys.net            alaric at metrocast.net
           It's not the years, it's the mileage.