A crowded and uneven playing field
There are few areas in the computer world that have as much competition as there is a backup software world. For many customers and resellers alike, price for them is no small matter. The following comparison will hopefully shed a great deal of light on which of these software platforms is the best for the Linux administrator.
Open-source software offers the opportunity for cost free free evaluation. The area backup of software, however, is particularly dominated by proprietary solutions. Many times we are talking about substantial investments in software and training technology. Our Magazine has done significant research and has determined what they feel are the nine most important companies and products available today.
The contestants
We looked at the following products and done substantial comparison testing: Amanda, Arkeia, Atempo, Bacula, Bakbone, BRU, Legato, Symantec and SEP sesam. See Table 1 for a list of each products set. Of the nine products listed seven are commercial products and our distributed under GPL license.
Amanda
Amanda is one the oldest open source products available today. It stands for Advance Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver, and now has a commercial, venture capital funded partner Zmanda. Amanda is a robust and scalable solution and is installed around the world. In reality, Amanda is simply a backup scheduler that uses standard tools like GNU TAR, Dump or SMB client from the SAMBA project. Zmanda has added some additional functionality to the main the product set.
Amanda development is headed more towards simplification and openness. Big step in this direction was made with version 2.6 .0 is finally included APIs long alluded to. We have made no attempt to view the Zmanda product set, since it is immature in application richness in comparison to the other commerically available products.
Arkeia
Arkeia claims to be the only proprietary software solution that supports over 100 Linux distributions. In the enterprise arena they also support several groupware and database solutions. The recent release cycles have been short with two significant releases version 7 version 8, with version 7 being the most interesting, with the inclusion of a web interface, multisite management tool and backup replication. Version 8 was mostly concentrated on VMware ESX and ESXi.
Since January 2009 Arkeia offers a software appliance for virtual servers starting at €2000 and appliance for hardware-based servers at €2500. However, popular groupware solutions like GroupWise, Scalix and Zarafa, as well as, Informix database server are not supported. Arkeia also doesn't provide support for FTP or writing to local tape servers.
One of the biggest problems we've experienced personally with Arkeia is the ability to restore data previously backed up data. A documented critical failure occured at a renowned research institution in Bremen, Germany, EuroImmun, and Arkeia was unable to recover the data after a system failure, placing millions of sensitive data outside the reach of users and endangering millions of Euros in investment and years of research. One of the commercial product companies listed, SEP AG, was able to solve the problem and save the customer's incredibly valuable data.
Atempo
Atempo was also improved in the past year by adding several UNIX distributions and Linux variations, starting with kernel 2.4 and 2.6. They've also added bare metal restore for Linux. An Outlook plug-in for Exchange server eases administrative work for single object backup end-user restore. Support for Max DB, GroupWise and VM Ware complete the offering. Atempo also integrates an Oracle databases, and allows the administrator to use the Rman restore from Oracle with their included GUI.
During parallel client backup routines Atempo can also create multiple backup copies to different media. A synthetic backup solution is also offered whereby a full backup is made and then incrementals are performed. The server can then be set up to create periodic new full backups using the previously backed up data.
Atempo can also be used to create and replicate complete data systems and offers an integrated user rights table. They also offer a fairly extensive list of products and software that they support. Tape drives and tape libraries as well as fiber Channel support using SANs improves their offering. However, Atempo is not cheap and starts at €2400 for one server.
Bacula
Bacula is quite a bit newer than Amanda and in the beginning not such a good reputation. Perhaps because of this user community is also small. It has however changed in last few years, with a growing number of interested users. Responsibility for this change comes from the establishment of the Swiss Firm Bacula Systems SA. The development of the kernel Sibbald now offers professional support for the entire product which is under GPL license. Enterprise software was expected to be available in early 2009. All information in the attached table relates to this proposed release and has not been verified for this article.
It supports a large number of tape drives and tape drive autochanger's, and uses a database to store a catalog along with supported operating systems. Differential, incremental and full backups are possible and can be written to disk to tape or other media. The media types can be easily selected and mixed by the administrator. HP-UX and AIX are reportedly supported in new releases.
Bacula server referred to as the Director runs on almost all Linux and BSD variants, there is also a client for Windows and other UNIX releases. The bulk of the applications can also be reached by writing scripts for implementation.
Bakula's enterprise edition should also be interesting to its platform based price model. Although rather expensive subscription can be expanded for each OS platform desired with an additional €1500. This is not limited to the number of servers supported. Estimated that Windows will cost €2000.
Bakbone
Bakbone offers today a GUI that runs on Mac OS. It is proposed that Bakbone will offer VMware, XEN and Virtual Iron support, and that version 8.2.1 expanded version of its CLI. The marketing braggodaccio is not limited in this firm that has in the past had nothing but negative headlines regarding its financial situation. Recent comments by the company stated they will have the best via more integration for the DSX/E. 13 server, because it is completely without scripting requirements and is completely integrated into the GUI.
Using network data management protocol capital and (NDMP) Bakbone added additional features like NetApp's checkpoint restart.
Bakbone's Netvault comes with a built in database with consistency check and automatic error correction and a tool for the central collection of all important configuration settings for the client and server tables. It also supports virtual tape libraries as well as NetApp's BTL shadow along with a a proprietary expanded Netvault backup SVTL. In the event there are multiple copies of a backup the administrator can now select from which source they would like to restore.
Pricewise NetVault finds itself in the upper echelons of the competition. It does offer many features desired by users today especially those in the large enterprise arena with large networks. A definite plus is the fact that the Java-based GUI runs all almost all operating systems.
BRU
April 2009 saw the lease of BRU version 1.3 from Tolis Systems. With this release they are now supporting virtual hosts and guests, although a full year behind many of their competitors. They've also added several database and groupware modules as well as support for 64-bit servers.
According the manufacturer it's the only current software supplier that provides a success control function it can be started from the client to ensure that the data was properly backed up. According to the manufacturer this allows the backup window to be cut in half and allows the verification to be performed over time from the source media. The BRU server engine is only 270KB in size and reportedly allows fast backups in the area of 1.7 TB per hour. In reality customers are reporting backups of around 520 GB per hour. The new version also comes with a new GUI that should work with all of the current CLI options. With the release the client should also be able to initiate a restore.
Legato Networker from EMC
Even though EMC has hidden the old legato product under a new hood now called Networker product's data applications and in some cases bloatware is still revered in in the halls of some server environments.
Several new features have been added including fast start which according to the manufacturer allows a small to medium-sized business to create a backup structure within one day. Integration from VMware has not been fully implemented. The de-duplication technology from Avamar creates a less redundant data store and is integrated with EMCs bare metal recovery product homebase.
Without a great deal of effort Legato compares easily with a list of products with large products set and most modules that customers ask for are available. There are limitations here, however, in that they do not offer support for mySQL and PostgreSQL. In addition, there is little support for Linux platforms as well as many BSD variants. The management console works on almost all platforms.
NetBackup
Enterprises that can afford NetBackup are mostly in the upper echelons of the business world. Any institution or nonprofit organization that implements this solution is either not done enough research to find comparable less expensive products or have too much money to spend. While offering a great deal in the way of functionalityand management capability they leave many customers, especially those in the Linux community, feeling like a stepchild. Those companies that have failed to implement an enterprise operating system are only allowed to use Debian, Santos and Ubuntu as the client. The server offering is only available for Red Hat or SLES, Windows and the large Unix distributions. The customers do, however, receive a completely integrated and mature backup infrastructure whereby clients/agents can exchange data via the APIs from the server.
Since version 6.5 almost all the management software allows the re-creation of activities regarding the backups. Backup supports almost all conceivable backup media with the exception of local media like DVD or blue Ray technology. They also offer it at the duplication and reduce the problem of a limited backup window using continuous backup.
Detailed backup and restore for VMR SharePoint and exchange are also available. According to the manufacturer this allows the host system to be restored within 15 minutes on every platform - data transfer and recreation is dependent upon the restore file size. Administrators can use that backup efficiently because of standardized routines, granular administration and automated selection.
SEP Sesam
SEP AG Recently released the source code for its client software to the open-source community. The client software can be used with the SEP sesam server and it is a valuable tool, potentially for the open source community. The SEP sesam client has been included for many years in the distribution of many Linux providers.
Some of the most important additions in recent years include the module for VM Ware ESX host backup along with the VCB proxy functionality. The cost free VCB module allows the addition of an unlimited number of guest servers. Very recently SEP Software announced the most recent release of SEP sesam 3.6 for Citix XenServer . The SEP pricing model makes it extremely easy and cost effective to implement their solution. In addition, SEP is working on a release for Red Hat's KVM utility and it should be available around the same time that Red Hat releases KVM to its user community.
Novell OES2 Linux and OES2 NetWare and SLES users should also be exceptionally happy since the SEP sesam tool can be used to migrate users from NetWare to OES2 by performing a simple backup routine. SEP sesam is the only software that supports NSS Volumes, eDirectory, iFolder, Teaming and XenWorks backup and restore. A separate SEP sesam module allows for the disaster recovery of Teaming applications, an industry first.
SEP offers one of the largest numbers of groupware and database in the backup world. having recently added Ingres online backup rates as one of the most functionality rich companies in the back of environment. Ingres' recent release allows for up to 10,000,000 columns.
Another interesting fact regarding SEP is that the system has been completely rewritten using newer technologies and programming and design. Customers are raving about the fact that backups in the Linux world approach 400 GB per hour for single stream and 360 GB per hour for Microsoft Windows 2008. Figures the competition can only envy.
it's Java-based GUI runs on any platform that supports Java including Mac OS X. Recent improvements in the GUI makes SEP sesam one of the easiest to use of enterprise class software platforms. And perhaps most notably is its price performance compared to other products like Legato or NetBackup in its class. prices start at €180 and complete system compares to its direct competition at 30 to 40% of the competitors pricing model.
Conclusion
One could conclude that these products divide themselves into several groups. Expensive high-end tools like EMC legato and Symantec's NetBackup over shadow products in the middle price range. Two open-source products offer GPL capability but are not without cost or overhead for more sophicated implementations. When we considered companies like EMC and Symantec we were expecting fully mature, function rich software products to fit every need. This, however, as this report details is not the case. Many features as well as many operating systems are missing, and many features and operating systems are supported by the middle priced product offerings, like SEP sesam.
All the products reviewed at the lower range price offer more for less than the more expensive offerings. The number of platforms supported by products like SEP sesam and Atempo, are definite proof that you don't have to spend a great deal of money to find and implement a reliable product.
Every situation for backup is unique in the ultimate solution comes down to the administrators that will be designing, implementing and administering the solution.And whether the features needed are available and affordable.
Tabel 1 Product Amanda/Zmanda Arkeia Atempo
Bacula Bakbone Netvault BRU
EMC Legato Symantec Net Backup SEP sesam
Version 2.6l 8.0 4.2 SP3
1.3 8.2.1
1.3 7.5 6.5.3 3.6
Website http://amanda.org http://arekeia.org http://atempo.com http://bacula.org http://bakbone.com http://tolisgroup.com http://emc.com http://symantec.com http://sepusa.com Operating System - Server
RHEL/SLES/Other Linux
yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/no yes/yes/no yes/yes/yes Windows yes
yes yes no yes
yes
yes no yes Solaris, HP-UX, AIX
yes/no/no yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes no yes/yes/yes yes/yes/no yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/no
BSD/Mac OS X
yes/no no/yes no/yes yes/no no/yes no/yes
no/no no/no yes/FreeBSD/no Operation System- Client all Kernels from 2.0, 2.4 and 2.6 Supported Linux Dist
all popular
Kernel 2.4, 2.6 w/Glibc 2.3 Kernel 2.4 and 2.6 with Glibc 2.3
>20 >20 from Kernal 2.4.24and 2.6.11 n/a <20 yes Windows yes yes yes yes yes
yes n/a yes yes Unix/BSD yes/no yes/no yes/no yes/yes yes/yes yes/no
n/a yes/no yes Modules MS SQL/Oracle/PostreSQL/DB2Informix yes/yes/yes/no/no yes/yes/no/yes/yes yes/yes/no/yes/yes yes/yes/yes/yes/no yes/yes/yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes/yes/yes no/yes/no/yes/yes no/yes/no/yes/yes yes/yes/yes/yes/yes MS Exchange, Lotus, Open Xchange, Scalix, Groupwise
yes/no/no/no/no yes/yes/yes/yes/no yesyes/no/no/no yes/no/no/no/no yes/yes/no/no/no yes/yes/yes/yes/yes yes/yes/no/no/no yes/yes/no/no/no yes/yes/yes/yes/yes SAP R/3
no no yes no yes no yes no yes VMware no yes since 2009 yes no yes yes yes no yes Features NDMP support
yes yes yes no yes no yes yes no LAN Free Serverless Backup
no yes yes no yes yes yes yes yes Virtual Tape Lib
yes yes yes yes yes yes
yes yes yes Multiflow yes yes yes yes yes yes
yes yes yes Band width control
no yes yes no no no no yes no Server encryption yes yes yes no no no yes yes yes Encryption before Xfer
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes GUI for WEB/CLI/Windows/Linux only CLI
Web and CLI
n/a yes/yes/yes/yes no/yes/yes/yes no/yes/yes/yes yes yes/yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes/yes SATA Removable Drives as Tape no no no no
no no no no yes
BackupMedia Supported
HD, SAN, Tape yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes yes/yes/yes no yes yes yes FTP, SFTP
yes/yes no/no no/no no/no yes/yes proprietary
Proprietary
proprietary proprietary DVD+-RW, Blueray
yes/yes no/no no yes/no yes/yes Starting price$700 for Linux. Tech support starting at $260/yr Starting at $1200
5 clients, 1 Svr, 1 Tape Euro 6,500, 20 clients 1 Svr 1 Tape 19,300 Euro. 490 Clients, 1 Svr, 2 Tapes, 3 Appl./DB37,300 Euro
$255 to $1,230 for Server Price and Support
7/24 support yes yes yes yes yes License dual proprietary proprietary Open Source GPL
proprietary Prices Software is free, Support Varies, $100/250/375 per server/yr. Windows Client: 150/300/450.
from Euro 950/Linux backup server with VTL and one tape drive, 2 cleints and one maintenance fro 60 Euro from 2400 Euro, Flex lic., classic or volume based.
Sofware is free support from 2900 Euro to 40,000 per year. Choice of systems from 1500 Euro
four lic. level from 1100 Euro including 8x5 support/year
