It seems like businesses are looking at modernizing backup like it’s a trip to the dentist: too time-consuming and painful, and always costly! So they end up taking shortcuts, hoping that the cavity of data loss will never occur. But just as advances in dental techniques have taken much of the pain out of these visits, backup is finally experiencing a revolution of its own, thanks to new developments from Symantec.

Everyone knows what the problem is – it’s just too complicated. You shouldn’t have to feel like you’re performing root canal surgery in order to make sure you organization’s data is protected, and most importantly can be recovered. But that’s just how it feels when the amount of data that needs to be backed-up is growing so rapidly and as data centers grow ever more complex. The reality is that there are now so many physical and virtual systems crowding infrastructure that the average company has seven separate backup...

Symantec backup appliances provide many business value benefits. In my earlier two blogs, Realizing OpEx Savings with Symantec Backup Appliances and Realizing OpEx Savings with Symantec Backup Appliances – Part II  five (5) areas of  OpEx savings were identified: 

• Acquisition
• Installation and integration
• System administration
• Upgrades: software and hardware
• Support/maintenance

In this blog, the final two areas of OpEx savings will be examined; Upgrades and Support. 

Upgrade and Refreshes

With any point solution, there are multiple components that will require firmware and/or software updates. A best case is two updates per component per year. ...

I was recently asked, “Why would I buy a NetBackup appliance when I could buy the software and cheap JBOD?”

Initially, I was taken aback by the question.  However, after giving it more thought, I realized it was a fair question and an opportunity to explain the benefits of NetBackup appliances.

In responding to the question, I used the following analogy: 

My anniversary is coming up and do I:  make dinner reservations at my spouse’s favorite restaurant or decide to prepare the meal myself and we dine in?  Granted I can save some money by us eating in, and even skimp on the quality or cut of the steak, but what am I really saving?

To make an apples-to-apples cost comparison, the true costs of making dinner myself are the expenses and time to: 

• Plan the menu
• Create the shopping list
• Shop (multiple stores:  groceries, wine, flowers)...

Today, MySQL powers some of the largest websites in the world.  If you are storing production data in MySQL, having a formalized and tested MySQL backup strategy and implementation is crucial.  I can't tell you how many times I have been asked when NetBackup will support live backups of MySQL, but I do know it's happened a lot!  That's why I am delighted to announce that now, we can tell you that we DO have that support.  We worked with Zmanda (www.zmanda.com), a well known MySQL backup specialist - AND a Symantec STEP Partner! - to create a MySQL agent for NetBackup which is now available!

The agent is created by integrating NetBackup with Zmanda Recovery Manager for MySQL.  The product and integration are described at http://www.zmanda.com/netbackup-mysql-backup.html.  This integration allows for seamless backup of MySQL servers in...