Netting Out NetBackup

As a Product Manager for NetBackup for VMware, one of the biggest challenges I face is around prioritization. Where does it make the most sense to spend my time? On the one hand, assisting customers on a one-on-one basis is very attractive. When I do that, I can help, say, Batman identify which product within the NetBackup for VMware suite (NetBackup Enterprise Client, PureDisk, or PureDisk Deduplication Option) is best suited to his multiple batcaves. Batman may well prefer Enterprise Client for his headquarters beneath the mansion due to its enhanced VMDK image-level DR support, but may elect to use PureDisk in his remote batcave in the Hamptons, and then use PDDO to shrink the VMDK files transferred over by Enterprise Client and VCB.

But sometimes it seems to make more sense to spend time on other activities, and most recently VMware has been especially friendly. Their office is only a few miles away from ours in...

I realized that I should probably be talking about the other blockbuster comic book based movie, but something I read about Batman's disk storage requirements got my attention.

Pete Steege over at the "Storage Effect" blog recently posted about the  "Batman's Storage Requirements". After reading that post I'm pretty sure that we need to talk to Bruce Wayne or perhaps Alfred about a backup and disaster recovery strategy. 

First of all, Bruce Wayne needs to think seriously about what data you actually need to backup and how long you need to retain those backups. If the majority of your data is from video feeds around Gotham, you probably want to keep it for a relatively short period of time. Since you...