Symantec Backup Exec 12

What happens when your PC at home fails? You replace the hard disk drive or the component that failed, and life is pretty much back to normal. It is quite a different matter when the desktop at work or a string of PCs on your corporate network fail. Business is affected, work hours are lost …and sometimes heads roll. But hardware failure is not really such an unexpected occurrence, because machines are subject to wear and tear and will eventually stop working. The smart administrator knows this and makes provisions to reduce the effects of this on his/her network. System recovery is now a major focus area for mainstream business computers, just like antivirus/malware protection. Little wonder then, that one of the largest malware protection companies has an offering in this area – Symantec’s Backup Exec for Windows Servers.Backup Exec is meant for use with computer networks, where data on large numbers of desktops and laptops need to be backed up and restored. This data is stored on one or more “media servers” that use internal hard disk drives, SANs, or tape drives as the destination media for backups. Disasters such as hardware failures, data corruption, virus infestations, are damaging to businesses. The extent can be reduced when the time taken to restore critical systems is short. The application does a complete backup of systems and entire networks. It also offers granular backup (such as only system registries, only a particular folder on D: drives of each PC, etc). It allows scheduling these “jobs” and verifying files for integrity. Specific data can be included and excluded as per needs and you can monitor logs of actions, and receive reports. Symantec’s own LiveUpdate takes care of relevant updates to keep itself running smoothly. Documentation is extensive — how to operate, what the deepest settings do, and specific quirks when installed alongside certain applications. It is a good idea for any network administrator to fully read the provided documentation (in HTML and PDF formats) before implementing anything. To install this app, a Domain Controller and Active Directory Services are required to be setup and running. These services can run either on independent servers, or on the same machine as where you will install Backup Exec.To backup files of a specific desktop/laptop, the Backup Exec Remote Agent needs to be installed on it, which will then communicate over the network with the Backup Exec server. Currently, Remote Agents are available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux/Unix. For servers in the company, specific “Agents” can be installed to backup files associated with the following - Active Directory, MS Exchange Server, SharePoint server, MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, SAP, Oracle, Lotus Domino, etc. If you already use Symantec Endpoint Protection to protect all your PCs from viruses/hackers, Backup Exec can integrate with it as well. SQL Express is installed to store Backup Exec’s databases. At first run, the Backup Exec Assistant dialog guides you through documentation, settings, and creating backup “jobs”. As with any enterprise management tool, it allows creation of customized deployment packages (Windows Installer transforms). The administrator can then install Backup Exec Agents from a central Active Directory server. This is useful because a newly bought laptop that jumps onto the network for the first time will receive the required software automatically and be backed up, all this without needing the “IT guys” to come around and install it. How much of data loss would you deem “acceptable” ? No matter whom you ask, they would prefer to keep the “period of loss” at a minimum. Ideally, you would have every little change backed up immediately. This way, you can eliminate daily backups and recover quickly. For this, Symantec offers Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server which supports MS Exchange, MS SQL Server, file servers, and desktops. It is crucial to backup files even while they are still not saved and closed. You’d have noticed that files “in use” cannot usually be copied, backed up, or deleted. For an example of this, go to the Windows Temp folder, and try to delete the task scheduler’s log file – it just won’t go away! Similarly, MS SQL Server locks database files, and it may not always be possible to take it offline for backup, especially if it is used 24x7 or accessed globally across time zones. So to backup even open files as they change, Backup Exec offers “Advanced Open File Option”. You can enable such extra options during install of Backup Exec server, by entering the license keys that you paid for. For prospective users, a 60-day evaluation is offered, which can be downloaded from -here .Ideally, keep your server updated with the latest stable drivers and Service Pack for your OS before installing anything. Before installing any further hotfixes, wait a few days and check whether they cause any issues with Backup Exec, because these are known to happen sometimes with Symantec enterprise products. A Backup Exec admin could face one possible pitfall, as described in the next sentence. During installation, Backup Exec asks for a username and password so that it runs in the context of user permissions of that user account. If you change this password, make sure you update the password used by Backup Exec as well. Else, it will still invoke the old username and password, and won’t work because it failed to “initialize” some services.We received and tested Symantec Backup Exec for Windows Servers, version 12. It has gains over v11 such as support for T10 hardware encryption, and compatibility with 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 operating systems. The newer version 12.5 has “Agents” for VMware and MS HyperVisor, to support today’s big buzz – server virtualization. Pricing for Backup Exec v12 for Windows Servers starts at $1162 (approximately Rs. 54,600, at current exchange rates), with options to purchase higher levels of support and license keys for enhanced functionality.