Symantec NetBackup PureDisk

Symantec NetBackup PureDisk Overview

NetBackup PureDisk is the deduplication engine for NetBackup, enabling efficient, storage-optimized data protection for the data center, remote office and virtual environments. NetBackup PureDisk is a software-based deduplication solution that is tightly integrated with NetBackup. PureDisk is ideal for unique environments that require high performance and scalability.

Across the globe, enterprise information technology (IT) groups have begun a transition to disk-based data protection. As companies adopt disk and discover its benefits, they soon realize that they cannot keep all of their backup data on disk. Despite declines in the cost of disk storage, they still lack the available capacity to recover most data from disk locally in the data center. Data deduplication is a disk-based technology that enables companies to eliminate duplicate backup data and significantly decrease the storage, and in some cases bandwidth consumption. However, successful adoption and use of deduplication requires consideration of more than just the storage benefits.

The Symantec solution

NetBackup PureDisk offers customers a software-based data deduplication solution that integrates with NetBackup and provides customers with the critical features required to protect all their data – from remote office to virtual environment to data center. It reduces the size of backups with a deduplication engine that can be deployed for storage reduction, using integration with NetBackup, or for bandwidth reduction using PureDisk clients. An open architecture allows customers to easily deploy and scale NetBackup PureDisk using standard storage and servers.

Integration with NetBackup makes disk-based recovery more cost effective

NetBackup PureDisk offers a data deduplication engine that integrates into the NetBackup server. It supports in-line deduplication of backup streams coming from clients as well as post-process deduplication of staged images. It provides customers with a means to retain backup data on disk for longer periods of time and to recover it more quickly. Through integration with NetBackup, PureDisk deduplication throughput can scale with the addition of media servers and it can leverage features such as storage lifecycle policies, media-server load-balancing, shared disk pools, and media-server failover. This unique combination of features can improve performance and simplify administration.

• Supports LAN and SAN-based backups
• Supports in-line and post-process deduplication with NetBackup storage lifecycle policies
• Scale deduplication speed with additional NetBackup media servers

PureDisk Integration with NetBackup (with replication)

Bandwidth efficient multi-site disaster recovery integrated with NetBackup

NetBackup PureDisk integration with NetBackup also enables customers to reduce their reliance on tape for disaster recovery with secure replication of backup data. Because NetBackup PureDisk dramatically reduces the size of backups and only moves unique segments of data, it provides a bandwidth-efficient means to transfer large amounts of data to disaster recovery sites. More importantly, NetBackup manages all copies of backup data based on defined policies which expedites restores from these DR copies and simplifies expiration of old data both from the data center and the disaster recovery site.

Bandwidth optimized protection of remote offices and virtual environments

Traditional network-based methods are increasingly insufficient for protecting both remote office and virtual servers. NetBackup PureDisk clients can perform source data deduplication at the client which enables companies to overcome network limitations and centralize backup data into the data center.

• Eliminate backup applications and storage at remote offices
• Efficient backup of virtual guests
• Manage and recover remote office data with a web-based interface.

PureDisk for Remote Offices

Manage backup storage growth with an open and scalable storage system

NetBackup PureDisk provides an open, reliable, and scalable disk solution to store backup data. Customers can use DAS or SAN storage as a target for deduplicated data and a wide range of enterprise servers or virtual machines to host NetBackup PureDisk software. NetBackup PureDisk storage capacity and performance scales with the addition of storage nodes and it performs deduplication across all nodes in a cluster. The market-leading Veritas™ Cluster Server from Symantec and Veritas™ Storage Foundation from Symantec (Volume Manager and File System) are integrated in the PureDisk storage system to provide automatic node failover, redundant storage paths, and ease of storage management.

NetBackup PureDisk deduplicated data can be replicated to a secondary storage pool or backed up efficiently with NetBackup to guarantee data recoverability.

• Easily increase capacity and performance with additional server nodes while maintaining deduplication benefits
• Integrated Storage Foundation technologies for high availability, server-failover and storage management
• Deploy NetBackup PureDisk into VMware™

Feature and Benefits:

Key Features:

• Optimized deduplication for physical and virtual environments.
• More comprehensive protection for critical applications.
• Bandwidth efficient disk to disk replication that allows complete independence from tape.
• Up to 3.5 TB/Hr of aggregate throughput.
• Highly scalable with up to 32TB of capacity per storage node.

Key Benefits:

• Deduplication at the source dramatically reduces the amount of data sent over the network.
• Protect up to a petabyte of data, buy less storage, leverage existing resources and maximize your investment.
• Increase the speed and success of backups, free up critical resources.
• Protect remote server and application data without a local backup application or tape media.

New Features:

NetBackup PureDisk 6.6 offers new features that can improve how customers use data deduplication within their remote offices, data center and virtual environments.

Major improvements in look and feel and overall usability

• NetBackup PureDisk storage pool installer, making configuration fast and easy
• Web-based user interface: very intuitive and very easy to navigate
• Command line API delivers better tools for NetBackup PureDisk to integrate with third party products

Optimized backup and recovery for physical and virtual environments

• Optimized deduplication for VMware off-host backups of vmdk (image) files
• NetBackup PureDisk virtual synthetics increases the speed of backups
• Multi-stream replication with PureDisk 6.6 delivers increased performance
• Faster backups with improved scalability, NetBackup PureDisk raises the bar

More comprehensive protection for critical applications

• Fast recovery of an individual Microsoft Exchange file and an entire Exchange image with a single NetBackup PureDisk 6.6 backup pass
• Comprehensive protection with the NetBackup PureDisk 6.6 new agent for Oracle RMAN

Improved deployment for remote sites, the data center and for evaluation

• NetBackup PureDisk VMware virtual appliance

System Requirements:

System and platform support

NetBackup PureDisk is a software appliance that can be installed on a broad range of server/storage combinations. In addition to a server with PureDisk software, deduplication of backup data requires either a NetBackup PureDisk client or a NetBackup client and a NetBackup media server.

Operating systems that can be backed up by NetBackup PureDisk client

Additional platform support and OS version details can be found on the OS and Hardware Compatability Matrix on the Symantec Enterprise Support site.

• Microsoft Windows
  
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server (with SP4 and Update Rollup 1 for SP4)
  • Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions, Windows Server 2003 R2 Editions
  • Windows Storage Server 2003 (with SP1)
    
• Linux (Red Hat and Suse)
• Unix (IBM AIX on Power 3, 4, 5; Solaris on Sparc; HP-UX on PA-RISC)
• Mac OS X

Applications and Databases Supported by NetBackup PureDisk client

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
• Microsoft SQL 2005 Server
• Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server
• Microsoft SQL 2000 Server

Operating systems that can be backed up by NetBackup PureDisk Deduplication Option

• All systems supported by NetBackup

Applications and Databases Supported by NetBackup PureDisk Deduplication Option

• All applications & databases supported by NetBackup

Advanced Reporting Across Multiple Backup Applications

• Requires Veritas Backup Reporter

Screenshots:

NetBackup PureDisk 6.6 Web-based Management Console Dashboard
Customers can manage backups, configure polices, and recover data for remote offices using a web-based interface. Role-based access and enterprise directory authentication ensure that only valid users can access data and perform management functions.

NetBackup PureDisk 6.6 Job Monitor
Customers can monitor the deduplication process from an intuitive web-based GUI. Administrators can monitor jobs, alerts and notifications all from an easy to use console.

Documentation:

Download the Symantec NetBackup PureDisk Datasheet (PDF).