I recently had a customer ask about NetBackup versus Oracle ZDLRA—a comparison I typically avoid framing as a competition. The reality is, NetBackup and ZDLRA can serve complementary roles, and leveraging both can deliver strong Oracle data protection while supporting broader organizational requirements.
NetBackup provides robust, enterprise-grade Oracle coverage. It’s designed to meet the protection needs of most customers while supporting a secure, scalable 3-2-1 data protection strategy. Meanwhile, Oracle ZDLRA offers specialized functionality for Oracle database recovery that can integrate well into this strategy—though many customers aren't aware of how effectively the two can work together.
If your organization has invested in ZDLRA—a purpose-built solution for Oracle backups, albeit with limited visibility outside of the DBA team—you don’t need to treat it as a standalone silo. NetBackup can be integrated to reduce overall deployment cost, improve operational visibility, and enhance long-term retention and disaster recovery capabilities across the enterprise.
Optimizing ZDLRA with NetBackup
Instead of sizing ZDLRA to retain months or years of data—or replicating it across sites to meet compliance and DR requirements—you can configure ZDLRA for short-term retention (e.g., a few weeks). From there, NetBackup can take over for long-term storage, ensuring cost-efficiency and compliance with data protection policies.
By installing the NetBackup client directly on ZDLRA nodes, NetBackup can orchestrate backups from ZDLRA to its own storage tiers, enabling deduplicated, efficient data movement and long-term retention. This hybrid approach is generally more cost-effective and operationally sustainable than over-sizing ZDLRA.
Integration Steps: NetBackup + ZDLRA
To integrate NetBackup with ZDLRA for seamless Oracle protection:
- Install the NetBackup client on the ZDLRA nodes.
- Allow NetBackup to auto-discover the Oracle RAC databases hosted on the ZDLRA nodes.
- Configure credentials for the discovered RAC databases in NetBackup.
- Create an Oracle policy in NetBackup using the “Clients for use with scripts” option.
- Update the existing backup scripts on ZDLRA to include the necessary NetBackup configuration for those databases.
Once configured, NetBackup will treat those Oracle databases like any other client—protecting them with centralized policy management, broad visibility, and efficient long-term retention. More importantly, this setup ensures stakeholders across IT, compliance, and business continuity can access recovery insights—not just DBAs.
It’s Not Either/Or—It’s Better Together
There’s no need to choose between NetBackup and ZDLRA. When used together, they deliver a comprehensive, scalable Oracle protection strategy that balances performance, cost, and visibility. Organizations gain the flexibility to align with both DBA-centric recovery workflows and broader enterprise data protection policies.
