Forum Discussion

tmelv79's avatar
tmelv79
Level 4
10 years ago

Fibre or Ethernet ?

Hi,

Our dual-drive backup device is connected to a 2GB fibre switch and our media server and a couple of file servers are also connected (via fibre) to the same SAN switch.

Is this the best approach or would it be better to connect the backup device (Dell PowerVault TL4000) directly to the media server over fibre ?

We would have quite a number of other servers which need to be backed up whcih are not connected to this fibre switch, they are just connected regularly on the LAN?

Thanks.

2012
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Best Practice
Performance
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • Larry_Fine's avatar
    Larry_Fine
    10 years ago

    Going through an FC (fibre channel) switch is the "standard" way of doing it.  Connecting the tape library directly to the BE server is possible, but offers no significant advantage, other than not requiring an FC switch, which you already have.

    Your other servers can backup over the LAN using the BE Remote Agent.  If that performance is not acceptable, then you could add an FC card and install BE MMS on those servers so they can backup directly over the FC.  If you have multiple servers attempting to use the tape library over FC, then one of the servers needs to have the BE ESO license.

  • Larry_Fine's avatar
    Larry_Fine
    Level 6
    10 years ago

    Going through an FC (fibre channel) switch is the "standard" way of doing it.  Connecting the tape library directly to the BE server is possible, but offers no significant advantage, other than not requiring an FC switch, which you already have.

    Your other servers can backup over the LAN using the BE Remote Agent.  If that performance is not acceptable, then you could add an FC card and install BE MMS on those servers so they can backup directly over the FC.  If you have multiple servers attempting to use the tape library over FC, then one of the servers needs to have the BE ESO license.

  • tmelv79's avatar
    tmelv79
    Level 4
    10 years ago

    Thanks for your reply, very helpful.

    What is BE MMS and BE ESO ...

    thanks

  • lmosla's avatar
    lmosla
    Level 6
    10 years ago

    BE MMS is a Backup Exec Managed Server which exists in a CASO ( Central Admin Server Option environment).  'A media server that is managed by a central administration server. Managed media servers are responsible for the actual processing of backup and restore jobs in a Central Admin Server Option environment. Managed media servers are only available with the Backup Exec Central Admin Server Option.' copied from http://www.symantec.com/security_response/glossary/define.jsp?letter=m&word=managed-media-server

    BE ESO (Enterprise Server Option) is the license required for CASO, ADBO (Advanced Disk Based Option) and SAN-SSO (SAN Shared Storage Option)  see here for more info: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/sites/default/files/Backup%20Exec%202014%20Enterprise%20Server%20Option%20White%20Paper.pdf