Intend to Use Netbackup 5000 Appliance instead of Netapp for Backup Storage.

Just find out the cost per GB and go from there.  

But ask yourself this...  You are backing up these primary NetApp volumes.  These contain your production data.  Then you turn around and write your backups to your NetApp.  There is something to be said about putting your backups on the same primary storage device.  

Hi Teiva,

                 Thanks for Input and the point which you mentioned is one of  points which I have mentioned.

-Boomchi

Hi,

Nice choice but I would also suggest looking at N52xx series which are ready to run Netbackup Media server (just give an IP and a license and enjoy). This could be a perfect replacement solution if your current media servers aren't 64bits compatible or if they have low deduplication performance.

Regards

Hi Kshitij,

   NetApp is a fantastic primary storage platform, however it is not a true data protection platform. Teiva is spot on about the per TB cost considerations.

   No matter which series (NetBackup 5000 or 5200 series),  you get the following over NetApp as your data protection platform.

• Intelligent deduplication through NDMP dedupe streamer
• Support for multiple data streams
• Optimized duplication (replication), reduced bandwidth
• No cost for replication engine, no cost for additional copies
• Perpetual software license (as the hardware ages over time and you refresh your appliance, the software license can be reused)
• Appliances can protect more than just NetApp filers, dedupe across physical machines, virtual machines, applications

  Bernard makes an interesting case in case your current media servers are due for hardware refresh or you plan to add additional media servers. NetBackup 5200 series provides you media server and deduplication storage. Now, with the version 2.0 appliance software, you can also set it up as a master server.

   Here what I would recommend:

1. If you had already invested recently in refreshing hardware for media servers, simply add NetBackup 5000 series appliances to harness the power of NetBackup deduplication. You can do source and target dedupe. NetBackup 5000 series provide global deduplication pool up to 192TB
2. If your media servers are due for hardware refresh or you are adding new media servers you have a few options.

• You can use NetBackup 5200 appliances: This is a convenient 4U appliance with 32TB of storage. You can use some or all of it for deduplication pool. Note that 32TB can store a lot of front end data considering deduplication capability.
• You can use NetBackup 5220 appliances: This appliance features modular design.  It starts from 4TB and can be expanded up to 36TB. The deduplication pool can be 4TB to 32TB.
• You can use a NetBackup 5220 appliance as the media server and one or more 5000 series appliances as global deduplication pool: This is great if you are looking for a large global deduplication pool. NetBackup 5220 (the 4TB unit) acts as your media server for your global deduplication pool.

Also note that appliances are compatible with software versions of your media servers. So you are not doing a fork lift replacement. You could extend the life of you existing investment (current software media servers can also write to appliance deduplication pools) while bringing in these powerful systems.

More information on appliances: http://netbackupappliance.com

Hi Rasheed,

               Thanks a lot for your post on this. I second your thought regarding the featurs of Appliance aslo I have compared the Cost per TB , definatly its a cost savings .

    As of for now we are not in not thinking of adding any new media servers so I am planning for 5000 , but in future would like to have a 5200 in one of large remote site which is currenly with PD..

I also need your thoughts on the below mentioned point.

    While doing my analysis and as I mentioned earlier that we are pure Netapp Storage co..( as of for now ) :) , thats why nearly 70 % of our backups are NDMP which are going to tape ( for all retention levels) and thats one big reason I am proposing this to my management., However as we know that the dedup ratio of NDMP backups is not so good , is there some new file handlers being introduced by Symantec in 7.1 or 7.1.0.1 to handle better dedup for NDMP backups .

  This will make my case more strong..

Regards,

Boomchi

Hi Boomchi,

   Yes! We have an intelligent stream handler for NetApp NDMP data stream. This stream handler understands NetApp’s NDMP stream format (their format is ufs_dump) and identifies file boundaries so that deduplication much more efficient. While third party deduplication devices do not have this content intelligence (they see the stream as a blob of data, significant processing overload to identify unique fingerprints; hence poor deduplication when things shift in the stream), NetBackup can do this much more efficiently. If you are at NetBackup 7.0.1 or higher on you media server that is driving NetBackup 5000 series appliances, the deduplication plugin is already capable of identifying NetApp’s ufs_dump data stream and provide global deduplication across files stored in NetApp and other client systems. I would also recommend updating your NetBackup 5000 series appliance to v 1.3.  

   One thing to note is that the your very first backup might show lower than expected deduplication rates. This is normal as the streamer is adapting to the new data set. After the initial backup, the performance and deduplication rate will go up.

I would highly recommend considering the NetBackup 5020 Appliance over the 5000. The additional storage is nice (32TB vs. 16TB), but the IPMI port's virtual KVM works for remote console access.

Regarding NDMP stream handlers, since you're using NetApp, NetBackup 7.0 and 7.1 has deduplication stream handlers for NetApp and the upfs-data format that NetApp uses.

More information is available here:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH166231

Hi Rasheed/All,

            Good News !! , I just completed my presentation and management really liked it and I got an approval for 2 nos. 5020 appliances and also 5220 4TB in future for one of my remote sites.

        I just have one more ques !! actaully its a question raised by one the manager . Please see below.

Ques :- Suppose I buy 64 TB capacity and I am just using 40 TB , is there any possibility of using remaining 22 TB as a distibuted storage , ex:- for any file server or something ??

" I did not had an answer to this , however its sound silly but the point is valid. can some please help me answering this question , either yes or no , but I need to answer..

  , I may bug you guys again if I need some more information. Symantec Rocks !!!

Regards,

Boomchi

Congratulations, Boomchi! You are going to love those 5020s.

When you deploy two 5220s as a global deduplication pool, storage is used based on hash distribution. The unused space cannot be used for file serving or other use cases. All NetBackup appliances are purpose-built for data protection.

However, you may want to highlight the fact that Symantec does not charge you on backend for deduplication. You are paying for the frontend data that you protect. So you are not necessarily wasting money by buying an two appliances and using say 40TB out of 64TB. Your manager will be happy to hear that :)

Warm regards,

Rasheed

Yeah !! I know Rasheed, I am just waiting for our vendor to come for quotes..

     Thanks for answering my last ques ( As of for now) :) , however I know thats not got to stop the show..

Regards,

Boomchi