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Using NetBackup Appliance 5230 with Quest Netvault Software

Penchy
Level 3

Hi All,

We have a NetBackup 5230 Appliance with NetBackup 8.0 installed on a windows server

Our client has decided to move to another product Quest NetVault (for Cost Optimization)

Is it possible for us to utilize the 5230 appliances with Quest Netvault Backup Software as a Storage Device

We have the same question for Quest too and awaiting their response on it. 

Awaiting your response. Thanks

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Systems_Team
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP   

Hi Penchy,

This query really belongs in the NetBackup Appliances forum (one of the moderators will probably move it for you).  If you want a definitive answer, then your best bet would be to raise a case with Veritas support so that you have an answer direct from the manufacturer.

The NetBackup appliances are a custom built device running RHEL (earlier versions were SLES), on top of which is installed NetBackup.  That is their sole purpose - to run NetBackup.  The appliances are hardened, so even if you wanted to remove NetBackup from them I would suggest that would be impossible, or very difficult (and also void any warranty).

Your biggest issue would be that would be an unsupported configuration.  Even if you were able to just use the storage shelves (ie: not the head unit which contains the OS and NetBackup) as storage for a new backup product, you might get away with that, but once again I would say this is an unsupported configuration.  I know for a fact if you try and add non-Veritas storage shelves to an appliance, that is also totally unsupported.

Even if you could do what you are investigating, you would still be expected to pay maintenance and support to Veritas for the appliance (which includes not only hardware, but also your NetBackup licensing).  On top of that you would also be paying maintenance and support to the new product vendor as well, so there would be a cost increase not a saving.

Hope this helps,

Steve

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5 REPLIES 5

Systems_Team
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP   

Hi Penchy,

This query really belongs in the NetBackup Appliances forum (one of the moderators will probably move it for you).  If you want a definitive answer, then your best bet would be to raise a case with Veritas support so that you have an answer direct from the manufacturer.

The NetBackup appliances are a custom built device running RHEL (earlier versions were SLES), on top of which is installed NetBackup.  That is their sole purpose - to run NetBackup.  The appliances are hardened, so even if you wanted to remove NetBackup from them I would suggest that would be impossible, or very difficult (and also void any warranty).

Your biggest issue would be that would be an unsupported configuration.  Even if you were able to just use the storage shelves (ie: not the head unit which contains the OS and NetBackup) as storage for a new backup product, you might get away with that, but once again I would say this is an unsupported configuration.  I know for a fact if you try and add non-Veritas storage shelves to an appliance, that is also totally unsupported.

Even if you could do what you are investigating, you would still be expected to pay maintenance and support to Veritas for the appliance (which includes not only hardware, but also your NetBackup licensing).  On top of that you would also be paying maintenance and support to the new product vendor as well, so there would be a cost increase not a saving.

Hope this helps,

Steve

Nicolai
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP   

You can in theory wipe the appliance and install off-the shelf Linux / Windows, BUT hardware support will be a issue as already pointed out, Veritas is not going to support the server hardware wise. I think a better alternative is selling off the appliance and go out and buy a commodity server

Thanks Steve, I too had the same thoughts, for some reasons if we got it running too how would the deduplication engine behave, will be able to take full advantage of Dedup on that storage if we somehow manage to remove NetBackup off it. In theory it seems to be doable but not sure if it will work as intended, and support also seems to be an issue, both Veritas and Quest would not support this kind of configuration, that what i feel

Thaks for moving this to Appliance forum Nicolai, our concern was of Deduplication too, whether if we install oof the shelf OS, will Dedup still work on it.

Well the Dedup question is pretty easy to answer.  If you removed NetBackup, and installed another backup software on the appliance, Dedup would no longer function unless the new software provided that function.  They utilize MSDP (media server deduplication pools), which is a NetBackup enabled feature.