Dedicated backup interface/network

[rrosario]

I would like to know the advantages and disadvantages of having a dedicated backup interface...been telling the management to have a dedicated network for backup...

Please let meknow.

Thanks!!!

[revarooo]

Advantages:

Backup traffic will not interrupt production traffic. Backup speeds will typically be faster having it's own NIC if production traffic is high.

Disadvantages: More NICs to manage (a very minor disadvantage at that).

Basically. Backup traffic will not disturb production traffic is the big advantage. If you have network intensive applications a secondary NIC for backups is a good idea. Especially if the backups take a long time and *hog* the network.

[Nicolai]

If you want the backup network to be a success, you must ensure that

• well defined static routes are in place
• DNS records are created for backup networks
• Administrators must remember to use backup interface name instead of the hosts "real" name when restoring.

Not properly designed a backup network will cause more issues that benefits.