deduplication on basic disk on external appliance

[martin_Q]

Our reseller said that we need the deduplication license if we use a basic disk on externale appliance that offer deduplication.

Nothing about that in the license agreement of NetBackup, but it seem to be writen in his sales tools.

What is the reality?

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Please share the device you're using.

Basic disk should not need an Data Optimization license as it would be created on a disk that is assigned to your backup server as a lun / disk.

If you're mounting the device across the network via CIFS/NAS you would need to Advanced disk license.

If you use the device as VTL/OST you would need Data Optimization license.

[martin_Q]

We are doing some tests with basic disk and AltaVault AVA400 ( steelstore ) . Everything going well

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Hi,

I can't see that its required since you're using Basic Disk and not using any kind of OST integration. Ask the reseller to get you an official statement from Symantec.

[Nicolai]

I am on the "can't see why" as long as a basic disk storage unit is used. If however a advanced disk is used, you may need a additional license.

The cloud integration in Netbackup 7.7 is said to be pretty good, you may take a look into that option before buying a appliance.

http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/4500249534/Veritas-launches-NetBackup-77-with-emphasis-on-cloud-backup

[Marianne]

I agree. You only need additional licensing when OST or VTL integration is needed. Fact is - if additional licensing was required, your tests would not have worked. I must add that the features that you gain with OST integration is awesome. Not sure if your dedupe appliance is capable of OST integration. I have never heard of it.

[teiva-boy · Accepted solution]

NBU's licensing about disks is pretty clear.

Basic disk  = JBOD

Advanced disk = Anything that can perform "advanced," functions like VTL, replication, deduplication, snapshots, etc. Anything beyond a JBOD for the most part... 

As such, looking at the evolution of the NBU licensing from Advanced Disk, Enterprise Disk, and now it's called the Deduplication option, which includes Enteprrise Disk, which includes OST.

That being said, you need to license the Deduplication license to be within license complaince, not technical compliance.  It's a Veritas/Symantec tax to use someone elses technology and not their ecosystem of dedupe appliances, licenses, and storage foundation for disk management and replication techologies.

Even if you're not leveraging anything OST, or Intelligent disk, etc...  They want your money for not buying into their ecosystem.

I had a customer that was using a VTL for years with standard tape licenses.  Yes they should have owned the enterprise disk license, but they didn't know and the turn over of Symantec reps didnt help.  They then changed from VTL to an OST device from EMC...  Once the word EMC came up in a conversation, big threats on license true-ups, and audits, and legal docs passed back and forth.  IMO, it was symantec's fault for knowing and looking the other way.  If the customer owned Ent Disk properly, they would have been grandfathered in and given the dedupe licenses free, and none of that headache would have come up.

[RiaanBadenhorst · Accepted solution]

Found some bad news in the new licensing guide

Basic disk backup in NetBackup is available at no additional charge and does not require an additional license. Basic disk backup can be used for backing up to a basic disk storage unit or for temporary staging of data before writing it to tape. Please take note that Storage Lifecycle Policies cannot be used with basic disk.
Exception: Backups to any storage target that performs deduplication requires Data Protection Optimization Option licensed for the total number of front-end terabytes being protected.