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Symantec Backup Appliances – Integrated and Integrable

Phil_Wandrei
Level 3
Employee Accredited

Symantec, the world leader in backup and recovery, provides customers the freedom of choice. With NetBackup and Backup Exec, customers are able to choose the form factor to best meet their needs; a software based solution or a fully integrated appliance. Either choice, the #1 backup solution is delivered in the form factor best suited for the customer’s environment.      

An appliance is a fully integrated device; all of the necessary hardware, software, and components are installed and tested in a single platform. Today, appliances are often taken for granted because they are built with industry standard components, and assembled through qualify processes. Consumers expect the appliance to work out-of-the box, and they do.  However, an equally, and sometimes more important consideration is if it is integrable into your existing environment. Does the appliance easily install and interact with your existing infrastructure? Or does it require a great deal of configuration, tweaking, and re-tweaking to get it all to work? Symantec appliances are both integrated and integrable. 

An Integrated Appliance

Symantec backup appliances, Backup Exec 3600 and NetBackup 5220, are pre-configured, pre-installed with the industries #1 backup software, tested and performance optimized. They are ready to go right out-of-the-box. This provides significant OpEx savings as the time to production is significantly reduced and ensures on-going savings through ease of administration and support. 

Backup Exec 3600 appliance:  provides Backup Exec software and optimized hardware integrated into a single affordable backup solution. 

NetBackup 5220 appliance:   single-vendor enterprise backup appliance that installs in minutes, with expandable storage starting at 4TB, and deduplication for physical and virtual systems. 

Integrable into Your Environment

While having integrated appliances is important, the appliance must also be integrable. The appliance must easily install into the existing environment and provide flexibility over time.    

The ease of introducing an appliance into your environment can often be measured by the amount of time and effort it takes to bring in to production in your environment. This applies not only to the appliance itself, but also the impact it has on the other hardware and software components in the backup and recovery environment.

Symantec backup appliances can be installed and integrated into virtual or physical environments in less than one hour, and are fully compatible with the leading OS, application, disk, tape, and virtualization products, refer to Hardware Compatibility List.  In addition, Symantec extends its functionality through the Symantec OpenStorage(OST) program.  OST is an API developed by Symantec that allows third party intelligent storage devices to tightly integrate with NetBackup thus offering NetBackup users improved management of their backup images and the added functionality of third party intelligent storage devices without the limitations of tape emulation. The OST program ensures Symantec features and benefits are extended to third party products and creates a cohesive backup environment. 

In addition, Symantec backup appliances are flexible to meet the needs of any environment.  Both Backup Exec 3600 and NetBackup 5220 support multiple:   

  • Deduplication roles: source, media server, or target device
  • Environments: supports both virtual and physical environments
  • Storage tiers; backup to disk, tape, and/or the Cloud

The flexibility of Symantec products and broad interoperability provides tremendous investment protection. 

Lastly, it is important to consider the refresh of a product during the initial purchase evaluation.  An appliance must be refreshed or replaced at the end of its useful life, and the associated costs understood. With Symantec NetBackup appliances, the hardware and software are licensed independently, and the software licenses are fully transferable to a new appliance or media server.  Customers are able to refresh their hardware and transfer their existing software license to the new system. Symantec’s NetBackup appliance software licensing model provides long-term investment protection that is unmatched within the industry. 

Both the Backup Exec 3600 and NetBackup 5220 backup appliances provide great investment protection by being fully integrated and integrable into your current and future environment. The end of integration complexity begins with Symantec backup appliances. 

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