BakBone Adds CDP to NetVault

Published: October 3, 2007

by Alex Woodie

BakBone Software added support for continuous data protection (CDP) in the new version of its backup software for Windows, Linux, and Solaris servers, called NetVault: Backup, released this week.

One of the problems with traditional backup processes is the potentially large amount of data that can be lost if a server goes down just before its scheduled backup. For example, when servers are taken offline for a half-hour every 24 hours for routine backups, which means you have the potential to lose up to 23.5 hours' worth of data if your server takes a dive just before the scheduled backup.

CDP alleviates this problem by taking continual snapshots of your data throughout the day. That way, no matter when your server crashes, you can be assured that you have an up-to-the-minute copy of your data, which will be a huge benefit to recovery.

With NetVault: Backup 8.0, the San Diego, California, company has added a new component to the product, called TrueCDP. With TrueCDP baked into the product, users can be assured that their data is being backed up not just on a minute-to-minute basis, but on a second-to-second basis. This is what is termed "true CDP," as opposed to "near CDP," although NetVault can be configured to take snapshots of data at longer intervals.

Another new feature introduced with version 8 has to do with its support for shared virtual tape libraries (SVTLs). When users choose to back up to a disk-based SVTL appliance, as opposed to a tape drive, they can sometimes come up on the maximum storage capacity quite suddenly, particularly if NetVault is storing many point-in-time snapshots. BakBone addressed this concern with version 8 by enabling SVTL storage to be increased on the fly.

Version 8 also adds "restartable backups" and support for additional cluster management products, including Sun Microsystems Cluster, Fujitsu Primecluster, and Symantec's Veritas Cluster Manager. Support for Network Appliance's ShadowTape VTL and better security of disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) data transfers round out the version 8 enhancements.

One NetVault customer expecting good things from version 8 is ADP, the business outsourcing giant. "We are especially pleased with the restartable backup option and can see a potential fit for NetVault: TrueCDP to help us recover our most time-sensitive data," says Edward Bradley, associate LAN support specialist at ADP National Account Services.

Other customers that have publicly stated their intention to use version 8 include Yahoo! and the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego.