Veritas Updates Backup Exec

Veritas Software Tuesday unveiled a significant upgrade to its Backup Exec software.

Backup Exec 10.0 includes a number of new features targeted at the small and midsize enterprise space, said Pat Hanavan, senior director of product management at the Mountain View, Calif.-based vendor.

Among the new offerings is Central Administration, an optional tool for centralizing backups from multiple locations. Previously, such backups were configured using Backup Exec and Veritas' Media Server software, but each backup had to be configured separately. With Central Administration, customers can use a single interface to handle policies and media relationships for the various backups, Hanavan said.

Also new are disk-based tools to cut the time and resources required for backups. These tools include multistage backups that allow data to be backed up to disk, which is treated as a virtual tape library; synthetic backups, where full backups are created from incremental backups to reduce the time needed to back up a data set; and off-host backups for SAN environments, under which a seperate backup server handles the backups and frees the host server from that task.

Veritas is adding full Linux and Unix support, making backups on those operating systems more efficient, Hanavan said.Veritas also unveiled Backup Exec QuickStart, an entry-level version of its software specifically for server OEMs. A number of features have been removed, including backup of open files and automated disaster recovery, but solution providers can sell software keys to turn on those features, said Hanavan.

In addition, Veritas took the wraps off an enhanced Backup Exec Suite, which also includes Replication Exec 3.1, formerly known as Veritas Storage Replication; and Storage Exec 5.3, formerly known as Veritas StorageCentral.

Rick Marcotte, president and CEO of DLT Solutions, a Herndon, Va.-based government solution provider and Veritas partner, called Backup Exec a major initiative for Veritas.

Many of the new features in Backup Exec 10.0 are similar to those found in enterprise-class backup software such as Veritas' Net Backup, but can now be applied to smaller businesses in the Microsoft space, Marcotte said.

This is important as smaller customers face the need to work with new HIPAA, Department of Defense, and other compliance regulations., Marcotte said. "Whether customers use Unix, Netware or Windows, these regulations apply," he said. "So there's more and more need for these features in smaller organizations."Patrick Vaughn, director of DLT Solutions' storage team, said he was surprised to see Veritas bring so many of its Net Backup software features to Backup Exec 10.0.

Vaughn cited Veritas' new Central Administration Server Option as a way for clients to be more proactive with the scheduling of their backups. "Currently, they can sit at one site and monitor the backups at remote sites," he said. "They need to be able to set up policies [for these remote sites] from one location. Now they can do it centrally."