Chapter 3: An Introduction to NetBackup

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Summary

We have looked at some of the ways business requirements can affect the way you architect your backup and recovery strategy. As mentioned, there are pitfalls along the way as well, such as the business unit manager who wants to keep his or her backup data off-site for a year even though there isn't a real solid business case for it. Backup can become a dumping ground, and if we do not present the business with the costs involved in managing and maintaining this data, it will continue to grow. Just like a laptop with a 30-GB hard drive that only has 4 GB left. Is there really a good reason to keep all that data? No, not really, but I have the space and it's paid for by someone else. Now if this had to come out of my own pocket, or budget, perhaps I would think differently about it. It is always a good idea to look at these requirements and help the business units stay focused on the ultimate goal at each step during this process. Following are the different elements we have discussed:

• Types of backups

• Frequency of backups

• Security of backups

• Off-site storage requirements

• Differences between business units

By evaluating all these requirements and being aware of how they affect you, you will be able to better develop a backup and recovery strategy that meets your business needs. Business prioritization sets the criteria for success.

In the next chapter, we start looking at actually doing something with the information laid out in the first two chapters. We will use VERITAS NetBackup DataCenter as the backup application. We first give you an introduction to this application and then get into the details of deploying it in an enterprise.

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