How to correctly select and buy Backup Exec 15
Symantec Backup Exec 15 is an easy-to-use backup and recovery software for virtual, physical, and cloud environments integrated with the latest versions of VMware and Hyper-V software for quick recovery of virtual machines, applications and their objects, databases, and files. But how easy is it to purchase such a product without overpaying for redundant functions?
This year, Symantec has released a new version of a key software solution for backup, archiving and data recovery. Backup Exec 15 is interesting because it protects the entire IT infrastructure and implements a holistic approach to protecting information in a physical, virtual, and cloud environment, and a single backup policy can be implemented across a heterogeneous IT infrastructure. The product offers enhanced support for VMware, higher levels of scalability and performance, simplified upgrades, support for cloud storage, operating systems and applications, including VMware vSphere virtualization platforms (5.1 / 5.5 / 6.0) and Microsoft Hyper-V (2008/2012 / 2012R2).
A single solution and a single management console for a virtual and physical environment can reduce costs and simplify protection of the IT environment, and the ability to centrally deploy and maintain a backup data system, a simple transition to a new version of software from any versions of Backup Exec, starting from BE 2010 R3, reducing the cost of storage, allows even more reduce costs.
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Backup Exec 15 is the support of the new version of VMware vSphere 6: ESXi 6.0, vCenter 6.0, Virtual SAN 6, Virtual Volumes (VVOLs); the ability to selectively restore virtual machines with disks larger than 2 TB; Built-in function to connect to the cloud Amazon Web Services - Storage Gateway VTL (cloud storage); support for granular (selective) recovery of the new version of Oracle 12c; backup and restore via vSAN and SAN; simultaneous backup of multiple servers and applications in one task; automatic management of the life cycle of backup data on disk storage and freeing up disk space for recording new data; the ability to combine full, incremental and differential backups in a single task template for different data types, as well as a new simplified licensing model for data size and Capacity Lite edition: those who have enough basic functions can use it.
Backup Exec is distinguished not only by its ease of use, but also by its ease of licensing. The cost of the license depends on the required level of data protection and the functionality of the solution.
Along with such a mandatory component as a management server, Backup Exec may include additional components - agents and options. Agents are designed to connect protected devices, applications and databases, options - to extend the basic functionality of the product. As in previous versions of Backup Exec, they can be purchased separately.
The BE 15 proposes a simplified licensing model: the cost of the license depends on the amount of protected data, and two product versions are offered with the options already selected:
As the table shows, the Backup Exec 15 Capacity Edition Lite and Backup Exec 15 Capacity Edition editions differ in the supported functions: the “lightweight” version lacks centralized management, deduplication, advanced disk backup, NDMP support, archiving of files and mail messages , only one physical or virtual tape library is supported, and Mac platforms are not supported. This edition is intended for small companies with 1-3 servers.
The cost of the license in both cases depends on the amount of backup data. In terms of supported options and agents, the differences are as follows:
Each license for Backup Exec Capacity Edition, paid for based on the number of terabytes, is granted a license for the Backup Exec backup server, as well as all Backup Exec agents and components. At the same time, the amount of backup data (without compression and deduplication) should not exceed the value specified in the license. Symantec offers several “backup levels”: 1, 2-5, 6-15, 16-25 and more than 26 TB.
Consider a few examples.
In general, you need to buy licenses for as many terabytes of data as you need to back up during the year. If it is difficult to estimate the increase in data volume, it is recommended to focus on a 20% increase. For a guideline, you can also use the following table, where the left is the current amount of data in terabytes, and the right is the amount for which the license is purchased:
But what about if you bought a license for 5 TB, and later you had to purchase another 1 TB? There is such a possibility, and Symantec offers a license for additional capacity at a discount. However, to buy an additional option will not work. For example, you cannot purchase the deduplication option to the Capacity Edition Lite edition, you will have to switch to the full Capacity Edition package. It is also not allowed to combine licensing “by terabyte” with other licensing models. If there are multiple sites, you need to purchase the same edition for each of them - Capacity Edition or Capacity Edition Lite.
However, you can migrate from Capacity Edition Lite to Capacity Edition. In this case, a discount is given. And the owners of other valid licenses can switch to capacity licensing.
Along with BE 15 licensing for capacity and a new Lite edition, previous licensing options are also available - V-Ray Edition, Small Business Edition.
Consider this scenario: there is one backup server (virtual or physical), one Exchange virtual server, one SQL virtual server, one Active Directory virtual server, one Hyper-V host, and less than 1 TB of data. What options for buying BE 15 can I choose in this situation? There are four of them: 1. 1 x Capacity Lite Edition; 2. purchase of individual components - 1 x Backup Exec Server, 1 x Agent fo VMware & Hyper-V, 2 x Agent for Application & Databases; 3. 4 x V-Ray Edition with 2-4 cores; 4. 1 x Small Business Edition and 2 x Agents for Small Business Edition. Each option has its price, but new licensing methods can reduce it to 70% or more.
Take another example: there are three servers for backup (in remote branches), one Exchange virtual server, three SQL servers, one virtual file server; One VMware host and less than 3 TB of data. This will require: 1. 3 x Capacity Lite Edition; 2. purchases of individual components - 2 x Backup Exec Server, 1 x Agent for VMware & Hyper-V, 3 x Agent for Application & Databases, 1 x Deduplication Option, 1 x Enterprise Server Option, 1 x Dedup Server, 1 x BE Server ; 3. 4 x V-Ray Edition on 2-4 cores, 3 x Agent for Application & Databases, 1 x deduplication server option. Plus backup to the cloud for disaster recovery.
Users of old BE versions with a valid support contract can switch to BE 15 for free, and those with such a contract have expired - take advantage of the discount. When upgrading to BE 15 from BE 2010 R3 SP4, 2012 SP4, or 2014, all configured backup policies are saved.
Thank you for your attention, in the next article we will talk about the possibilities of Backup Exec 15, which many do not realize. For now, we are ready to answer your questions in the comments.
This year, Symantec has released a new version of a key software solution for backup, archiving and data recovery. Backup Exec 15 is interesting because it protects the entire IT infrastructure and implements a holistic approach to protecting information in a physical, virtual, and cloud environment, and a single backup policy can be implemented across a heterogeneous IT infrastructure. The product offers enhanced support for VMware, higher levels of scalability and performance, simplified upgrades, support for cloud storage, operating systems and applications, including VMware vSphere virtualization platforms (5.1 / 5.5 / 6.0) and Microsoft Hyper-V (2008/2012 / 2012R2).
A single solution and a single management console for a virtual and physical environment can reduce costs and simplify protection of the IT environment, and the ability to centrally deploy and maintain a backup data system, a simple transition to a new version of software from any versions of Backup Exec, starting from BE 2010 R3, reducing the cost of storage, allows even more reduce costs.
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Backup Exec 15 is the support of the new version of VMware vSphere 6: ESXi 6.0, vCenter 6.0, Virtual SAN 6, Virtual Volumes (VVOLs); the ability to selectively restore virtual machines with disks larger than 2 TB; Built-in function to connect to the cloud Amazon Web Services - Storage Gateway VTL (cloud storage); support for granular (selective) recovery of the new version of Oracle 12c; backup and restore via vSAN and SAN; simultaneous backup of multiple servers and applications in one task; automatic management of the life cycle of backup data on disk storage and freeing up disk space for recording new data; the ability to combine full, incremental and differential backups in a single task template for different data types, as well as a new simplified licensing model for data size and Capacity Lite edition: those who have enough basic functions can use it.
Backup Exec 15 Licensing
Backup Exec is distinguished not only by its ease of use, but also by its ease of licensing. The cost of the license depends on the required level of data protection and the functionality of the solution.
Along with such a mandatory component as a management server, Backup Exec may include additional components - agents and options. Agents are designed to connect protected devices, applications and databases, options - to extend the basic functionality of the product. As in previous versions of Backup Exec, they can be purchased separately.
| Name | Description |
| Agent for Windows | Agent for backup and recovery of a single physical Windows server. |
| Agent for Linux | Agent for backup and recovery of a single physical server Linux / UNIX. |
| Agent for Applications and Databases | Agent for backup and recovery of a single application or database on the server; default includes one Agent for Windows. |
| Agent for VMware and Hyper-V | An agent for backing up and restoring an unlimited number of Windows or Linux guests on a single host server. |
| Deduplication Option | Option to deduplicate backup data. |
| Option Library Expansion | Option to connect an optional tape library drive when performing backups. |
| Option File System Archive | Option to archive file server data. |
| Option Exchange Mailbox Archiving | Option to archive Exchange server data. |
| Option NDMP | An option to perform direct backup of data using the NDMP protocol. The number of licenses depends on the number of NAS systems. |
The BE 15 proposes a simplified licensing model: the cost of the license depends on the amount of protected data, and two product versions are offered with the options already selected:
As the table shows, the Backup Exec 15 Capacity Edition Lite and Backup Exec 15 Capacity Edition editions differ in the supported functions: the “lightweight” version lacks centralized management, deduplication, advanced disk backup, NDMP support, archiving of files and mail messages , only one physical or virtual tape library is supported, and Mac platforms are not supported. This edition is intended for small companies with 1-3 servers.
The cost of the license in both cases depends on the amount of backup data. In terms of supported options and agents, the differences are as follows:
Each license for Backup Exec Capacity Edition, paid for based on the number of terabytes, is granted a license for the Backup Exec backup server, as well as all Backup Exec agents and components. At the same time, the amount of backup data (without compression and deduplication) should not exceed the value specified in the license. Symantec offers several “backup levels”: 1, 2-5, 6-15, 16-25 and more than 26 TB.
Consider a few examples.
- Requires a backup of 3 TB of data (given the possible increase in their volume).
In this case, you will need 3 x Backup Exec Capacity Edition with a license for 2-5 TB. - You need to back up 7 TB of data and duplicate them to a remote site for disaster recovery.
For this option, you need to purchase 7 x Backup Exec Capacity Edition for 6-15 TB. - 2 TB of data must be duplicated to a remote provider site.
Requires 2 x Backup Exec Capacity Edition of 2-5 TB. - You need to back up 1 TB of data. There are no special backup requirements.
For this option, 1 x Backup Exec Capacity Edition Lite is enough for 1 TB.
In general, you need to buy licenses for as many terabytes of data as you need to back up during the year. If it is difficult to estimate the increase in data volume, it is recommended to focus on a 20% increase. For a guideline, you can also use the following table, where the left is the current amount of data in terabytes, and the right is the amount for which the license is purchased:
But what about if you bought a license for 5 TB, and later you had to purchase another 1 TB? There is such a possibility, and Symantec offers a license for additional capacity at a discount. However, to buy an additional option will not work. For example, you cannot purchase the deduplication option to the Capacity Edition Lite edition, you will have to switch to the full Capacity Edition package. It is also not allowed to combine licensing “by terabyte” with other licensing models. If there are multiple sites, you need to purchase the same edition for each of them - Capacity Edition or Capacity Edition Lite.
However, you can migrate from Capacity Edition Lite to Capacity Edition. In this case, a discount is given. And the owners of other valid licenses can switch to capacity licensing.
Possible options
Along with BE 15 licensing for capacity and a new Lite edition, previous licensing options are also available - V-Ray Edition, Small Business Edition.
Consider this scenario: there is one backup server (virtual or physical), one Exchange virtual server, one SQL virtual server, one Active Directory virtual server, one Hyper-V host, and less than 1 TB of data. What options for buying BE 15 can I choose in this situation? There are four of them: 1. 1 x Capacity Lite Edition; 2. purchase of individual components - 1 x Backup Exec Server, 1 x Agent fo VMware & Hyper-V, 2 x Agent for Application & Databases; 3. 4 x V-Ray Edition with 2-4 cores; 4. 1 x Small Business Edition and 2 x Agents for Small Business Edition. Each option has its price, but new licensing methods can reduce it to 70% or more.
Take another example: there are three servers for backup (in remote branches), one Exchange virtual server, three SQL servers, one virtual file server; One VMware host and less than 3 TB of data. This will require: 1. 3 x Capacity Lite Edition; 2. purchases of individual components - 2 x Backup Exec Server, 1 x Agent for VMware & Hyper-V, 3 x Agent for Application & Databases, 1 x Deduplication Option, 1 x Enterprise Server Option, 1 x Dedup Server, 1 x BE Server ; 3. 4 x V-Ray Edition on 2-4 cores, 3 x Agent for Application & Databases, 1 x deduplication server option. Plus backup to the cloud for disaster recovery.
Users of old BE versions with a valid support contract can switch to BE 15 for free, and those with such a contract have expired - take advantage of the discount. When upgrading to BE 15 from BE 2010 R3 SP4, 2012 SP4, or 2014, all configured backup policies are saved.
Thank you for your attention, in the next article we will talk about the possibilities of Backup Exec 15, which many do not realize. For now, we are ready to answer your questions in the comments.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/262071/
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