Was I/O activity during HOT backups ( Now RMAN and media managers )

From: Anil Sikri <anil_sikri_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 09:30:38 CDT
Message-Id: <10544.110923@fatcity.com>

Sorry Linda. I didn't access the list for the last couple of days. To answer your question, I would suggest that you choose between Legato Networker and Veritas Netbackup. I have not had good experiences with Ominiback or Alexandria. Maybe the folks out there could give some more valuable suggestions.

Now, between Legato and Veritas Netbackup, I would definitely prefer Netbackup for the following reasons :
1.) Inspite of the fact that Oracle has started shipping Legato free

from v8.1.5 onwards, it wouldn't suit your organization's needs esp. if they have huge databases spread all around the world. This is a really scaled down version of Legato ( called as Legato Storage Manager or LSM ) which is handicapped because :

Can't backup our the network which means that that your tape library should be attached to the same machine as your Legato backup software. This in turn implies that if you have a NAS ( Network attached storage ) or SAN ( Storage Area Network ) where you back your Enterprise data, the LSM won't fit in. You have to purchase a Network edition of Legato Networker to backup over the network - a cool $15000.
LSM doesn't support an autochanger ( a robotic arm used to automatically change the tapes in the tape library ). In this case, manual intervention is required to change tapes which could be disastrous if someone forgot to change them. The network edition of Legato Networker supports an autochanger.
LSM supports only 4 parallel backup streams even though the network edition supports 64 streams.

       Veritas scores pretty well in this respect, even though I am not
       aware of the price of the Veritas Netbackup software.

2.)   One of the things which I like about Veritas is its documentation
      which is much better than Legato. I had a tough time configuring
      RMAN to talk to Legato whereas Veritas Netbackup was much simpler.
      The Veritas documentation even gives you the sample RMAN scripts
      which could be directly used to start talking hot/cold backups
      using RMAN with Veritas Netbackup as the media manager.

3.)   I love the scheduling capabilities of Veritas which are much
      better than Legato's.

4.)   Also, if you are already using VxFs, VxVM or using Veritas
      Quick I/O, I think Veritas will be a better choice than Legato.

5.)   Last but not the least is the fact that Veritas support is
      much better than Legato's

Hope this helps you in making an appropriate decision.

Regards,
Anil Sikri
Sr. Oracle DBA

>From: "Linda Wang" <lwang_at_messagemedia.com>
>Reply-To: ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com
>To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>
>Subject: RE: I/O activity during HOT backups
>Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 14:28:32 -0800
>
>Anil,
>
>Super good info.
>
>RMAN is also faster than other (begin/end) troublesome backup tools such as
>BMC ...
>What is the best tape utility to work with RMAN? Legato, netbackup ....
>
>Thanks.
>Linda

Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Received on Fri Jun 30 2000 - 09:30:38 CDT