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ChelseaGirl
Technical User
We are thinking of changing our backup software to Legato, from Backup Exec with NSE. Any experiances, good, bad etc welcome. Also what volume of data are you backing up ?
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Legato - any good ? 5
- Thread starter ChelseaGirl
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I think I speak for everyone here when I say that it is a somwhat difficult program to use. It requires A LOT of pre-planning and making sure that you completely understand Legato before you strart implementing it. Invest in a Legato consultant before doing anything with it. (Doesn't have to be Legato themselves, lots of other companies are able to provide support/consulting work)
The more complex your envirnoment the more issues you are going to have, but that is true no matter what product you use.
Legato support is shockingly bad, at best. The seem to be more interested in getting new customers then support exsisting ones (in my opinion anyway, so don't sue me)
There very few qualifies Legato support people so training/hiring of new staff can be a problem.
10000+ qualified BackupExec people vs. 3 qualified Legato people. Again, in my experience anyway.
Over all, it is a good product but only in certian situations.
Much in the same way Unix is a good OS, in certain situations and Windows is good product in certain situations.
Look into the product but be prepared for many sleepless nights.
good luck
The more complex your envirnoment the more issues you are going to have, but that is true no matter what product you use.
Legato support is shockingly bad, at best. The seem to be more interested in getting new customers then support exsisting ones (in my opinion anyway, so don't sue me)
There very few qualifies Legato support people so training/hiring of new staff can be a problem.
10000+ qualified BackupExec people vs. 3 qualified Legato people. Again, in my experience anyway.
Over all, it is a good product but only in certian situations.
Much in the same way Unix is a good OS, in certain situations and Windows is good product in certain situations.
Look into the product but be prepared for many sleepless nights.
good luck
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Hi ChelseaGirl,
i don't have the same opinion as x2shy.
if you choose Legato Networker for your backup you make a great deal.
Read the admin guide, config your NW and start your backup.
That's realy easy.
If you have a heterogeneous envirment (NT/W2k, Solaris, AIX, Linux, Filer) there is no way without Networker.
If you want to make a fast backup (multiplexing the tapes) there is no way without Networker or TSM.
Download the software to evaluate it.
Legato Networker is the Mercedes for backup.
Bye
Cyberted
cyberted
i don't have the same opinion as x2shy.
if you choose Legato Networker for your backup you make a great deal.
Read the admin guide, config your NW and start your backup.
That's realy easy.
If you have a heterogeneous envirment (NT/W2k, Solaris, AIX, Linux, Filer) there is no way without Networker.
If you want to make a fast backup (multiplexing the tapes) there is no way without Networker or TSM.
Download the software to evaluate it.
Legato Networker is the Mercedes for backup.
Bye
Cyberted
cyberted
Hi,
Functionally I totaly agree what cyberted say's, the one and only extremly difficult thing is to make a forcast how many and what type of licences You need. Your managers need a big budget too. You'll buy & get a mercedes and pay for it like buying it in spareparts.
And so the licence-model is. But, how should I say, every single bit backed up with networker and declared as "successfuly backup" by the application, I was able to recover. (Solaris, Novell, NT, Suse, Redhad, HP-UX....)
toi toi toi (sorry 4 slang...)
Regards spaceball
Functionally I totaly agree what cyberted say's, the one and only extremly difficult thing is to make a forcast how many and what type of licences You need. Your managers need a big budget too. You'll buy & get a mercedes and pay for it like buying it in spareparts.
And so the licence-model is. But, how should I say, every single bit backed up with networker and declared as "successfuly backup" by the application, I was able to recover. (Solaris, Novell, NT, Suse, Redhad, HP-UX....)
toi toi toi (sorry 4 slang...)
Regards spaceball
Networker is difficult to set up and requires some getting used to.
However, once set up, you rarely need to change anything.
The best thing about Networker is platform independance.
Our backup server (Solaris 7) failed and we just installed the server on NT and perform back up and recoveries to NT and Unix clients without problems
However, once set up, you rarely need to change anything.
The best thing about Networker is platform independance.
Our backup server (Solaris 7) failed and we just installed the server on NT and perform back up and recoveries to NT and Unix clients without problems
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First thing you must realize when comparing Backup Exec to Legato Networker you are comparing apples to oranges. VERITAS NetBackup (not-backup Exec) is the Networker equivalent. I myself migrated 17 Backup Exec Servers to a centralized SAN, serverless backup solution using Networker 6.2. First question you need to ask yourself is how much data and how many servers are you going to back up. I was backing about 900 GB of data with backup Exec and now backup 2.5 TeraBytes from one backup server with Legato. The biggest difference between backup Exec and Networker is how many save streams you can run at once. Backup Exec allows only on save stream per tape device which can result in slow throughput. Networker can run up to 16 save streams per tape device but ideally you never wan't to exceed 4 streams per tape device. One thing to keep in mind is that you must attend training for Legato in order to use it effectively. It is nothing like Backup Exec where you can install and configure backups in about 20-30 minutes. If you are going towards a SAN solution I highly recommend it. The more you use the product the more you will love and realize its power. NetBackup has the same learning curve that Networker has but Networker licensing cost a lot less. I am currently migrating backups to a NAS Celerra EMC backup using ndmp which is still a slow work in progress. I am an expert in both products you are inquiring about. Just to give you an idea of Networker's scalability, Our UNIX team backs up 100+ Terabytes, including a very large Oracle Databse. If you have more Questions post let me know. I will be glad to help. One more thing to note. The Networker Exchange and SQL Business modules work great but the Lotus notes module is difficult and can cause problems with the Server.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
I agree with x2shy .. Legato's tech support is "shockingly bad." I've tried to talk my boss into moving to IBM's Tivoli. The only decent tech support I have received has been in this forum .. a guy named Terry Lemon (EMC) has been my savior. Legato's answer is always: "You have a corrupt database .. perform a disater recovery." I can't believe that our company pays for their support.
Serbtastic
Vendor
I've only had good experiences with Legato technical support. I find them very knowledgable, and my problems always get resolved quickly and efficiently.
d3h614, why do you say that Legato's tech support is "shockingly bad"? Do you have any specific incidents that you can share with us?
d3h614, why do you say that Legato's tech support is "shockingly bad"? Do you have any specific incidents that you can share with us?
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As it has been said before:
- The platform independency is important
You can read and write any tape at any device
- The concept of their internal databases is excellent
You should easily repair them and if not, a disaster
recovery of a NW server is very easy and straight
forward - you just need time. But if you really have
a DR you CAN do it. You can even recover from an
accidental labeled tape.
- Of course, planning is important but this nothing
specific. You always need to do the brainwork first.
- installation is easy and straight
- scalability is great
- It is of course another product and somatimes hard
to understand for a novice. But let's be fair, this
is also due to the fact that we are biased by other
backup programs already.
- With respect to support: Look at their web page - they
state 89% satisfaction measured by an independent
house.
- The platform independency is important
You can read and write any tape at any device
- The concept of their internal databases is excellent
You should easily repair them and if not, a disaster
recovery of a NW server is very easy and straight
forward - you just need time. But if you really have
a DR you CAN do it. You can even recover from an
accidental labeled tape.
- Of course, planning is important but this nothing
specific. You always need to do the brainwork first.
- installation is easy and straight
- scalability is great
- It is of course another product and somatimes hard
to understand for a novice. But let's be fair, this
is also due to the fact that we are biased by other
backup programs already.
- With respect to support: Look at their web page - they
state 89% satisfaction measured by an independent
house.
ChelseaGirl,
RUN don't walk... Run away from Networker!! It the worst backup solution I have ever tried. (and I have tried several)
Vertitas is better and BakBone is BETTER STILL. (and less expensive)
Legato documentation is terrible. Look on the NET. There is lots of material touting books, classes, guides, etc..
Why go with a product that requires such extensive training when there are products that do the same thing easier, better and cheaper.
I work for a company that has been forced by bad managerial decisions to use Networker. We have had nothing but problems from the start. It took three months and an on-site visit from Legato to finally get it backing up. (During that time I installed BakBone in one day and backed up my entire environment.)
We continue to have spuratic problems that Legato connot seem to solve.
I say again RUN FROM NETWORKER!!!
RUN don't walk... Run away from Networker!! It the worst backup solution I have ever tried. (and I have tried several)
Vertitas is better and BakBone is BETTER STILL. (and less expensive)
Legato documentation is terrible. Look on the NET. There is lots of material touting books, classes, guides, etc..
Why go with a product that requires such extensive training when there are products that do the same thing easier, better and cheaper.
I work for a company that has been forced by bad managerial decisions to use Networker. We have had nothing but problems from the start. It took three months and an on-site visit from Legato to finally get it backing up. (During that time I installed BakBone in one day and backed up my entire environment.)
We continue to have spuratic problems that Legato connot seem to solve.
I say again RUN FROM NETWORKER!!!
Hi
I have used both Netbackup Datacenter and Networker and they both have their good and bad points...but, the worst thing about Legato has got to be their tech support (or lack of it)..we had to change our whole backup network from Networker over to Netbackup because of poor support.
Personaly I found Networker really easy to learn and the admin guides weren't too bad.
CommVault Galaxy is currently the 'flavour of the month' and apparantly much cheaper than Netbackup and Networker.
I have used both Netbackup Datacenter and Networker and they both have their good and bad points...but, the worst thing about Legato has got to be their tech support (or lack of it)..we had to change our whole backup network from Networker over to Netbackup because of poor support.
Personaly I found Networker really easy to learn and the admin guides weren't too bad.
CommVault Galaxy is currently the 'flavour of the month' and apparantly much cheaper than Netbackup and Networker.
Hi ChelseaGirl,
In the past we used Legato setup on a mixed NT/W2K environment. We found it pretty difficult to administer and also very expensive, and chose to replace it with another product.
If you make a perfect installation it is very stabile and handles very large amounts of data beautifully - but it really has to be perfect! And that is difficult asure, if you don't have any preliminary experience with the product. And as I mentioned, it is kind of hard to administer on day-to-day basis without support, unless you are a certified Legato user with daily hands-on experience and a good UNIX-knowledge. /fekser
In the past we used Legato setup on a mixed NT/W2K environment. We found it pretty difficult to administer and also very expensive, and chose to replace it with another product.
If you make a perfect installation it is very stabile and handles very large amounts of data beautifully - but it really has to be perfect! And that is difficult asure, if you don't have any preliminary experience with the product. And as I mentioned, it is kind of hard to administer on day-to-day basis without support, unless you are a certified Legato user with daily hands-on experience and a good UNIX-knowledge. /fekser
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