New to Networker

[Mrmark68]

My company is looking to get Legato's Networker to backup Windows 2000 servers along with exchange, sql and Open Vms systems. We only have 32 windows 2000 servers along with 10 Open Vms servers. We want to automatic the nightly openvms backups to our sooon to be SDLT tape Library.

Right now I have everything automantic with ARCserve2000 along with our currect tape Library for our windows servers.

When I downloaded the trial version of Networker. I'm like totally lost compare to ARCserve2000. To me everything seems backwards. You set up your backup server what to backup and when but you use the clients to do manual backups and recovery.

What's the best way for me to learn this product cause looks like we heading into this direction.

Thanks in advanced,

Mark

 

[jimbopalmer]

I find networker has a useful but unusual attitude, it is all about backing up your files, not very interested in puting bits on tape. Networker wants to worry about the tapes itself and have you worry about what to backup. If you are used to knowing what data is on what tape this can be disconcerting
I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[ditmark]

Hi Mark

Generally Legato has it's own style and having a lot of years experience in designing and implementing solutions i can tell you that you will end up in a unsatisfying solution for you if you do not bring in somebody with experience.
Networker is not the software to configure yourself because you might get it working of course but there will be a lot of things that can be designed better.
The best for you would be to speak to Legato direct - ask e.g. creinfeld@legato.com what they offer in the education part or look for an experienced legato partner (the good of them are better than legato themselves )

Ditmar

 

[Chapter11]

Frankly, after having had training, and 2 years of experience doing battle with Networker, I personally recommend finding another product. The day I get funding for TSM, Networker is outta here.

 

[wallace88]

When you download NetWorker, you are getting the full version, not the trial version. Once you install the software, it will be set up in evaluation mode, which means you can use all the features that it has available. This will last about 30 days, after which backup ability is disabled, and you can only recover data.

To get information on how to configure and use NetWorker, try going to

http://www.legato.com/support,

click on the link to manuals, then download and look at the NetWorker Administrator guide.

There are Legato courses offered to instruct people how to set up your system. If you have a support contract, you can also get remote help.

Before I started using NetWorker, I was running customized scripts to backup systems, and manually performing media management by paper trail. There were tape jockeys that would load and unload tapes every night, and would go to each system to verify that backups were successful.

Using NetWorker allowed us to automate a log of this, and it allowed for centralized backup and tape management. But switching over meant that I have to change the way backups were to be run.

ILike all software, it is the methodology that you have to get used to. Once you do this, using it is a non issue.

 

[jkalbus]

One thing to remember would be - Networker is a Unix product (at least that's where its roots are) and it is really network centric. What you absolutely need is a perfectly working DNS, everything else is almost unusable.

Open VMS Clients are rather new, and were provided by a third party product until recently it was acquired from Legato. Be aware that there might be some hickups.

Our environment is quite big (we have 180 TB on tape, 5000 tapes and 23 9840 drives) and networker runs quite good.

Johanes

 

[JG5]

From my experience with Legato, the best way to learn is through trial and error, this forum (which has been priceless - thank you all), and definitely by having a support contract with Legato - probably the key element. When I started as a Network Engineer with my company, I started finding out here and there all the things that were wrong with ARCserve. I was then told, "Congratulations, you're responsible for backups nationwide." I then started phasing out ARCserve and implementing Legato. Although it isn't quite as "user friendly" as some other applications, I do believe it's rock solid. Of course it has it's hickups, but that's what support contracts are for. Not to gloat, but I've developed my Legato skills to where I am very comfortable installing and configuring it. Right now, I back up a 2.5TB+ data center and 10 remote division locations, with roughly 20 more scheduled to be implemented. I do the install locally and then manage everything through GEMS.

 

[TexExpat]

42 servers? Do yourself a HUGE favor and BUY SOMETHING ELSE! NetWorker is a horribly written piece of software that is very difficult to configure and to maintain. It was a UNIX product that now has an amateurish GUI slapped on it. Its logic is hard to keep straight, and its components work inconsistently - sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

Reporting stinks. Unless you purchase an expensive add-on, reporting consists of sifting through a huge log file.

Disaster Recovery procedures REALLY stink. In BackupExec,you simply create a new server with the same name as a failed server (simply to have something on the network with the same name as a failed server), then push the restoration from BackupExec to the new server. Quick and simple. NetWorker, however, requires you to completely recreate the failed server, complete with the NetWorker client, then restore data. Long and tedious.

Tech support is VERY tedious and VERY expensive. We have a support agreement with them. When I need support, I call their support center. I tell a flunky my problem, and he/she gives me a case number and tells me that a tech will call back in a couple of hours. When the tech does call back, he/she often has to get an idea of your problem, then call back later with a solution. This process is repeated until (unless?) you get the correct solution.

The only reason I purchased NetWorker is that it will allow me to back up to disk storage, then stage (move) those backup sets off to tape later. It keeps track of where the backup sets are after they are moved off of disk. While this functionality is great and is unique to NetWorker, I still regret my purchase.

 

[jimbrev]

If you really need to know how to use Legato and what will work best in your environment you need to call the experts. See

http://www.glasshousetech.com,

call them and ask for JD. They will consult and train you on the product, this company is considered one of the best....

-Jim

 

[MizzGail]

TEXEXPAT... how do you get it to write to disk? we are trying to do this ..........

 

[Chapter11]

Create a device of type "disk", and label it/assign it to a pool.