using bkupexec to backup unix filesystems

[mohsenm]

Hello All

I have been using bkupexec to backup windows files. I hav tried to backup the unix side of our environments with backup exec it seems very slow i have tried backing up sco & solaris machines but the backup runs all the way to next morning and has not even finished one machine. has anyone else had this problem. any suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks

 

[SQLBill]

I looked on their web page and Veritas does not show a Backup Exec version for UNIX. So I'm betting you are trying to use your Windows version to backup your UNIX files. As far as I know, Veritas BE for Windows is not compatible with UNIX.

-SQLBill

 

[tverbeek]

Veritas doesn't have a version of the Backup Exec engine for Unix, but BE for Windows can backup files on a Unix system or anything else with an available agent.

I've tried a little - but without success - to get the Unix agent (available from Veritas' web site) working on my Linux mail server, but my failure may be because it's off in a DMZ where it can't see the server that's trying to back it up. What did work for me (which is why I stopped trying the other way) was to set up Samba shares for the directories I need to backup. BE sees them and backs them up just fine (i.e. at a reasonable speed), presumably just using standard SMB/CIFS protocols to read the files.

(Samba, in case you're unfamiliar with it, is an open-source implementation of the M$ file/print/authentication protocols, allowing a Unix-type system to provide most of the networking functionality of a Win2K box. Paired with Linux it's a very inexpensive alternative to buying more Win2K licences. See samba.org)

 

[hoeyr]

tverbeek is right...there is a unix agent that you can use from veritas. Installation instructions are pretty straight forward...you can find the manual online. (I am running it on Sun E4500 and Sunfire 3800 running Solaris 8.) In a nutshell, ftp the agent over to the sun server, add your backup server to /etc/hosts, then run the backup agent install script.

With all NICs set to 100Mbps Full Duplex, I can get about 250-300MB/min backup rates. I know they should go faster and I am working on that right now. The restore rates are pothetic at 17MB/min. I am really working that issue right now with little success.

If you have any questions about the install of the agent, let me know.
-Bob

 

[Ophi]

Hi!

I know I'm 2 months too late but was wondering if the issue was resolved. I've got a similar problem.

I'm running BE8.6 for Win2k. There is an agent provided Free in the CD for UNIX, MAC and Win9x.

The Agent for UNIX installs fine and BE (running on Win2k) is able to see the server. In fact I can select and do backups of files in my UNIX server.

My backup is running at a painfully slow 8-12MB/min! All my cards are set at full duplex, 100 or 1000MBps. Even my switch is a Gigabit switch but it hasn't helped. Does Veritas somehow Cap the throughput?

Hope someone is still looking at this thread!

 

[hoeyr]

Ophi,
We went through the same pain you went through. We we tried various settings and different h/w. We are convinced that the "x" factor that slowed us down was the BE8.6 unix agent. We tested Veritas NetBackup Business Server 4.5 and found backup speeds of our Solaris box at 676MB/min and our restore speeds of 500 to 650 MB/min. Big difference from BE8.6.

Let me know if you need any other information.
-Bob

 

[Qdog]

The Unix agent really is a convenience and comes free w/BE 8.x. Generally with my clients, I've found it to be faster to copy to multiple floppies. (LOL)

Realistically, Veritas wants you to buy the product they created for the task, and that is NetBackup.

 

[Ophi]

Thanks for the feedback hoeyr & Qdog! From your feedback, I understand now that free usually means not so good! Using the UNIX agent was an additional feature I was hoping to tap, since backing Win2k systems were my primary intention.

However I've found an unrealistic solution (besides floppies!) to my problem. Backing up directly to tape gives me me very, very slow throughput (mentioned in my earlier message). However Backup-To-Disk gives me about 250MB/min! If I can scrape up enough free space (got 100GB) to backup, I'll probably try that and let you know the outcome... beginning to wonder if it's a hardware problem now...

 

[johnny99]

As Qdog wrote.
Netbackup is the product to solve this kind of job.
BackupExec is more or less a "windows only" product.

 

[sybase2003]

Friends,
My unix backups via agent.be is as fast as my win backups @248MB/min. My problem is something else. My incrementals for the unix jobs happens to do a full backup and as a result I am lagging behind on backup schedules. Anyone had this problem??? I am sorry I am posting a question for a question and not being of any help!!!! Please forgive me.

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regards

Jaideep

 

[Qdog]

With BE 8.6 and prior, its impossible to do differential or incremental backups. This is because there are no archive bits in a Unix file system. Unix handles this with modified time. However, Backup Exec for Windows Servers ver9 has a new feature allowing backups via modified time. Thus starting w/ver 9 you can do diffs and incrementals of Unix.

 

[AK1580]

Do I need to configure and start NIS daemon in order to get /etc/bkupexec/aganet.be working.

My Netbakcup Server still cannot see UNIX server which is running agnet.be for UNIX file system backup.

Any clue?

ak