RAM | Reseller Advocate Magazine: Issue 46

By Chris Angelini

As a productive VAR, you already know the importance of a solid backup solution. You guide your customers on a case by case basis, recommending tape, external disk, and optical media where appropriate. The fundamentals are covered. Due diligence is exercis=ed in rotating backups, and the physical hardware is kept safely out of reach from tampering fingers. Without question, you talk the talk. But are you equipped to also walk the walk, keeping up with the latest hardware and software trends to continue pitching the best products out there?

The backup landscape changes quickly as vendors fight for attention in a crowded marketplace. Instead of selling simple external USB hard drives as a viable medium, you're forced to sort through dedicated Small Business Server drives and XP-only products. You have RAID enclosures and slim, single-drive setups. Pick direct-attached or network-attached configurations. The list goes on and on. Care for an even more diverse class of backup hardware? Try mastering the various tape products and similar technologies, such as Iomega's REV. Backup is clearly a huge business that requires constant attention. After all, your SMB customers are counting on you to be the eyes and ears of their IT departments.

Fortunately, choosing a hardware solution that comes with manageable software makes things easy. Package deals generally don't require much in the way of configuration smarts and are often more cost effective, too. However, their niche nature sometimes limits their useful reach. Take Maxtor's OneTouch II Small Business Edition drive. Though perfectly suited for duties in an SMB, the complementary software is not able to to preserve explicitly the Exchange and SQL stores you'd normally encounter in Microsoft Small Business Server 2003. That's an expensive limitation if it means having to double back to buy another application.

Getting it Right the First Time

Let's work under the assumption that you're buying external storage not for bundled software but for the underlying hardware infrastructure. It could be tape, hard drive-based, or optical. Any good backup application should be capable of supporting a breadth of different components. The trick is choosing the right program for your job. It really pays to be picky when you start auditioning backup software for your customers. Although a quick Google search reveals many contenders, very few actually make the cut with features important to SMB customers. Those that do strive to offer unique features in the security, setup, and automation departments. Anything less than all-around perfection is just asking for a service nightmare, and it isn't advisable to gamble with the only line of defense your customer has against data loss.

Consequentially, our list of favorites is short and distinguished. Having experienced what happens when backup software goes awry, getting it right the first time should be a priority. The vendors discussed herein have proven themselves in the trenches, recognize the value of an influencer opinion, and have the resources to support reseller efforts when questions need to be answered.

EMC Dantz Retrospect 7.0

For a smaller company such as Dantz to get swallowed up into the expanses of EMC might seem like a surefire path toward pay-per-incident sourced support and splotchy updates. However, after talking with Matthew Johnson, EMC's director of channel sales in the Americas, it seems clear that Retrospect still stands on its own, backed by the same support teams and partner programs that made it popular prior to acquisition.

A Brick In the Wall
LiveState Recovery 3.0 is most powerful used in conjunction with Symantec's other LiveState titles.

Retrospect, 7.0 features several exclusive improvements. Perhaps the most important in today's security-minded workplace is 256-bit AES encryption. Retrospect recently received FIPS 197 certification, a qualifier for impenetrable protection on server backups. Johnson concedes that client backups aren't as secure over a network; however, they're still encrypted. EMC Dantz recently added disk grooming and data management features to Retrospect 7, simplifying administration of existing data sets. Grooming allows the deletion of older save points as disk utilization increases, making room for newer backups. Meanwhile, VARs may choose to, on a weekly or bi-monthly basis, archive data from disk to tape. The new features help enable a best practices methodology that EMC's Johnson recommends to VARs with little backup experience.

"On any server, be it a Windows Server 2003 box or SBS implementation, you'll run a full backup initially on an external hard drive, with scheduled, incremental saves on a daily basis thereafter. Depending on capacity, you might choose to groom off older backups once every two weeks or so, with archival onto tape each week. Not only does the customer benefit from an automated solution, but physical redundancy helps guarantee against fire or theft."

Of course, there are still several versions of Retrospect from which to choose, spanning a variety of price points. Without question the best value for organizations running Microsoft SBS 2003 is the Small Business Server Standard Edition. While it's constrained to protecting SBS servers, the software will also save data on an unlimited number of networked desktops and notebooks, and includes modules for Exchange Server and SQL Server.

Symantec LiveState Recovery 3.0

Whereas Retrospect 7.0 is a standalone product focused on backup and restore functionality, Symantec's LiveState Recovery 3.0 is one cog in a scalable suite of other LiveState applications. And although Recovery 3.0 is plenty powerful on its own, the real value behind Symantec's strategy is that LiveState allows resellers to deploy any number of powerful software tools capable of interoperating with the same database and server.

"In a small business environment, LiveState Recovery 3.0 works on its own to protect servers and clients alike against data loss," says Steve Fairbanks, senior director of product management for LiveState Recovery. "But in a larger organization, resellers can roll out Patch Manager, LiveState Delivery, or Discovery for inventory management. When multiple components are used simultaneously, the customer stands to realize a sizable discount on procurement."

Enterprise-class Backup
CA's ARCserve Backup package is particularly powerful for VARs and consultants with slightly larger customers.

Outside of its role in the LiveState stable, Recovery 3.0 preserves data by taking a snapshot of the entire volume, saving it to a network share, a NAS device, an external hard drive, or a span across DVDs. Subsequent saves are incremental and thus much faster. The type of save is irrelevant though, because users only see recovery points—the app itself ensures all relevant data is restored. Symantec's Fairbanks says that although Recovery is intended for system-wide disaster recovery, there is a mechanism for browsing saves and restoring individual files even though there are better alternatives for data management.

Should a drive failure occur on a Windows Server 2003 machine, for instance, the VAR would boot off of the Recovery 3.0 install disc into what Fairbanks describes as a cut down version of Windows XP sporting full networking connectivity and device support (in other words, USB, Firewire, and optical drivers). Locate the recovery file and restore a functional image over the corrupted operating system. Simple enough, right?

Naturally, the basic premise behind LiveState Recovery 3.0 is similar to any other backup application. But a few unique features endear it to SMB customers that Microsoft would call IT dependant, with an infrastructure reliant on constant availability. Performance throttling is an example, enabled through a slider bar controlling processing resources, disk I/O, and memory usage. In fact, you can have Recovery's scheduled snapshots execute on different workstations around the clock without interrupting normal operation.

If your needs transcend what the Standard Server package provides (and your customer can stomach a four-figure license), Recovery Advanced Server allows consultants the flexibility of remote recoveries using host technology centered on pcAnywhere. Incremental backups, automated backups, image mounting, and network sharing are all similarly supported by the Advanced Server suite.

Computer Associates
BrightStor ARCserve Backup 11

You might find that certain backup solutions are better suited for organizations of different sizes and topologies. CA's ARCserve is a real enterprise powerhouse, but it also scales well to the SMB customer. Manageable from a single console, it's written for efficient administration, simplified reporting, and non-disruptive execution.

"Multi" seems to be the prefix of choice for describing ARCserve's capabilities. Multiplexing means that the software can manage a maximum of 32 simultaneous jobs writing to the same media destination without tanking performance. Multistreaming cuts back on backup time by concurrently directing separate jobs to multiple drives. Multi-platform support ensures that ARCserve accommodates Mac, NetWare, UNIX, and Windows operating systems, all of which are listed in the console's tree view.

ARCserve supports a wide range of devices, from simple hard drives to Fibre Channel SANs. It also supports DLTSage, a new technology in SDLT tape drives that helps pinpoint hardware errors. Moreover, configurable IP addresses and ports enable communication between backup servers separated by firewalls.

Consultants and VARs with clients spread regionally will particularly appreciate the Backup console and its neat layout. From a single Quick Start pane you have access to job status, a backup manager, recovery options, a configurable media pool, device management, event logging, and a report manager linked to the backup database. Additional menus serve up configuration options, wizard-driven tasks, and utilities.

Entry-Level Power
Retrospect 7.0 Small Business Edition is a great app for single-server.
deploymentsenvironments.

Be warned, though. While the base BrightStor ARCserve Backup package is competitively priced against competing titles, the option packages quickly inflate its price. For example, the Disaster Recovery option, claimed to reduce recovery time by hours per server, costs $700. The NDMP NAS option, capable of managing and restoring NAS devices, runs an extra $1,000.

Protecting Partners

There are so many exciting features rolled up into the latest backup suites that it'd be a real chore to wade through them without some sort of vendor support. Fortunately, the major players provide an opportunity for resellers to reap sales, marketing, and technical benefits through tiered programs.

EMC Dantz, for example, hosts a Partner Network with three levels of membership. Requirements range from a simple partner contract to more dedicated communications; however, there aren't any imposed sales goals to fulfill. The top level, Premier Partner, gives you a dedicated sales representative, inside sales support, online access to collateral, a partner listing on Dantz's site, MDF, marketing campaigns, free NFR software, free tech support incidents, and instructor-led sales training. That's a fairly aggressive package considering the light membership requirements. Check out the Partner link on EMC Dantz's Web site (www.dantz.com) for more information on becoming a registered channel partner.

Data Manager
Symantec recently acquired Veritas and recommends Backup Exec 10 for data management, pushing its LiveState title for disaster recovery.

Symantec's channel partner offering, PartnerNet, is a little more modest. Access to the highest support tiers requires specific revenue goals, dedicated technical staff, sales specialists, and a declared emphasis on enterprise. Perhaps more realistic for SMB-oriented VARs and consultants is the Premier Software Partner classification, which still demands revenue targets and monthly pipeline development reports but facilitates access to NFR software, hardware demo units, sales tools, and Web-based sales training. Again, for further details, visit the Partner link on Symantec's home page (www.symantec.com).

CA operates perhaps the most thoughtfully segmented partner program, rewarding participating VARs, system builders, influencers, ISPs, and ISVs. Resellers are filed into Affiliate or Premier status, depending on sales. Consultants simply need transaction activity once every six months to qualify. Benefits conferred by CA span a two-page document on CA's Web site (www.ca.com) and include generous sales support, technical resources, and training programs. Even for the consultant who doesn't buy software, CA offers a 12% referral fee, enabling excellent revenue possibilities on top of the hourly rate charged to deploy. Knowing that partners receive free, unlimited tech-support is reason enough to sign up.

In (and beyond) Retrospect

There's a universal satisfaction to be had in pairing the best backup hardware and software devices. For the customer, it's a feeling of safety and an experience in convenience. The VAR gets a recurring revenue opportunity through verification, management, and support. Hopefully there's a referral or two to other improperly protected SMBs.

By stepping up from SOHO equipment to enterprise technology packaged for the SMB, you not only multiply opportunities for recurring service-based revenue but you also open doors to customers thinking about solutions rather than individual products. Addressing security, IP telephony, wireless connectivity, and remote access on a network level with customizable, interoperable components is holistically more economical than building the infrastructure piecemeal.

Do your customers a favor by researching the benefits for yourself and weighing the financial tradeoffs against the newfound degrees of service you'll be able to offer.