Converting between backup formats is possible after all
Our storage man sustains moderate gast to the flabber
Comment I had always thought it was impossible to convert files from one backup format to another: to migrate files from Symantec NetBackup to HP DataProtector, for example. But actually, you can. A new product from Butterfly Software does exactly that.
Butterfly Software is based in Maidenhead in the UK and I'm only going on what the company tells me. It has supplied a table (see image below) showing actual and road-mapped source backup environments and target products.
Butterfly Software backup format conversion table.
The source environments include IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, NetBackup, Backup Exec and CA Arcserve. The targets include the same products, but that doesn't mean you can necessarily migrate files from Tivoli Storage Manager to Arcserve using the software – you can't.
No CommVault or Acronis backup products are supported, although CommVault is on the roadmap.
We hope to have a closer look at the product at some stage, but at least now it seems that if you have a pressing backup migration need, there is somewhere you can go. ®
COMMENTS
Ok...
That's all very well, but can it convert the back end databases?
If not, it's still the old tried and tested: Restore, then back up all the long retention backups, followed by just letting the short retention backups drop out of retention.
Either that, or you can just make a 'legacy' partition of your tape library to service restores from your legacy product. As the tapes drop out of retention, destroy them (or re-use, if you must) and shrink the legacy partition as appropriate.
dont see the point
how many times do you actually need to access legacy backups for restore ? perhaps 1 restore per 100 tapes ? just put the tapes in an archive and use a service to restore the 1 file. why bother cluttering a new backup environment with legacy data.
@AC 09:43
"Rsync may well be fine for backing up a couple of linux boxes and storing the data on disk, possibly even moving it off to a standalone tape drive, but it really doesn't cover the vast majority of functions of modern backup software."
As one that does use rsync for backups, it's actually quite nice until you have to back up monolithic databases such as MSSQL or Exchange. Then you start getting into scripts for sql dumps or Exchange mailbox backups and things start to get a little dicey. However, for file servers and the like, it's a breeze and what you do with the "backed up" data is completely a separate process. I'd had "backup management software" die at this point because the tape I was trying to use wasn't configured as a scratch tape, or it had data on it already and I hadn't given the system the go-ahead to overwrite indiscriminately. It is a sickening feeling to come in after an evening backup and realize the 6hr dump to tape failed and now your data is not even cached on the backup server for a second attempt. Rsync will give you that cache. The other option would be to schedule a D2D2T, and hopefully be able to redo the 2T part if the initial attempt fails. Oh, and there's that nasty bit about recovering data from a tape you thought was good....but that's a whole other story.
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