Subject: Re: other backup technologies?
To: None <current-users@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Matthew Jacob <mjacob@feral.com>
List: current-users
Date: 01/05/1997 12:09:30
Forgive me if this sounds commercial, and it may not
be what people want, and isn't *entirely* on point........

I'm planning on doing a NetBSD port for the Legato NetWorker client.
I should have it done in the next month or so. It's *not* the server- you
have to have a server already, but the client binaries, like the
Linux port which I've done as well, will be available free.

For those of you who don't know, Legato was a company founded by
some ex-Sun folks (Jon Kepecs, Bob Lyon, Rusty Sandberg, Joe Moran)
some years back. They have a rather bulky and large backup product
called 'NetWorker' which uses a client/server model to do network
backups. They support 5-6 server platforms (not including OEMs like
Digital who repackage and rename the product as PolyCenter Backup),
and about 20-30 clients (including non-unix clients like MacOS,
Microsoft stuff, and even Banyan ....).

The product is not cheap, and has, like any hugely overcomplicated
product, lots of wierdities, but it *does* have something which
I find useful - an online index. I always find it helpful when I
accidentally delete things or totally get lost to just retrieve
last nights' backup copies. I've heard that Amanda does a nice
job, but I haven't looked at it yet to see where it might be
better.

Sorry for sounding so long winded- I'm *not* trying to sell this
as a product. For those of you who already have Networker servers
on your networks I just wanted to inform you that with more or
less tacit approval from some of my ex-coworkers at Legato I'll
be doing a NetBSD client port. Let me know if your interested,
and for which platforms I should compile it (presuming I have
them and can test- I'll probably do x86, sparc && alpha).

-matt