[WinMac] Re: backup for $7,000

Dan Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Wed, 13 Jan 1999 00:42:52 -0500

        This note popped into my mailbox this afternoon from the chief support
engineer at UltraBac... Ron will crap his pants when he sees the specs &
performance! :)

From: Paul Bunn <Paul@ULTRABAC.com>
To: 'AlphaNT Mail List' <AlphaNT@AlphaNT.com>
Subject: Fun at Microsoft
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 09:28:52 -0800
Reply-To: AlphaNT Mail List <AlphaNT@AlphaNT.com>

I got to play with a rather nice "PC" at Microsoft's SQL lab the other
day.
Specs:
AlphaServer 8400 with 8 Alpha 21164 625Mhz processors
8GB RAM
2.2 TB spread over 80 physical disks (each logical disk consisted of 3
disks in a hardware stripe set).
32 Compaq AIT tape drives (2 or 3 drivers were attached per UltraWide
SCSI controller)
NT4.0 Enterprise Edition SP4
SQL7 Enterprise Edition

We were testing our new striping option (for writing to all 32 tape
drives concurrently) backing up the SQL databases online. With no load
on the database, UltraBac was able to maintain a 625GB/Hr backup rate (a
324GB database was backed up in just over 25 minutes). Running UB with
a simulated load of 200 users concurrently executing transactions (50%
utilization), the rate was still 593GB/Hr (26.5 Min). The backup
dropped the tps from 166 to 116 as it fought for contention with SQL.
CPU utilization used by UB never exceeded 4% during streaming. These
speeds set the new benchmark achieved by a 3rd party backup application
on NT. Sweeeeet! Needless to day, we were rather pleased with the
result, and I think MS were suitably impressed...

NOTE TO COMPAQ: Please, please with sugar and cherries on top, if a
customer spends $1.5 Million on a server like this, putting in a $20 S3
VGA card is just an insult. It makes the machine respond like an old
386SX/20. It's like buying a Ferrari and finding out that the steering
wheel has a 10 yr old sheepskin cover -- it just feels wrong and tacky!

Regards,

Paul Bunn, BEI, 425-644-6000
Microsoft MVP - WindowsNT
http://www.ultrabac.com

At 06:43 PM 1/12/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Actually, this sounds very reasonable iff (if and only if for you math
>guys):
>- You are getting a DLT drive which is much more reliable than DAY
>- It has an autoloader
>
>I second Alex's opinion about running Retrospect; that's a real
>cross-platform network backup solution.
>Ron LaPedis
>Compaq Tandem Division
>Global Development Systems & Engineering
>Cupertino, California USA
>Phone +1 (408) 285-7787
>Fax +1 (408) 285-6230
>
>DISCLAIMER: All personal and professional opinions presented herein are my
>own and do not, in any way, represent the opinion or policy of Compaq
>Computers.
>
>
>> ----------
>> From: Alex Dearden
>> Reply To: The Windows-MacOS cooperation list
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 1999 16:21
>> To: The Windows-MacOS cooperation list
>> Subject: [WinMac] Re: backup
>>
>> >1) We have a good mix of systems, Novell 3.12 server, NT 4.0 server, 20
>> >various Wintel workstations (3.1, 95, 98, NT) and some Power Macs. Does
>> >anyone have any suggestions for a decent backup system to completely
>> >backup the two servers (both have Mac volumes)? Is DAT the best option?
>> >We were quoted over $7000 for a backup system from our network
>> >consultants which seems a tad high.
>>
>> What??? give me half and I'll do it for you, heck give me a quarter of
>> that!!!
>>
>> I would suggest DAT. However, be aware that the NT Backup software that
>> comes with NT can only be run for a tape backup hooked up locally. Once
>> running you CAN backup network servers.
>>
>> On the Mac side you have Retrospect, a very excelent software which will
>> backup any network volumes that the Mac can see. And I bought a Mac tape
>> drive for about $500. Of course it's not the fastest one. But worse-case
>> scenario, you would need one for a Mac, one for an NT server, and one for
>> Novell server??? (Not really since you could use the one on the NT server
>> to back that one up). Also with one hooked up to the NT server you could
>> backup the Registry, too bad you can't do that remotely (at least not
>> with that software).
>>
>> Alex Dearden
>> pata@doglover.com

 -----------------------------------------------------------------

        <mailto:expresso@snip.net, Dan@Hemnet.com>
         
        ALTERNATE: <mailto:expresso@workmail.com>

                Webmaster for <http://www.faulknerstudios.com>

        **Your Corel Solution Partner**

                **Your UltraBac Solution Source**

 -----------------------------------------------------------------

* Windows-MacOS Cooperation List *
* FAQ: <http://www.darryl.com/winmacfaq/> *
* Archives: <http://www.darryl.com/winmac/> *
* Subscribe: <mailto:winmac-on@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
* Subscribe Digest: <mailto:winmac-digest@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
* Unsubscribe: <mailto:winmac-off@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Tue Jan 12 1999 - 21:48:29 PST