Backup Software

[Charles Steinkuehler]

I'm looking for some backup software to go with my recently acquired (via
e-bay) Quantum DLT-4700 tape library.  I want to backup my "personal
data-center", which is currently 4 linux 'net servers (web, email, &c), a
couple of linux workstations, and a couple of Win2K/NT machines.

The main features I'm looking for include:

- Support for my 7 tape DLT4700 Library :)

- The ability to backup additional linux (and possibly Win2K/NT) boxes over
the network

- Some form of built-in tape rotation (ie if I forget to pull the tapes from
the library, my monthly/yearly backup won't be over written by today's daily
incremental backup), preferably supporting multiple rotation groups (ie
daily, weekly, monthly).

I'm not against using free tools, but last I checked, AMANDA didn't have
real good support for libraries and automatic tape rotations, and given the
importance of backups, I'm willing to pay some money to get a good solution,
if necessary.

I'm currently leaning towards Arkeia, but am still researching.  BRU doesn't
look like it handles windows clients that well, and while I used to *LOVE*
ArcServe (running on Novell 3.12), my recent experience with ArcServe on
NT/2K has been "less than pleasant" (and they only have a linux client...I
want to hook the tape drive to a linux box).

So...any personal experience (good or bad) with various packages, or is it
time to start downloading evaluation copies and playing guinea-pig? :-)

Oh...one other feature that would be totally cool:  Can files be scanned for
viruses when backing up?  This used to work pretty well on ArcServe/Novell
(broken on ArcServe/2K because I'm not running 2K advanced server, so the
virus scanner won't install) and it saved my butt a couple of times,
catching infections before they spread too far...

Charles Steinkuehler
charles at steinkuehler.net