On 7/6/06, Dave Carpe <david_carpe at symantec.com> wrote:
> Data written to tape is not normally encrypted.
>
> There is a NetBackup Encryption Option that you can purchase on a per client 
> basis that encrypted the data from the client all the way to the tape. The 
> encryption strength can be set anywhere form 40 or 6 bit DES up to 256 bit 
> AES (assuming you have NBU 5.1 or higher).
>
> Bear in mind that encryption will make the data essentially uncompressible so 
> turn on software compression on the client of you want it and use the 
> uncompressed tapes drives. Since encryption (and compression) will take place 
> on the client, it will impact backup speed and varies by how high the 
> encryption is set.
>
> The other option is look for hardware compression between the Media server 
> and the tape drives.

>> Guys,
>>     When a backup is written to tape, is there any type of
encrypting that occurs and if not >> is there something within
Netbackup you can turn on to make the data encrypted.
>> Thanks
>> Frank


I've been using the Encryption option.  I've found that the BlowFish
cipher is a good balance between speed and security.

Encrypting your backups is a really good idea if you are sending them
offsite.  Incidents of stolen backup tapes with sensitive personal
information are turning into a more common news event. It's probably
more dangerous than having a laptop stolen since a laptop will
probably just be resold where the tapes are only stolen for the data
on them.

Using software compression is not really feasible for me and I don't
recommend it.  It affects the speed far more than the encryption.  It
is much better suited for the situation where you have slow pipes and
fast CPUs.  If your network and your tape drives are fast and modern,
You need your data to be available as rapidly as possible and not
slowed down by compression.

Austin