I have just completed a POC for Avamar.

You thought that the Data Domain was expensive get a price on Avamar. :)

In order to do the 15 TB capacity that I have on my 580, I would have to buy 
9x2U servers (with 6x1TB drives, that is 8 x 2T servers with a hot spare 
server) and a 1U server (control station).  If I want to replicate to the 
other DC, double that.  Now add the EMC software licensing.  :)

It seems to work including the integration into the NetWorker tools and it is 
very easy to setup within NetWorker.

Negatives:
No module support.
No way to do D2D2T without going to a different disk target.  (You have to 
configure two sets of backups.  One for Avamar and disk only and one for disk 
that will go to tape.)
Although the client licensing on the Avamar has gone away you still have to 
pay for the NetWorker Client license.
Very CPU intensive.
/nsr has to be big enough on all clients to save the "caches".  ( I ran "/" 
out of space on one of the test linux clients. )

Positives:
Impressive compress and network savings.

Since I already have a Data Domain infrastructure to handle the modules 
backups, this is something I am still considering.

I am not sure if I am OK with running two backups per client per day that I 
want on tape and the Avamar grid.


On Saturday 10 May 2008, Jonathan Loran wrote:
> Hi Conrad and list:
>
> We investigated Data Domain, and we did a test of a DD200 when it first
> came out, 3 or so years back.  Was very impressed with the speed and
> somewhat impressed with the dedupe ratio.  However, it was way to
> expensive for our UC budget.
>
> More to my point: we are interested in investigating Avamar, which is
> integrated into Networker 7.4.2.  It has in interesting implementation
> where the data duplication is discovered on the client side, such that
> the Avamar server keeps a hash of stored checksums, and the client
> queries the server as to whether the data block already exists on the
> server.  If not, the data is sent with the checksum, if so, only the
> next checksum needs to be sent.  This has the benefit of potentially
> dramatically reducing network traffic.
>
> I'm wondering if anyone on the list has experience with EMC Avamar?  It
> would be great to hear some non-biased reviews before I proceed.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jon
>
> Macina, Conrad wrote:
> > Hi, Kevin,
> >
> > Leaving aside for at least a moment the discussion of vendors and spam,
> > I'm very interested in what you receive from your query about Data
> > Domain and possibly other dedupe vendors. I suspect other list members
> > will be as well. When you're done with your investigation, I wonder if
> > you could you please post a summary of your findings to the list?
> >
> > One finding I'm particularly interested in: is it properly spelled
> > "dedupe" or "dedup"? :^)
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Conrad Macina
> > Pfizer, Inc.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Kevin Malone [mailto:kcmalone AT SALISBURY DOT EDU]
> > Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 2:01 PM
> > Subject: Networker and Data Domain
> >
> > If there is anyone out there who is using a Data Domain dedupe solution
> > with Networker and would be willing to have a conversation (good or bad)
> > about it with me, I would be appreciative.
> >
> > We are looking at dedupe solutions and I am not endorsing any at this
> > point, but that is one that we have come across.
> >
> > You can send me a private e-mail so as not to clog up the listserv.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Kevin
> >
> >
> >
> > Kevin Malone
> > Network Administrator
> > Salisbury University
> > Information Technology  FH297
> > kcmalone AT salisbury DOT edu
> > 410-543-6298
> >
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