We have been successfully using TSM to backup desktops for years. We have also
recently evaluated CrashPlan for this. Here are some differences that I
observed. These are my opinions only. You should confirm for yourself before
making any decisions based on them.
Backup Frequency:
- TSM uses a schedule, so backs up according to schedule (daily for us)
- FastBack could back up ~continuously (but we aren't using it)
- CrashPlan is design to backup ~continuously
Power Management:
- We have scripts to auto-sleep/shutdown a client system following a scheduled
backup. They broke for Win7/8, but worked well on WinXP and we still use them
for MacOS. It's too bad that IBM doesn't build something like this into TSM.
Many of our users are concerned about the energy waste related to leaving their
systems on at night just so they can be backed up.
- Because CrashPlan backs up a system continuously (sort of), it does not need
to be left on at night. You can just let the system go to sleep when it wants
to. If a laptop user disconnects from the network, you don't need to worry
about an interrupted backup.
Encryption:
- TSM can do it, but doesn't do it by default. Interferes with deduplication.
- CrashPlan encrypts by default. Is compatible with deduplication.
Deduplication:
- TSM can do client (source) or server (target) mode deduplication, but does
not do it by default. Scope of dedup data is "storage pool" on the server.
- CrashPlan does deduplication by default. Scope is within the client system,
so not as effective, but is compatible with encryption.
Client code updates:
- This is a real challenge for us with TSM. IBM recently added support to help
automate this. We haven't exploited that, and I'm not sure it fits well in our
support environment. TSM allows different client code levels to talk to a
server.
- CrashPlan requires, as I recall, that all clients be updated in lock step.
But they make this easy. You put the new code up, and the next time each
client connects, it auto-updates. Seemed scary to me at first, but it "just
worked".
Restore permissions and ownership:
- TSM restores file/folder ownership and any ACLs correctly.
- CrashPlan sets owner to the user doing the restore. No ACLs are restored
(thus, IMHO, it's not appropriate for any type of server backup).
Multiple (DR) Copies:
- TSM supports this via Copy Storage Pools (maintained via Backup Stgpool
command), or via replicated server(s).
- CrashPlan supports multiple "destinations", but each destination is
configured and written to by the client.
Cloud Support:
- CrashPlan has a service that allows your users to backup to their cloud, so
you don't have to keep your backup data onsite. You can, however, keep your
encryption keys onsite. They also have appliances that you can purchase and
run onsite, or you can just license their code and run it on your own servers.
Cost:
- Talk to both vendors. We leverage TSM for both server and endpoint backup,
which makes it very cost-effective for us. If you are an Internet2 member
institution, be aware that Internet2 has a Net+ service for CrashPlan.
Cross-platform support:
- TSM supports on limited basis. E.g., within different versions of windows,
or within different flavors of Unix.
- CrashPlan is agnostic about platform. It will restore across any platform.
There are pros and cons to this. I'm not saying its better, just different.
Just because you can restore a file does not mean that you'll be able to use it.
Mobile support:
- There is an iOS client (and probably Android, but I'm not positive about
that), that allows you to restore a file backed up to your workstation/laptop,
to your iPhone/iPad and open it. E.g., a PDF file, or anything that you have
an app for on your iDevice.
- I don't think TSM has anything like this.
If anyone else has been down this road and would care to share notes, I'd be
happy to do it (probably offline from the list).
..Paul
At 11:01 AM 2/27/2014, Zoltan Forray wrote:
>We are currently analyzing the same desire/issues - have been for a while.
> Same idea to just backup "documents". Just went through some dog-and-pony
>shows of different vendors and currently CommVault is the leader.
>
>My understand was for this kind of issue, TSM FastBack would be the way to
>go (no, not the FastBack that comes with SUR - that isn't for workstations).
>
>I too am interested in hearing how other folks are handling desktop
>backups.....
>
>
>On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 10:37 AM, David Jelinek <David.Jelinek AT cmich DOT
>edu>wrote:
>
>> We have used TSM for our Enterprise backups of our servers for many years.
>>
>> We are now considering backing up our end-user desktop machines, but
>> only the user folders. Has anyone had experience using TSM to backup
>> desktop machines? What issues did you have to overcome? Do the end users
>> understand how to restore files using the GUI? If a desktop machine is
>> used by multiple login accounts at different times, does the TSM GUI
>> allow a client to only view/restore their own files?
>>
>> We are concerned with both Windows and Macs.
>>
>> Does anyone know of a feature matrix comparison of TSM and Crashplan?
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Have a wonderful day,
>> David Jelinek
>>
>
>
>
>--
>*Zoltan Forray*
>TSM Software & Hardware Administrator
>Virginia Commonwealth University
>UCC/Office of Technology Services
>zforray AT vcu DOT edu - 804-828-4807
>Don't be a phishing victim - VCU and other reputable organizations will
>never use email to request that you reply with your password, social
>security number or confidential personal information. For more details
>visit http://infosecurity.vcu.edu/phishing.html
--
Paul Zarnowski Ph: 607-255-4757
Assistant Director of Storage Services Fx: 607-255-8521
IT at Cornell / Infrastructure Em: psz1 AT cornell DOT edu
719 Rhodes Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-3801
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