Here is my opinion of The Kernel Groups Bare Metal Restore Product:

BMR is expensive, $1,200 per UNIX client plus a BMR server license (I think
this is $1000) and in a real disaster you probably want a redundant BMR
server in another location.  Another drawback for our environment is that it
doesn't support Linux.  It does seem to integrate with NetBackup well and is
very simple to use.  From what I could gather here is how it works with UNIX
clients.  During setup clients that will be protected have a script of some
type added to bpstart_notify that gathers disk format and "other" meta-data
and puts it on the backup tape so the BMR server can get it when a restore
is required.  Since this is in bpstart_notify it is update every time a
backup is run which is very nice since you can never tell when someone is
going to change a server and neglect to tell you.  When you want to restore
a server the BMR server mounts the remote drives, I'm not sure if the BMR
server or the NetBackup server does the mounting It would be nice if it was
the NBU server did since this would create a little bit less network
traffic.  The BMR server has your NBU server perform an alternate directory
restore and renames hard and soft links.  I was able to figure this out
because they had the logs streaming on the BMR/NetBackup server while the
restore was running and it was changing the location to /mnt/tmp/.  Once the
restore is complete I would guess that it make the drive bootable and
reboots the server.  One thing that I found impressive was that the server
they restored was running VERITAS Foundation Suite.

I think that we can get similar results, without all the automation, with
the following procedure:

Create a script that writes disk format information and other information
(I'm not sure what else I need/would be nice to have.  Any suggestion would
be appreciated) to a know location where it can be retrieved prior to a bare
metal restore and put it into bpstart_notify so it is update with every
backup.  My NBU server has a hot swap disk array with open slots where I can
put a drive and format it for restores.  When I need to do a restore from a
smoking heap I'll restore the disk format info to my backup server then
format a disk in my A1000.  Mount the disk on the backup server  and have it
do an alternate path restore renaming hard and soft links.  After the
restore is complete make the disk bootable, put it in the trashed server and
boot it up.  I have done this successfully with a Netra running Solaris7 and
VCS but not Foundation Suite yet.

We also have a similar procedure for Linux and Windows servers if anyone is
interested.  The Linux procedure is a little bit more complicated and I'm
still trying to figure out exactly how all of it works (Network boot and
stuff, my local Linux master created it for me) the windows one is really
easy.  Sorry if any of this is confusing/wrong, I'm still new to UNIX and
NetBackup, but if you ask I'll try my best to clarify.  I would also like to
know if anyone sees any flaws at all with this procedure!


Tyson Webster
Storage Technician

Raindance, formerly Evoke Communications
1157 Century Drive
Louisville, CO 80027
phone 303.928.2435
fax 720.890.5373
tw AT raindance DOT com
http://raindance.com