Re: [Veritas-bu] calculating backup success rate

NOM has some very nice features and after getting it up and running I was quite excited about the way it gathered data from all my remote sites. That was just about where all the excitement ended. The reports are pitiful, the web interface is "clunky," there's too much information on most of the standard pages, and the customized reporting is useless. I opened a ticket with Symantec support asking them how they'd recommend I manage or report on my environment using NOM and basically their answer was, it isn't possible. I sent them a few excel reports I've been working on and none of them could be replicated (even partially) in NOM. Finally I asked for access to the sql database so at the very least I could use the NOM engine to gather the data so I could run my own reports and they weren't giving that up either. NOM = USELESS unless your backup environment consists of 10 servers or less. Even then its terrible. I've since written a custom script that's installed on each of my masters to output several NBU commands to text files, which I then import into an Oracle database. I'll be working on custom reports based on that shortly. I think its pretty sad that NOM can't complete with Excel, much less Crystal Reports (or similar.)

I test drove several backup reporting applications last year and I wrote a review on them which I posted to this forum. Each has their own ups and downs. Aptare is a very nice product, as were the other three. Symantec Backup Reporter was pitched to me as a stand alone product that worked with both Netbackup and BackupExec. I'm not confusing it with NOM. Perhaps I'll give my sales rep a call.

-Jonathan

From: Adams, Dwayne [mailto:AdamsDC AT medsch.ucsf DOT edu]
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 11:35 AM
To: Martin, Jonathan; NB List Mail
Subject: RE: [Veritas-bu] calculating backup success rate

Jonathan,

The reporting option in 6.0 is called NOM and it is included in your 6.0 base license. It will gather information from 5.1 master servers.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:9U6ha-ZpH2YJ:eval.veritas.com/mktginfo/products/White_Papers/Data_Protection/nbu_6_Technical_Brief_NOM_final.pdf+netbackup+nom&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Martin, Jonathan
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 8:01 AM
To: NB List Mail
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] calculating backup success rate

LOL

My Symantec Sales Rep was out here three weeks ago pitching Backup reporter as the way to go in my mixed 6.0 and 5.1 environment.

Oh my!

-Jonathan

From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Hindle, Greg
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:33 AM
To: rcarlisle; NB List Mail
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] calculating backup success rate

I was told by my netbackup 6.0 instructor not to buy backup reporter because it is built in to 6.0. The backup reporter was for versions below 6. can anyone comment on this? The instructor has been with Symantec for over 9 years and most of them in support.

Greg

From: rcarlisle [mailto:rcarlisle AT serverwarecorp DOT com]
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:28 AM
To: Hindle, Greg; 'NB List Mail'
Subject: RE: [Veritas-bu] calculating backup success rate

Greg,

Vision is Symantec's big user conference. It is coming up next week in Las Vegas. It is definitely worth attending. If you are looking at reporting tools, I would suggest checking out Aptare and Symantec Backup Reporter. Tools like these can make your reporting life for management much easier.

Reneé Carlisle

ServerWare Corporation

From: Hindle, Greg [mailto:Greg.Hindle AT constellation DOT com]
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:12 AM
To: rcarlisle; NB List Mail
Subject: RE: [Veritas-bu] calculating backup success rate

Thanks. These reports are for monthly metrics and upper management does see them. I was just curious what others are doing to report this info. We don't have any reporting tools in place (yet). You mention Vision? What is this a user conference?

Greg

From: rcarlisle [mailto:rcarlisle AT serverwarecorp DOT com]
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 9:46 AM
To: Hindle, Greg; 'NB List Mail'
Subject: RE: [Veritas-bu] calculating backup success rate

Greg,

Great questions. I would say that it depends on the audience. Any reporting tool on the market for NBU today can give you this information in different "slices". Many clients do track this information and it is a great way to get a quick "health check" of the environment. If you are tracking this information for Management, I would speculate they are interested on the % of successful backups you ran and if you are meeting SLA's. High level reports of the number successful vs. the number of backups run should suffice. For their level, you may decide to strip out test backups, backups that were intentionally killed, and backups with multiple attempts. But that may depend on your environment and management.

If you are reporting for business units, DBAs, SA's..etc, they primarily care about if their backup ran or not. You would probably want to strip out failed attempts, but you might choose to include a report on backups that should have run but didn't

If you are creating a report for yourself or other NBU operators, you probably want to look at multiple attempts. This can help you identify potential issues in your environment that could threaten future success of your backups.

I don't know if your going to Vision this year, but there are several sessions on backup reporting you might want to check out.

Good Luck

Reneé Carlisle

ServerWare Corporation

From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Hindle, Greg
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 8:57 AM
To: NB List Mail
Subject: [Veritas-bu] calculating backup success rate

How does everyone track this? Do you count just total successfully backups vs. the number of attempts? And how do you handle a backup that failed 3 times but ran good on the forth?

Greg

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