Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!UCLAAIS!ACTJH From: ACTJH@UCLAAIS.BITNET (Timothy Hart) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.novell Subject: Re: Emerald Backup Systems Reply Message-ID: Date: 18 Jan 90 23:31:00 GMT Sender: Novell LAN Interest Group Reply-To: Novell LAN Interest Group Lines: 61 Approved: NETNEWS@PSUVM Gateway Hi: We are currently using the VAST system on our 4Mb Token Ring Network. I have been working with this product for about a year now and have been through many revs of the EMQ software (currently 1.5L). We did have alot of trouble with the product when it was first introduced. I strongly concur with other users that they (Emerald)are very guilty of great looking demos at shows but get it in house and all hell breaks loose. I was tired of dealing with the tech support folks who knew less than I did about the product so via a conversation with the president of the company I escalated myself to being able to talk directly to the engineers. While they were very helpful it took some time to get a version that was stable on token ring. Initially, I ran the product from each workstation on the network but the latest versions are much improved and I have installed the software on the server (PS/2 model 80). Because of MS Windows use of overlays the system does drag somewhat so a fast box and hard drive definitely help...i.e. the speed of backup is very machine dependent. Using a PS/2 Model 70 and crossing a bridge (running source routing drivers) I am able to attain 3.5 MB per minute rates. My experience with AT style systems is a 1.5 - 2.0 MB rate. I recently did a backup from a PS/2 70 on a 16 MB Token ring and saw rates approaching 4.5 MB per minute. We have never had a catastrophic failure of a network drive so I can only talk about restores of directories and some Novell files. In general the restoration procedure is quite slow. Heaven help you if the file is at the end of your 2.2 Gigabyte tape. But we have not had a file restore fail yet. It is one of those procedures that you launch and then head out to lunch. I have seen demos of there new 1.2 Gig. system at a recent meeting here in Los Angeles. While I was impressed with the rapid restore of files I would be very wary of buying this product early on unless you would like to become part of Emerald's engineering group and not get paid for it. Having said that...I am trying to get on the EMsave beta test. This software will track every file backed up and facilitate the restore procedure by prompting you for the tape it is stored on. The current software requires the user to note the tape they backed their files up on. As your library of backed up data grows so does your headache if the user cannot remember the tape they stored it on. The reason that I will probably look at the EMsave product is because it is based on the EMQ software which I feel has stabilized. Overall, the VAST has been a tough nut to crack. We have had group in the Medical Center replace 3 VAST units and then return the unit to try out the Maynard system. They did not like that either so they are back with the VAST running EMsave and backing up their server to the tape unit attached to a workstation. I may have missed some details here so if you have any specific questions just send me a message. Timothy Hart Systems Analyst Administrative Information Systems UCLA Los Angeles