The Goal of ESG Lab Reports is to educate IT Professionals about data center technology products for companies of all types and sizes. ESG Lab Reports are not meant to replace the evaluation process that should be conducted before making purchasing decisions, but rather to provide insight into these emerging technologies. Our Objective is to go over some of the more valuable feature/functions of products, show how they can be used to solve real customer problems and identify any areas needing improvement. ESG Lab's Expert third-party perspective is based on our own hands-on testing as well as on interviews with customers who use these products in production environments. This ESG Lab Report was sponsored by Symantec.

1.
Lab
Validation
Report
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
Achieving
Best
Practices
for
Virtual
Machine
Backup
and
Recovery
By
Vinny
Choinski,
Senior
Lab
Analyst,
and
Kerry
Dolan,
Lab
Analyst
May
2014
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.

2. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
2
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Contents
Introduction
................................................................................................................................................
3
Background
..............................................................................................................................................................
3
Best
Practices
in
Virtualization
Protection
..............................................................................................................
4
Backup
Exec
2014
....................................................................................................................................................
4
ESG
Lab
Test
Bed
.........................................................................................................................................
6
ESG
Lab
Validation
......................................................................................................................................
7
Monitoring
and
Management
.................................................................................................................................
7
Multi-­‐hypervisor
......................................................................................................................................................
9
Deduplication
........................................................................................................................................................
11
Fast,
Flexible
Restore
.............................................................................................................................................
12
Post-­‐process
Application
Handling
........................................................................................................................
15
ESG
Lab
Validation
Highlights
....................................................................................................................
17
Issues
to
Consider
.....................................................................................................................................
17
The
Bigger
Truth
........................................................................................................................................
18
Appendix
...................................................................................................................................................
19
All
trademark
names
are
property
of
their
respective
companies.
Information
contained
in
this
publication
has
been
obtained
by
sources
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group
(ESG)
considers
to
be
reliable
but
is
not
warranted
by
ESG.
This
publication
may
contain
opinions
of
ESG,
which
are
subject
to
change
from
time
to
time.
This
publication
is
copyrighted
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
Any
reproduction
or
redistribution
of
this
publication,
in
whole
or
in
part,
whether
in
hard-­‐copy
format,
electronically,
or
otherwise
to
persons
not
authorized
to
receive
it,
without
the
express
consent
of
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.,
is
in
violation
of
U.S.
copyright
law
and
will
be
subject
to
an
action
for
civil
damages
and,
if
applicable,
criminal
prosecution.
Should
you
have
any
questions,
please
contact
ESG
Client
Relations
at
508.482.0188.
ESG
Lab
Reports
The
goal
of
ESG
Lab
reports
is
to
educate
IT
professionals
about
data
center
technology
products
for
companies
of
all
types
and
sizes.
ESG
Lab
reports
are
not
meant
to
replace
the
evaluation
process
that
should
be
conducted
before
making
purchasing
decisions,
but
rather
to
provide
insight
into
these
emerging
technologies.
Our
objective
is
to
go
over
some
of
the
more
valuable
feature/functions
of
products,
show
how
they
can
be
used
to
solve
real
customer
problems
and
identify
any
areas
needing
improvement.
ESG
Lab's
expert
third-­‐party
perspective
is
based
on
our
own
hands-­‐on
testing
as
well
as
on
interviews
with
customers
who
use
these
products
in
production
environments.
This
ESG
Lab
report
was
sponsored
by
Symantec.

3. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
3
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Introduction
This
ESG
Lab
Validation
report
documents
hands-­‐on
testing
of
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014.
Testing
focused
on
advanced
virtual
server
data
protection
and
how
Backup
Exec
2014
measures
up
against
best
practices
in
virtual
data
protection.
Background
Server
virtualization
has
taken
IT
by
storm:
In
recent
ESG
research,
more
than
three-­‐quarters
(77%)
of
respondents
reported
that
they
were
currently
using
server
virtualization.1
It
has
become
a
mainstream
technology
because
of
its
tremendous
benefits:
primarily,
the
reduced
equipment
and
management
costs
of
consolidating
multiple
applications
onto
fewer
physical
servers.
In
addition,
while
increasing
the
use
of
server
virtualization
has
been
among
the
top
three
most-­‐cited
important
priorities
by
respondents
to
our
annual
spending
intentions
surveys
for
several
years,
it
rose
to
the
top
in
the
2014
survey—tied
for
most-­‐cited
with
critically
important
information
security
initiatives,
and
just
ahead
of
another
perennial
favorite,
improving
data
backup
and
recovery.
2
These
two
tend
to
go
hand
in
hand
because
virtualization
complicates
the
backup
landscape.
As
a
result,
IT
organizations
often
struggle
to
find
the
best
methods
for
protecting
virtual
and
physical
machines.
Many
believe
(mistakenly)
that
they
must
use
hypervisor-­‐specific
or
virtualization-­‐only
solutions
for
virtual
server
backup.
As
Figure
1
shows,
more
than
half
(53%)
of
respondents
to
an
ESG
survey
reported
that
they
use
different
backup
applications
for
their
virtual
and
physical
servers.
However,
a
multi-­‐pronged
approach
leads
to
inefficiency,
adding
management
overhead
and
complicating
recovery.
This
is
borne
out
by
the
fact
than
more
than
two-­‐thirds
(69%)
of
respondents
indicated
that
they
would
prefer
to
use
a
single
backup
application
to
protect
both
virtual
and
physical
servers.3
Figure
1.
Data
Protection
for
Virtual
and
Physical
Servers,
Current
versus
Preferred
Approach
Source:
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
2014.
1
Source:
ESG
Research
Report,
2013
IT
Spending
Intentions
Survey,
January
2013.
2
Source:
ESG
Research
Report,
2014
IT
Spending
Intentions
Survey,
February
2014.
3
Source:
ESG
Research
Report,
Trends
in
Data
Protection
Modernization,
August
2012.
53%
47%
0%
24%
69%
7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Use
separate
backup
applicadons
for
virtual
and
physical
server
environments
Use
a
single
backup
applicadon
for
virtual
and
physical
server
environments
Don't
know
What
is
your
organizaBon’s
current
approach
to
protecBng
its
virtual
and
physical
servers?
What
do
you
believe
would
be
your
organizaBon’s
preference
for
protecBng
its
virtual
and
physical
servers?
(Percent
of
respondents,
N=201)
Current
approach
Preferred
approach

4. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
4
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Unfortunately,
many
organizations
continue
to
manage
two
or
more
data
protection
solutions,
accompanied
by
greater
complexity
and
increased
TCO.4
Best
Practices
in
Virtualization
Protection
When
assessing
virtualization
backup
solutions,
it
can
be
helpful
to
leverage
the
experience
of
experts
in
the
field.
ESG
Senior
Analyst
Jason
Buffington
recently
developed
a
set
of
high-­‐level
best
practices
for
virtualization
protection:5
• Management
and
Monitoring.
Virtual
backup
solutions
should
be
easy
to
deploy
and
manage,
with
automation
across
the
stack.
The
ease
of
spinning
up
VMs—often
without
IT
involvement—necessitates
not
just
automated
discovery
for
protection,
but
the
ability
to
tailor
workflows
by
VM
as
well.
Integration
with
hypervisor
consoles
is
essential.
• Multi-­‐hypervisor.
More
organizations
are
deploying
multiple
hypervisors
for
manageability
and
economic
reasons,
particularly
as
features
gaps
between
hypervisors
have
closed
so
that
they
enjoy
a
level
of
parity.
Backup
solutions
must
support
this
new
reality.
• Deduplication.
The
ease
and
speed
of
launching
VMs
creates
“VM
sprawl”
that
consumes
disk
storage
at
alarming
rates
due
to
massive
amounts
of
duplicate
data,
applications,
and
operating
systems.
As
a
result,
built-­‐in
deduplication
is
essential.
Source-­‐side
deduplication
(aided
by
change-­‐block
tracking,
file
system
filtering,
NTFS
journals,
etc.)
will
reduce
I/O,
network,
and
storage
requirements.
Global
deduplication
across
multiple
hosts
will
further
reduce
storage
needs.
• Fast,
Flexible
Restore.
Speed
of
restore
dictates
how
fast
you
can
return
to
production
operations.
Virtual
backup
solutions
should
include
fast
restore,
granularity
to
meet
user
needs
(such
as
restoring
whole
VMs
or
application-­‐based
items
such
as
individual
files,
databases,
mailboxes,
and
e-­‐mails),
and
flexible
restore/conversion
options
such
as
physical-­‐to-­‐virtual
(P2V),
virtual-­‐to-­‐physical
(V2P),
and
backup-­‐to-­‐virtual
(B2V).
• Application-­‐aware
Handling.
While
some
solutions
deliver
crash-­‐consistent
backups,
they
do
not
enable
or
handle
log
truncation
and
other
post-­‐backup
processing
and
cleanup.
Virtual
backup
solutions
should
facilitate
post-­‐process
application
handling,
whether
through
injectable
modules
such
as
agents
or
recursive
mechanisms,
such
as
Microsoft
Windows
Volume
Shadow
Copy
Service
(VSS).
These
best
practices
help
to
create
an
environment
that
offers
simple,
unified
data
protection
across
the
physical
and
virtual
landscape,
maximum
protection
and
data
availability,
and
reduced
storage
needs
and
operational
costs.
ESG
Lab
evaluated
Backup
Exec
2014
in
the
context
of
these
best
practices
and
found
that
it
met
all
the
requirements
easily.
The
Validation
section
of
this
report
is
organized
according
to
these
practices.
Backup
Exec
2014
Backup
Exec
2014
continues
Symantec’s
long
tradition
of
advanced
data
protection
by
providing
a
powerful,
flexible
backup
and
recovery
solution
for
both
virtual
and
physical
environments
that
supports
VMware
and
Hyper-­‐V
as
well
as
Windows,
Linux,
and
Macintosh
environments.
It
includes
full
support
for
Windows
Server
2012
and
Windows
Server
2012
R2,
plus
granular
recovery
for
Exchange
2013
and
SharePoint
2013.
This
latest
version
also
includes
faster
performance
as
well
as
dashboards
and
wizards
that
enable
ease
of
deployment
and
operations.
Another
benefit
is
the
flexibility
of
both
backup
and
restore.
Versatile
and
fast
recovery
options
include
granular
restore
of
individual
objects,
applications,
or
VMs,
as
well
as
the
ability
to
restore
to
different
hardware
and
to
physical
servers
or
VMs.
4
For
additional
information,
see
the
white
paper,
Assessing
the
TCO
of
Unified
vs.
Parallel
Backup
Solutions
for
Virtual
Environments
on
the
Symantec
website.
5
For
more
information,
view
the
ESG
video
blog,
What
IT
Pros
should
look
for
in
Virtualization
Protection,
August
2012.

5. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
5
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Powerful
Backup
Exec
2014
offers
faster
backups,
flexible
backup
methods,
and
the
ability
to
verify
recoverability.
These
are
key
to
managing
the
growing
number
of
VMs
and
data
volumes
that
need
protection
while
minimizing
downtime
and
disruption;
completing
backups
within
the
backup
window;
and
achieving
recovery
time
objectives
(RTOs).
A
multi-­‐hypervisor
protection
solution,
Backup
Exec
2014
is
integrated
with
VMware
vCenter
as
well
as
VMware
APIs
for
Data
Protection
(VADP)
and
Microsoft
VSS.
Integrated
deduplication
reduces
data
volumes
to
minimize
storage
capacity.
Backup
Exec
2014
leverages
VMware’s
change
block
tracking
feature
(CBT),
Windows
Change
Journal,
and
its
own
CBT
for
fast
incremental/differential
backups
and
efficient
deduplication
at
the
client,
media
server,
or
appliance.
Global
deduplication
helps
to
ensure
maximum
savings
by
eliminating
duplication
across
all
protected
volumes,
not
just
by
server.
Flexible
Backup
Exec
2014
offers
multiple
backup
and
restore
options,
including
restore
from
any
full
or
incremental
point
in
time
to
maximize
flexibility.
Agentless
backup
provides
recovery
of
complete
VMs
while
optional
agents
(for
coordination
only,
not
data
movement)
enable
granular
recovery
of
virtualized
applications
such
as
Microsoft
Exchange
2013,
SharePoint
2013,
Active
Directory,
and
SQL
Server.
Backup
Exec
2014
was
designed
to
support
virtual,
physical,
or
hybrid
environments
from
a
single
management
console.
This
enables
organizations
to
reduce
the
cost
and
complexity
of
managing
data
protection
by
eliminating
point
solutions.
It
scales
easily
as
a
company
grows,
and
backups
can
be
directed
to
disk,
to
tape,
or
to
cloud
media.
In
terms
of
recovery,
BE
2014
offers
fast
restore
of
files,
folders,
and
individual
application
objects
such
as
e-­‐mails
or
documents.
This
enables
IT
to
quickly
recover
only
the
data
needed
without
having
to
restore
entire
volumes.
Complete
servers,
VMs,
or
applications
can
be
restored
to
the
same
or
to
dissimilar
hardware,
so
organizations
can
leverage
any
available
assets.
Finally,
the
BE2014
workflow
makes
it
simple
to
convert
a
running
physical
machine
to
a
VM
during
the
backup
process
(P2V),
restore
a
VM
to
a
physical
host
(V2P),
and
restore
a
backup
directly
to
a
VM
(B2V).
These
features
are
useful
for
disaster
recovery
and
for
migrating
a
host
to
a
different
type
of
environment.
Easy
to
Use
BE2014
includes
all
the
functionality
that
customers
have
counted
on
for
many
years,
with
simplified,
centralized
views
across
the
physical
and
virtual
environment.
The
management
interface
is
simple
and
fast
using
dashboards
and
wizards.
The
interface
includes
the
Job
Monitor
and
server-­‐centric
management;
a
single
backup
job
can
be
used
to
backup
and
manage
multiple
servers.
In
addition,
with
the
new
Backup
Job
feature
IT
can
view
the
status
of
all
backup
jobs
from
one
view.
The
“Stages”
method
uses
intuitive
wizards
with
which
IT
can
set
up
backup
jobs
with
just
a
few
mouse
clicks.
Because
VMs
are
easy
to
create
(even
without
IT
support),
they
can
be
left
stranded
and
unprotected;
BE
2014
automatically
identifies
new
VMs
to
protect,
ensuring
that
all
data
is
safe.
Symantec
offers
cost-­‐effective
licensing
options,
and
upgrades
from
prior
versions
of
Backup
Exec
are
seamless.
Backup
Exec
2014
can
be
deployed
as
software
or
as
an
appliance.
The
Symantec
Backup
Exec
3600
Appliance
offers
an
affordable
solution
for
easy
deployment,
and
will
include
Backup
Exec
2014
and
all
agents
preinstalled
on
optimized
hardware
later
in
the
year.

6. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
6
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
ESG
Lab
Test
Bed
The
ESG
Lab
test
bed
was
designed
to
demonstrate
Backup
Exec
2014
features
for
protecting
virtual
servers,
and
leveraged
both
VMware
vSphere
5.0
and
Microsoft
Windows
Server
2008
Hyper-­‐V.
As
shown
in
Figure
2,
the
environment
included
a
physical
media
server,
both
vSphere
and
Hyper-­‐V
hosts,
and
a
physical
Windows
2008
R2
file
server.
An
additional
server
ran
the
Backup
Exec
2014
software
and
the
administrative
consoles
for
Backup
Exec
2014
and
VMware
vSphere
over
the
LAN.
(SAN-­‐based
backup
is
recommended
for
production
environments,
but
for
this
testing
the
LAN
was
used.
Supported
methods
and
prioritization
are
shown
in
Figure
6.)
The
backup
data
included
VMware
and
Hyper-­‐V
virtual
machines
for
file
serving,
Exchange,
SQL
Server,
and
Active
Directory,
plus
a
physical
file
server.
Figure
2.
ESG
Lab
Test
Bed

7. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
7
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
ESG
Lab
Validation
ESG
Lab
performed
hands-­‐on
evaluation
and
testing
of
Backup
Exec
2012
at
the
Symantec
facility
in
Heathrow,
Florida,
with
an
update
for
Backup
Exec
2014.
Testing
was
designed
to
demonstrate
how
backup
Exec
2014
achieves
best
practices
in
virtual
data
protection.
Monitoring
and
Management
ESG
Lab
began
by
taking
a
tour
of
the
new
Backup
Exec
2014
management
interface.
A
customizable
home
dashboard
screen
displayed
storage
used
and
available,
backup
status,
and
weekly
protection
tasks
as
well
as
active
alerts,
licensing,
and
maintenance
contracts.
With
servers
and
storage
already
configured,
the
Lab
then
added
servers
and
initiated
backup
jobs.
ESG
Lab
Testing
The
Backup
and
Restore
tab
is
shown
in
Figure
3,
with
servers
listed
on
the
left:
three
VMware
ESX
hosts
and
a
physical
Windows
server.
For
each
server,
columns
display
active
alerts,
current
status,
a
segmented
bar
showing
status
of
the
last
seven
days
of
backups
(with
successful
jobs
in
green),
and
dates/times
of
the
last
and
next
backups.
Activity-­‐based
buttons
are
shown
at
the
top
for
executing
tasks
in
various
categories:
Views,
Backups,
Restores,
Conversions,
Servers
and
Virtual
Hosts,
Jobs,
and
Credentials.
Jobs
can
be
managed
individually,
or
using
the
Groups
navigation
bar
on
the
left,
which
allows
administrators
to
define
a
backup
job
and
apply
it
to
a
group
of
servers.
Behind
the
scenes,
Backup
Exec
2014
creates
individual
jobs
so
that
each
job
can
be
individually
configured
if
necessary.
Individual
job
status
can
be
viewed
using
the
Job
Monitor.
Figure
3.
Backup
and
Restore
Tab:
Server-­‐centric
view
The
bottom
half
of
Figure
3
(with
the
yellow
background)
shows
details
of
one
VMware
ESX
host
identified
by
its
network
address,
10.67.84.226.
On
the
left
is
a
high-­‐level
overview,
indicating
that
this
ESX
server
is
hosting
17
guest
VMs,
of
which
one
has
been
backed
up.
To
the
right
are
details
for
each
guest
VM,
including
the
same
details
in
the
top
half
of
the
screen:
current
backup
status,
the
last
week’s
backup
status,
and
dates
and
times
of
the
last

8. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
8
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
and
next
backups.
ESG
Lab
drilled
down
on
the
VM
that
had
been
backed
up
and
viewed
a
clickable,
pop-­‐up
list
showing
the
one
successful
backup
job.
Next,
ESG
Lab
reviewed
Backup
Exec
2014’s
enhanced
visibility
into
VM
protection
workflows.
Backup
Exec
2014
uses
a
series
of
staging
screens
with
arrows
illustrating
process
steps
in
order.
Figure
4
shows
an
example
using
of
a
backup
job
being
scheduled
for
host
HROBEWS21.
The
box
on
the
left
shows
that
the
host
is
fully
selected,
so
that
all
file
shares,
network
shares,
applications,
and
system-­‐specific
settings
are
included
for
backup.
The
middle
box
is
used
to
schedule
the
initial
backup
tasks
(in
this
case,
a
weekly
full
backup
and
daily
incrementals)
and
to
assign
storage
targets
and
retention
times.
The
box
on
the
right
describes
the
final
task
in
the
workflow:
a
weekly
duplication
of
the
most
recent
full
backup
to
any
configured
tape
target
with
the
tape
retention
period
listed.
Additional
stages
can
be
added
to
each
task
if
necessary.
Figure
4.
Workflow
Staging
Why
This
Matters
Due
to
the
scalability
and
mobility
of
virtual
machines,
ease
of
deployment
and
management
with
automation
across
the
stack
are
best
practices
for
virtual
data
protection.
ESG
Lab
validated
that
Backup
Exec
2014
easily
managed
data
protection
for
both
VMware
and
Hyper
VMs
from
a
single
management
screen,
with
staging
screens
for
better
workflow
visualization.
VMs
can
be
automatically
discovered
and
added
to
the
workflow
in
groups
for
ease
of
management,
and
each
backup
job
can
be
tailored
individually
as
needed.
The
changes
in
the
administrative
interface
proved
to
simplify
and
speed
VM
backup
task
management,
and
also
made
it
much
easier
to
view
high-­‐level
summaries,
job
status
details,
and
process
flows
for
protected
VMs
without
custom
scripts
and
add-­‐on
tools.

9. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
9
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Multi-­‐hypervisor
Next,
ESG
Lab
explored
the
multi-­‐hypervisor
feature
of
Backup
Exec
2014
by
selecting
VMs
to
back
up.
After
clicking
the
Add
button,
Backup
Exec
2014
displayed
the
options
relevant
to
the
environment,
starting
with
the
options
to
add
Windows,
VMware
vCenter
hosts,
Hyper-­‐V
hosts,
file
servers,
and
SharePoint
servers.
The
red
box
in
Figure
5
shows
three
VMware
servers
and
one
physical
Windows
server
that
were
added.
Figure
5.
Adding
Servers
Once
servers
were
added,
the
Lab
selected
a
60GB
Exchange
VM
from
the
vCenter
host
by
right-­‐clicking,
applied
the
agent
to
enable
granular
restore,
and
clicked
Go
Now
to
initiate
a
backup.
Next,
ESG
Lab
explored
integration
with
virtual
machine
backup
APIs.
As
shown
in
Figure
6,
Backup
Exec
2014
supports
numerous
configuration
options
to
back
up
both
VMware
and
Microsoft
Hyper-­‐V
virtual
machines,
such
as
using
full
backups
for
VMs
that
don’t
support
incrementals,
and
backing
up
VMs
that
are
powered
off.
Backups
for
VMs
can
be
configured
for
image-­‐level
restores
as
well
as
granular
file
folder
and
object-­‐level
restores.
For
simple
file
and
system
restores,
ESG
Lab
configured
both
Microsoft
Hyper-­‐V
and
VMware
virtual
machine
file
servers.
Backups
were
run
for
those
VMs
and
both
file-­‐level
and
full-­‐system
restores
were
successfully
conducted.

10. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
10
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Figure
6.
Virtual
Machine
Backup
Options
At
the
application-­‐object
level
for
virtual
machines,
Backup
Exec
supports
Microsoft
Active
Directory,
Exchange,
SharePoint,
and
SQL.
The
Lab
conducted
both
Microsoft
Exchange
and
MSSQL
backups
and
restores
in
subsequent
sections
of
this
report.
It
should
be
noted
that
a
number
of
transport
modes
and
virtual
environment
API
features
such
as
Change
Block
Tracking
are
also
supported.
Figure
6
also
shows
the
ability
of
Backup
Exec
to
leverage
SAN-­‐based
data
movement
for
virtual
data
disks,
the
SCSI
Hotadd
feature,
and
a
number
of
encryption
options.
Why
This
Matters
Multi-­‐hypervisor
support
has
become
a
prerequisite
in
virtual
backup
solutions
because
time
and
competition
have
created
more
parity
in
functionality
among
hypervisors.
According
to
an
ESG
research
survey,
nearly
two-­‐thirds
(65%)
of
respondents
from
midmarket
and
enterprise
organizations
reported
using
more
than
one
hypervisor.6
Organizations
often
run
multiple
hypervisors
to
support
certain
workloads,
minimize
costs,
and
maximize
the
TCO
of
legacy
products.
ESG
Lab
validated
that
Backup
Exec
2014
successfully
backed
up
and
recovered
VMware
and
Hyper-­‐V
virtual
machines,
with
image-­‐level
and
granular
restores
as
well
as
integration
with
APIs
for
added
features.
6
Source:
ESG
Research
Brief,
Multiple
Hypervisor
Usage
Trends,
December
2012.

11. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
11
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Deduplication
Next,
ESG
Lab
explored
Backup
Exec
2014’s
built-­‐in
deduplication.
The
Lab
reviewed
the
backup
target
storage
utilization
for
a
job
that
consisted
of
one
full
and
eight
incremental
backups.
Figure
7
shows
how
the
Backup
Exec
deduplication
feature
maintained
an
almost
consistent
capacity
on
the
backup
target
while
the
data
being
protected
increased
between
backup
jobs
due
to
normal
user
interaction.
Figure
7.
Backup
Exec
Data
Deduplication
versus
Protected
Production
Data
Table
1
shows
the
results
of
the
ESG
Lab
deduplication
testing.
Table
1.
Data
Deduplication
Detail
First
Full
Incr.
#1
Incr.
#2
Incr.
#3
Incr.
#4
Incr.
#5
Incr.
#6
Incr.
#7
Incr.
#8
1.53:1
1.63:1
1.72:1
1.82:1
1.92:1
2.01:1
2.1:1
2.2:1
2.29:1
What
the
Numbers
Mean
• Backup
Exec
deduplication
maintained
an
almost
consistent
backup
target
capacity
as
user
data
increased.
• The
deduplication
ratio
increased
from
1.53:1
to
almost
2.3:1
over
the
short
testing
period.
• The
testing
period
was
only
two
days
in
duration.
• The
incremental
backup
data
added
between
jobs
was
more
random
than
real-­‐world
data.
• Only
one
full
backup
of
the
data
set
was
conducted
during
the
test
period.
• ESG
Lab
would
expect
the
deduplication
rate
to
increase
significantly
with
a
longer
cycle
and
real-­‐world
data.

12. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
12
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Why
This
Matters
Best
practices
indicate
the
need
for
source-­‐side
deduplication,
which
alleviates
much
of
the
burden
on
the
backup
solution,
plus
global
deduplication
across
hosts
on
the
target
side.
Significant
amounts
of
redundant
data
are
generated
in
virtual
environments,
which
will
drive
up
costs
without
data
reduction
techniques.
ESG
Lab
validated
that
built-­‐in
deduplication
with
Backup
Exec
2014
resulted
in
significant
reduction
of
data
stored
while
data
being
protected
increased.
As
noted
earlier,
not
only
does
Backup
Exec
2014
leverage
VMware
CBT,
but
it
also
includes
Symantec’s
own
CBT
to
support
workloads
not
supported
by
VMware.
Data
is
deduplicated
across
all
protected
data,
not
just
by
backup
job.
(Note
that
testing
was
designed
simply
to
prove
deduplication
capability,
not
to
evaluate
deduplication
rates.)
Fast,
Flexible
Restore
Next,
the
Lab
reviewed
the
ability
of
Backup
Exec
2014
to
execute
fast,
flexible
restores.
Restores
can
be
to
dissimilar
hardware,
and
P2V,
V2P,
and
B2V
are
all
supported.
The
first
task
was
to
create
virtual
machines
from
backups
of
physical
servers.
As
shown
in
Figure
8,
the
Backup
Exec
conversion
wizard
was
launched
by
the
Lab
to
create
a
virtual
machine
from
a
backup
of
server
becompfile002.
Figure
8.
Backup
Exec
P2V
Conversion
Wizard
The
wizard
directed
the
process
by
presenting
clearly
defined
steps
for
each
selection
option.
As
shown
in
Figure
9,
ESG
Lab
selected
Microsoft
Hyper-­‐V
as
the
hypervisor
to
be
used
for
the
conversion.
The
left
side
of
the
figure
shows
the
Hyper-­‐V
server
that
will
host
the
new
VM
as
well
as
the
new
name
of
the
virtual
machine,
VM-­‐
BECOMPFILE002.
The
“VM”
was
appended
to
the
beginning
of
the
virtual
machine
host
name
to
distinguish
it
from
the
physical
host
in
the
environment.
Lastly,
the
right
side
of
Figure
9
shows
the
new
VM
running
on
the
Microsoft
Hyper-­‐V
server
through
the
Hyper-­‐V
Manager
view.

13. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
13
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Figure
9.
Microsoft
Hyper-­‐V
Manager
View
of
the
P2V
Conversion
Next,
ESG
Lab
tested
the
granular
restore
options
that
speed
recovery
of
specific
items
using
the
Microsoft
Exchange
database
we
had
previously
backed
up.
Backup
Exec
2014
displayed
the
context-­‐specific
restore
options
available,
as
shown
on
the
left
side
of
Figure
10;
because
we
had
used
the
Exchange
agent-­‐assisted
backup,
granular
restore
options
were
available.
ESG
Lab
tested
two
options
for
selecting
individual
e-­‐mail
messages
for
recovery:
browsing
and
keyword
search.
The
Lab
browsed
the
Exchange
mailbox
directory
from
the
VM
backup
of
BECOMPDC,
as
shown
in
the
top
right
of
Figure
10;
selected
one
user’s
Inbox;
and
selected
two
messages
from
that
Inbox.
Next,
the
Lab
executed
a
keyword
search
for
the
word
“write”
for
all
mailboxes
in
backups
over
a
24-­‐hour
period.
As
shown
in
the
bottom
right,
Backup
Exec
located
and
displayed
numerous
individual
messages
containing
the
word
“write.”
ESG
Lab
selected
three
e-­‐mails
and
restored
them
to
a
.pst
file.

14. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
14
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Figure
10.
Exchange
Restore
Options
Why
This
Matters
Fast,
flexible
restore
is
essential
to
virtual
backup
best
practices
because
organizations
must
be
able
to
resume
production
operations
as
quickly
as
possible.
Users
are
rapidly
becoming
accustomed
to
the
agility
of
virtual
environments,
increasing
their
demand
for
high
availability.
If
the
restore
can
include
only
what
the
user
needs
and
no
more,
the
recovery
and
return
to
productivity
is
that
much
faster.
ESG
Lab
validated
two
specific
Backup
Exec
2014
capabilities
that
speed
restore.
The
Lab
converted
a
backup
of
a
physical
server
to
a
VM,
effectively
reducing
downtime
for
a
server
failure
to
just
the
time
it
takes
to
start
up
the
server
as
virtual
machine.
In
addition,
ESG
Lab
used
both
browsing
and
keyword
search
to
execute
a
granular
recovery
of
individual
e-­‐mails
from
an
Exchange
database
backup.

15. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
15
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Post-­‐process
Application
Handling
Next,
ESG
Lab
performed
an
object-­‐level
restore
of
a
SQL
Server
database
backup
of
BECOMPFS5,
a
VMware
guest.
Using
the
Restore
wizard,
as
shown
in
the
left
side
of
Figure
11,
the
Lab
navigated
to
SQL
Server
and
selected
the
Model
database.
Wizard
windows
(shown
on
the
right)
guided
us
through
the
restore
process.
The
Lab
chose
the
following
application
handling
options:
restore
the
latest
backup,
overwrite
the
existing
database,
and
have
Backup
Exec
2014
automatically
take
the
databases
offline.
It
should
be
noted
that
the
option
to
run
additional
commands
before
and
after
the
SQL
backup
job
was
available,
as
shown
at
the
bottom
right
side
of
Figure
11,
though
it
was
not
tested
in
this
particular
SQL
backup.
Figure
11.
SQL
Server
Restore
Options
Finally,
ESG
Lab
used
the
CLI
to
create
pre-­‐
and
post-­‐commands
(c:pre.cmd
and
c:post.cmd)
to
run
on
a
file
server
(BECOMPFILE002)
being
backed
up
(see
Figure
12).
The
Lab
created
a
full
backup
job
of
a
few
log
files
and
launched
it.
The
pre-­‐command
ran,
and
Backup
Exec
2014
halted
the
application,
executed
the
backup,
and
then
ran
the
post-­‐command.
The
pre
and
post
folders
created
in
the
C:
drive
directory
(and
time
stamps)
proved
that
both
commands
were
executed
as
scheduled.

16. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
16
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Figure
12.
Pre-­‐
and
Post-­‐commands
Why
This
Matters
Virtual
backup
solutions
should
facilitate
the
necessary
post-­‐process
application
tasks,
whether
using
injectable
agents
or
recursive
mechanisms.
This
best
practice
enhances
application
awareness
in
the
backup
workflow,
enabling
the
application
to
automatically
perform
its
required
log
truncation
and
other
tasks
once
a
backup
has
completed.
ESG
Lab
validated
that
Backup
Exec
2014
can
expedite
application-­‐aware
post
processing.
The
Lab
created
pre-­‐
and
post-­‐backup
commands
that
were
executed
properly
before
and
after
a
full
backup
job.

17. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
17
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
ESG
Lab
Validation
Highlights
þ ESG
Lab
found
that
Backup
Exec
2014
fulfilled
each
of
the
virtual
backup
best
practices
as
defined.
þ The
Lab
also
found
that
Backup
Exec
2014
was
well
integrated
with
the
latest
Microsoft
Hyper-­‐V
and
VMware
virtual
backup
features,
making
it
easy
to
back
up
virtual
environments
with
flexible
options.
Also,
comprehensive
support
for
disk,
tape,
and
cloud
expands
the
options
for
each
customer
environment.
þ ESG
Lab
was
impressed
with
Backup
Exec
2014’s
fast,
flexible
restore
options
such
as
granular
restore
of
files,
folders,
or
application
objects;
restore
to
dissimilar
hardware;
and
P2V,
V2P,
and
B2V
that
make
disaster
recovery
and
server
migration
simple
to
implement.
ESG
Lab
used
the
simple
workflow
to
quickly
and
easily
conduct
a
P2V
operation.
þ ESG
Lab
found
that
Backup
Exec
2014
delivered
simple,
centralized
management
for
both
physical
and
virtual
data
protection,
including
the
ability
to
monitor
all
backup
jobs
from
one
view,
and
to
manage
multiple
hosts
using
a
single
backup
job.
þ Symantec
has
made
improvements
in
the
GUI
to
more
easily
distinguish
between
physical
and
virtual
machines.
Especially
notable
is
the
addition
of
a
separate
pane
showing
the
status
of
virtual
hosts
and
their
guest
machines.
þ Application
protection
integration
remains
strong
with
the
solution.
ESG
Lab
conducted
object-­‐level
restores
of
Microsoft
Exchange
and
used
the
new
search
feature
to
identify
and
recover
individual
e-­‐mail
messages
within
Exchange.
þ ESG
Lab
found
the
fully
integrated
deduplication
across
all
protected
data
an
effective
way
to
streamline
capacity
requirements.
Issues
to
Consider
þ Backup
Exec
2014
does
not
currently
include
an
instant
recovery
capability,
although
it
is
planned
for
the
future.
þ The
catalog
and
history
captured
by
Backup
Exec
2014
enable
granular
search
capabilities.
However,
ESG
recommends
making
the
search
function
accessible
on
the
main
menu,
so
that
it
can
be
more
easily
applied
globally
across
the
protected
environment.
þ IT
can
tailor
the
administrative
console
to
show
how
much
of
a
job’s
capacity
has
been
backed
up,
enabling
them
to
use
the
total
capacity
of
the
job
to
calculate
what
percentage
of
the
backup
has
completed.
However,
because
“percent
complete”
is
a
popular
and
useful
metric,
ESG
Lab
recommends
making
it
a
default
that
does
not
require
calculation.

18. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
18
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
The
Bigger
Truth
Few
realize
that
Backup
Exec
was
one
of
the
earliest
backup
applications
to
integrate
with
VMware.
While
some
customers
believe
that
virtualization-­‐specific
solutions
are
required
to
protect
VMs,
Backup
Exec
has
been
a
leading
protection
provider
for
both
physical
and
virtual
environments
for
quite
some
time.
You
could
chalk
that
up
to
a
marketing
gap
on
Symantec’s
part—it
wouldn’t
be
the
first
vendor
to
offer
a
really
valuable
feature
without
effectively
telling
customers
about
it.
More
likely,
it
is
due
to
an
abundance
of
caution
left
over
from
the
early
days
of
virtualization,
when
IT
teams
separated
virtual
backups
from
physical
first
due
to
architectural
limitations,
and
later
to
ensure
that
their
carefully
designed
and
managed
backup
process
was
not
adversely
affected
by
adding
VMs
to
the
mix.
Whatever
the
reason,
it’s
worth
noting
that
Symantec
is
not
new
to
the
VM
backup
game—a
fact
that
was
clearly
demonstrated
during
ESG
Lab
testing.
The
latest
improvements
that
arrived
with
Backup
Exec
2014
are
intended
to
ensure
that
customers
protecting
virtual
machines
will
benefit
from
Symantec’s
decades
of
experience.
Management
improvements
make
better
protection
possible
and
help
to
streamline
administrative
costs,
while
built-­‐in
deduplication
helps
minimize
storage
and
bandwidth
needs,
a
critical
cost-­‐saver
particularly
in
growing
virtual
deployments.
The
extensive
protection
and
recovery
options
available,
in
addition
to
application-­‐awareness
features,
demonstrate
Symantec’s
focus
on
the
truly
important
part
of
the
protection
equation:
fast,
easy,
flexible
recovery
and
return
to
business
productivity.
Backup
Exec
is
a
powerful,
flexible,
easy-­‐to-­‐use
solution
that
makes
protecting
data
in
physical,
virtual,
and
hybrid
environments
fast,
simple,
and
efficient.
It
is
worth
noting
that
when
certain
functionalities
were
aggregated
and
simplified
in
Backup
Exec
2012,
these
functions
became
less
visible,
causing
consternation
for
some
long-­‐standing
customers.
Symantec
has
made
those
functions
once
again
highly
visible
in
Backup
Exec
2014,
so
customers
gain
the
improved
GUI
with
dashboards
and
wizards,
but
can
still
manage
backups
in
the
way
to
which
they
are
accustomed.
ESG
applauds
Symantec
for
listening
to
its
customers
and
finding
a
way
to
respond
without
compromising
on
new
features.
Plenty
of
over-­‐hyped
technologies
on
the
market
and
in
the
media
today
might
benefit
your
environment,
or
they
might
not.
With
virtualization,
there
is
no
doubt:
the
difference
that
virtualization
can
make
in
business
costs
and
application
availability
cannot
be
overstated
and
as
a
result,
it
is
rapidly
becoming
the
preferred
server
deployment
method.
In
addition,
the
density
of
VMs
per
physical
host
is
increasing—good
for
TCO,
but
often
exacerbating
backup
and
recovery
challenges
for
virtual
environments.
For
customers
looking
to
address
VM
data
protection,
certain
best
practices
can
ensure
optimal
protection
and
recovery
characteristics.
These
include
easy
and
intuitive
monitoring
and
management,
multi-­‐hypervisor
integration,
deduplication
to
deal
with
the
consequences
of
VM
sprawl,
fast
restore
options,
and
post-­‐process
application
handling.
So
how
would
ESG
Lab
rate
Backup
Exec
2014
in
terms
of
these
best
practices?
Our
testing
indicates
that
Symantec
has
hit
every
best
practice
in
the
center
of
the
target.
Bullseye.

19. Lab
Validation:
Symantec
Backup
Exec
2014
19
©
2014
by
The
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
Appendix
Table
2.
ESG
Lab
Test
Bed
Detail
Operating
Systems
and
Software
Symantec
Backup
Exec
Version:
Backup
Exec
2012,
Backup
Exec
2014
Microsoft
Windows
Server
2008
Version:
Windows
Server
2008
R2
with
Hyper-­‐V
VMware
vSphere
Version:
vSphere
5.0
Microsoft
MS-­‐Exchange
Version:
Exchange
2012
Microsoft
MS-­‐SQL
Version:
SQL
Server
2012
Servers
Dell
Model:
PowerEdge
R815
CPU:
AMD
Opteron
Memory:
24
GB
RAM
Dell
Model:
PowerEdge
R610
CPU:
Quad
Core
Intel
Xeon
Memory:
24
GB
RAM
Storage
Dell
Model:
PowerVault
MD3600
Source:
Enterprise
Strategy
Group,
2014.

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