Backup Exec
Encyclopedia
Backup Exec is proprietary backup software
currently developed by Symantec
. Backup Exec has a long history of being sold from one company to another. Its earliest roots stretch back to the early 1980s when Maynard Electronics
created a bundle of software drivers to help sell their tape drive products. Today, Backup Exec is a data protection solution that provides continuous
disk-to-disk-to-tape backup and recovery. Continuous protection is now available for Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server in addition to file servers and workstations, eliminating daily backups and providing point-in-time recovery.
, Microsoft SQL Server
and Oracle database
s. Multiple media servers can be managed using the Central Admin Server Option. Current versions of the software also support Unix, Linux, Macintosh, and NDMP clients.
Backup Exec shares the same Microsoft Tape Format with Windows' built-in NTBackup
.
Backup software
Backup software are computer programs used to perform backup; they create supplementary exact copies of files, databases or entire computers. These programs may later use the supplementary copies to restore the original contents in the event of data loss....
currently developed by Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
. Backup Exec has a long history of being sold from one company to another. Its earliest roots stretch back to the early 1980s when Maynard Electronics
Maynard Electronics
Maynard Electronics was an American company based in Lake Mary, Florida that produced magnetic tape data storage related products.The company was founded by Kim and Alison Knapp in 1982. It was acquired by Archive Corp. in 1989, but the brand was maintained. In order to make it easier to sell...
created a bundle of software drivers to help sell their tape drive products. Today, Backup Exec is a data protection solution that provides continuous
Continuous data protection
Continuous data protection , also called continuous backup or real-time backup, refers to backup of computer data by automatically saving a copy of every change made to that data, essentially capturing every version of the data that the user saves...
disk-to-disk-to-tape backup and recovery. Continuous protection is now available for Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server in addition to file servers and workstations, eliminating daily backups and providing point-in-time recovery.
Provenance
- 1982 - Maynard Electronics started. Maynard's software is known as "MaynStream."
- 1989 - Maynard is acquired by Archive Corp.Archive Corp.Archive Corporation was a computer tape drive manufacturer, based in Costa Mesa, California that was acquired by Conner Peripherals in 1993.Of particular note are the Archive DDS tape drives produced for Silicon Graphics that could also read and write Digital Audio Tapes.* Archive Python 4320*...
MaynStream is available for DOSDOSDOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
, Windows, MacintoshMacintoshThe Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, OS/2OS/2OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
, and NetWare. - 1991 - Quest Development CorporationQuest Development CorporationQuest Development Corporation was a small, privately held software development company in San Luis Obispo, California that primarily developed backup software under contract to Symantec Corporation in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
is independently formed to develop backup software under contract for Symantec. - 1993 - Archive is acquired by Conner PeripheralsConner PeripheralsConner Peripherals was a company that manufactured hard drives for personal computers. Conner Peripherals was founded in 1985 by Seagate Technology co-founder Finis Conner but it in itself never produced a product. In 1986 Conner Peripherals merged with CoData, started by MiniScribe founders Terry...
. Conner renames the software "Backup Exec." - 1993 - Quest acquired rights to FastBackFastBack (software)FastBack was a software application developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s for backing up IBM PC and Macintosh computers. It was originally written by Fifth Generation Systems Inc, a company located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
for Macintosh, and hired its principal author, Tom Chappell, from Fifth Generation SystemsFifth Generation SystemsFifth Generation Systems was a computer security company founded October 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States by Bob Mitchell, Roger Ibey, and Bruce Ray. All three later left the company...
. - 1994 - Conner creates a subsidiary, Arcada SoftwareArcada SoftwareArcada Software was a computer software company that was formed in early 1994 by the merger of Conner Software of Lake Mary, Florida, and Astora Software, formerly Quest Development Corporation, of San Luis Obispo, California.Conner Software owned the Backup Exec brand of backup software, while...
, by acquiring Quest and merging it with their existing software division. - 1995 - Arcada acquires the SyTron division from RexonRexonRexon Business Machines, later Rexon, Inc., was a manufacturer of small business computer systems founded by Ben C. Wang in 1978 in Culver City, California. It also became a major manufacturer of tape drives and related products. At its height, it played a significant role in the development and...
, including their OS/2 backup software. - 1996 - Conner is acquired by Seagate TechnologySeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
and Arcada is merged into its subsidiary Seagate SoftwareSeagate SoftwareSeagate Software was an international software corporation headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, United States. It was a majority owned subsidiary of Seagate Technology, the largest independent disc drive and related components company in the world....
. - 1999 - VERITAS SoftwareVERITAS SoftwareVeritas Software Corp. was an international software company that was founded in 1983 as Tolerant Systems, renamed Veritas Software Corp. in 1989, and merged with Symantec in 2005. It was headquartered in Mountain View, California...
acquires Seagate Software's Network and Storage Management Group, which included Backup Exec. - 2005 - Symantec acquired VERITAS, including both Backup Exec and NetBackupNetBackupVeritas NetBackup is an enterprise level heterogeneous backup and recovery suite. It provides cross-platform backup functionality to a large variety of Windows, UNIX and Linux operating systems....
, a completely different backup software package.
Major Releases
- Seagate Backup Exec 7.2, October 1998
- VERITAS Backup Exec 7.3, March 1999
- VERITAS Backup Exec 8.0, January 2000
- VERITAS Backup Exec 8.6, November 2001
- VERITAS Backup Exec 9.0, June 2003
- VERITAS Backup Exec 9.1, December 2003
- VERITAS Backup Exec 10.0, January 2005
- Symantec Backup Exec 10d, September 2005
- Symantec Backup Exec 11d, November 2006
- Symantec Backup Exec 12, February 2008
- Symantec Backup Exec 12.5, October 2008
- Symantec Backup Exec 2010, February 2010
- Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R2, August 2010 (a minor update that supports Exchange 2010 SP1 among other things)
- Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3, May 2011
Architecture
Backup Exec installations can have one or more media servers, which are responsible for moving data from one or more locations to a storage medium, such as disk or tape. The data may be from the local system or from a remote system using an "agent." The core Backup Exec product can have additional functionality unlocked through the addition of agent licenses. Available agents include the ability to back up filesystem snapshots, synthetic backups, and the ability to back up databases such as Microsoft ExchangeMicrosoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
, Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
and Oracle database
Oracle database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
s. Multiple media servers can be managed using the Central Admin Server Option. Current versions of the software also support Unix, Linux, Macintosh, and NDMP clients.
Backup Exec shares the same Microsoft Tape Format with Windows' built-in NTBackup
NTBackup
NTBackup is the built-in backup application introduced in Windows NT around 1997 and part of all subsequent versions up to and including Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It uses a proprietary backup format to back up files. Files can be backed up to tape, ZIP drives, floppy...
.
External links
| Backup Exec Administrator's Guides | Backup Exec Software Compatibility Lists | Backup Exec Hardware Compatibility Lists |
|---|---|---|
| Backup Exec 2010 R3 | Backup Exec 2010 + R2 + R3 | Backup Exec 2010 + R2 + R3 |
| Backup Exec 2010 R2 | Backup Exec 12.5 | Backup Exec 12.5 |
| Backup Exec 2010 | Backup Exec 12.0 | Backup Exec 12.0 |
| Backup Exec 12.5 | Backup Exec 11d | Backup Exec 11d |
| Backup Exec 11d |