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CA Announces Program Ports to Linux
December writes "CA has announced that they will port ARCserveIT, InnoculateIT, MasterIT and NetworkIT to Linux.
The full press release is available online. " Computer Associates and Red Hat are teaming up, according to the press release. They'll be making a package aimed at "mid-market" customers.
Arcserve is HORRIBLE.
I was using the version just before it changed to ArcServeIT, though we did get the first version of ArcServeIT. It is poorly programmed and unstable as hell. I nevercould rely on it. Restores were always a scary experience. It wouldn't recover crashed machines at all (apparently you were supposed to pay extra for this very basic capability, and my predecessor hadn't bought this feature). I could get back data files USUALLY. However, I had endless trouble with the catalog. Doing restores on that system was a constant series of barely-dodged bullets. I have never, in my life, dealt with software that was so horrible. I fought it for MONTHS. I almost always managed to do restores when I needed them, but that was mostly due to ingenuity on my part.
Eventually, in desperation, I called up support (which is actually decent) and complained at them about the endless trouble we were having with it. Turns out that the Raima database that they use internally can only support 16 million records. I had over a million files on one server ALONE, and I was backing up over fifty machines to DLT tape. The catalogs were silently corrupting themselves within a few days of being rebuilt. This is NOT DOCUMENTED ANYWHERE in the manuals. And I asked them about this. "Oh, Arcserve isn't meant to handle that much data." Excuse me? This is a multi-thousand dollar package, and I don't remember seeing anything on the box about how much data I could back up with it???
They did tell me I could use SQL Server to store the database files. I went through the whole process of buying a new drive, setting up SQL Server, and configuring ARCServe to talk to it. It did work, and it didn't lose catalog data. However, after a backup, it would take somewhere around TWENTY HOURS to update the catalog in the database. When it was time for the next daily backup, it often wouldn't be finished updating the catalog from the PRIOR one 24 hours before! And if I wanted a restore, even a simple query would take twenty minutes to run (as in, browsing the files that had been backed up the night before from a specific server).
At that point, we just dumped it and bought a real solution, Legato Networker. Networker on NT has a few odd wrinkles but it is mostly solid, and it has saved my rear end several times. When I do a restore with Networker, I get back a perfect machine. Users can actually restore their own recent files without any intervention on my part. And it works. Every time.
Caveat re: Legato: An earlier build of Networker totally ate itself and destroyed the server installation. I was able to rebuild the server from its 'bootstrap' tapes, but bugs in the restore process make it very slow and tedious to recover the catalogs from multiple machines. I don't know if this has been fixed yet. It has not crashed since I went to a more recent patch rev, and has been almost painless. Light years difference from ArcServe, which was a constant, constant hassle.
Conclusion: Don't touch this software with a ten-meter pole. It won't be any better on Linux than it was on NT. Go with something you can trust; both BRU and Arkeia have pretty good reputations.
ArcServe SUCKS.
Let me tell you *WHY* it's a Good Thing...
Many shops are forced to keep an NT server around to provide virus-scanning services for the Windows desktops in the company. Because "Linux doesn't have viruses", the Linux boxen tend to act as a Typhoid Mary during a Windows virus infection.
It is precisely because of the fact that there is no virus-scanning software for Linux (for DOS/Win16/Win32 viruses) that many otherwise clueful PHBs will not adopt it. Software to scan for alien viruses on email attachments, etc, can only broaden the appeal of Linux.
It's also not a bad thing if they provide scanners for native viruses.
"What?!!?" you say. "Sure there is concept, but for all practical purposes, there are no Linux viruses. Besides, permissions protect us!"
True, my friend. Permissions protect the system from getting hosed. A virus can only affect your own files, or files that you have write permission to. Consider, though: the system, aside from configuration (which, I realize, is not insignificant), is on the original install media. What do you have under your account?
That's right. Your data, which is far more valuable.
It's true, any non-half-assed shop keeps backups... but let's face it, it's a real pain in the ass to restore. And managers hate to be inconvenienced. :)
Reserve some judgment on this, and try to be somewhat open-minded whilst reaching your own conclusions.
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We have fought the AC's, and they have won.