Backup Exec

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.^[1] 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.

History

Provenance

• 1982 - Maynard Electronics started. Maynard's software is known as "MaynStream."
• 1989 - Maynard is acquired by Archive Corp. MaynStream is available for DOS, Windows, Macintosh, OS/2, and NetWare.
• 1991 - Quest Development Corporation is independently formed to develop backup software under contract for Symantec.
• 1993 - Conner Peripherals acquires Archive Corp. and renames the software "Backup Exec".
• 1993 - Quest acquired rights to FastBack for Macintosh, and hired its principal author, Tom Chappell, from Fifth Generation Systems.
• 1994 - Conner creates a subsidiary, Arcada Software, by acquiring Quest and merging it with their existing software division.
• 1995 - Arcada acquires the SyTron division from Rexon, including their OS/2 backup software.
• 1996 - Conner is acquired by Seagate Technology and Arcada is merged into its subsidiary Seagate Software.
• 1999 - VERITAS Software acquires Seagate Software's Network and Storage Management Group, which included Backup Exec.
• 2005 - Symantec acquires VERITAS, including both Backup Exec and NetBackup (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^[2]
• Symantec Backup Exec 11d, November 2006^[3]
• Symantec Backup Exec 12, February 2008^[4]
• Symantec Backup Exec 12.5, October 2008
• Symantec Backup Exec 2010 (13.0), 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
• Symantec Backup Exec 2012 (14.0), March 5, 2012

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 Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases. 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.

See also

• List of backup software

References

External links

• Backup Exec Product Page on Symantec.com
• Backup Exec Knowledge Base Search page
• Backup Exec 12 Best Practices Guide
• Backup Exec 11d Best Practices Guide Table of Contents