Bocada launches universal backup reporter
 
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Storage start-up Bocada is aiming to ensure that your network data gets backed up properly at all times.
The company makes software that collects completion and error statistics from the assorted backup packages running on heterogeneous networks and combines them into a series of reports that detail backup failures and successes for all the servers on the network.
Called BackupReport, the software takes the individual statistics generated by backup software from CA, HP, Legato, Microsoft and Veritas and lumps them into a unified set of reports. It works with any Windows NT, 2000 or Unix server that is connected to a direct- or network-attached storage device or storage area network array.
Analysts like Bocada's approach because it makes viewing failed backup jobs simple. "Enterprises don't use just one backup package," says Steve Duplessie, an analyst with Enterprise Storage Group. "They have Veritas, Legato, ARCserve from CA, as well as Tivoli Storage Manager on the mainframe. With BackupReport an IT manager can come to work in the morning and look at a single, simple graphical pictorial that says, 'This job bombed for some reason.'"
BackupReport is managed from a Windows NT or 2000 workstation and will be able to tell why a backup failed and identify servers or workstations that have not been assigned to a backup server. The software resides on the NT/2000 workstation and polls each backup server on the network, irrespective of the backup software that is running. It then presents a graphical representation of backup performance and allows IT managers to automatically bill departments or workgroups for backup services based on the amount of data backed up.
Observers say failed backups are routine on enterprise networks. Enterprise Storage Group estimates that IT managers are unaware that 50% of the jobs they have backed up have failed. Russ Aldrich, a venture capitalist from Guide Ventures, which funded Bocada, is more conservative -- he says that typically 25-30% of backups fail.
BackupReport consists of three modules: Reliability & Diagnostics, Backup Resource Management and Billing. Reliability & Diagnostics identifies backup failures and their causes. Backup Resource Management lets IT managers plan for growth of backup demand and determine where backups are needed. Billing lets them audit backups and allocate costs for backup services.
Bocada's BackupReport starts at $500 per server and is available now.
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