Tech Talk: Networking Vendor Automates Backup

By Elizabeth Wasserman

A Silicon Valley startup that developed the first commercially supported, open-source router and firewall solution found that it could add servers more easily with a new automated backup and recovery solution.

Vyatta is a three-year-old networking vendor based in Belmont, Calif. The company sells commercial open-source-based router and firewall solutions. The company's senior IT manager, Ray Zhu, tells IncTechnology.com that a new open-source backup and recovery system that supports Linux has helped the company automate regular backups, generate reports and conduct data recovery painlessly.

Elizabeth Wasserman: What type of data do you need to back up?

Ray Zhu: We have Web servers, software repositories, customer download sites (because we have hundreds of thousands of downloads of our software), databases, etc. We conduct weekly full backups and daily incremental backups.

Wasserman: Why did you look for a new backup solution?

Zhu: We did not have a commercial solution before. We were a startup and, in the beginning, someone developed a script for backing up that supported Linux. As we grew, we realized we needed to have something more scalable. Before, every time we had to add a new server, we had to have a developer write a new script. We needed to have something more manageable.

Wasserman: How did you decide which product to choose?

Zhu: We started by looking to see what our requirements were. We support all different flavors of Linux -- RedHat and Debian and Ubuntu. Then we looked at our time frame for recovery. We were looking at a few hours, if not up to the minute. Based on a few more of those criteria -- we needed to have a graphical user interface and wanted somewhat of a dashboard -- we started looking at commercial packages from Acronis, Netbackup, EMC Networker, and a few others. We tested a few. We put them in the lab and ran experiments. Most of the packages don't have support for Debian so that was a deal breaker. Our servers run on Debian. Our networking software runs on Debian. The software that we sell to customers is backed up on Debian. Most companies when they say they support Linux what they mean is Red Hat.

Wasserman: What did you go with and what have the results been?

Zhu: We went with Zmanda because it met the criteria. It supports all the flavors of Linux. It's got a beautiful GUI interface. And it's able to recover in a few hours. The results have been beautiful. We have nothing to complain about. What I need to do is once in a while look at the dashboard. If it is red, then something is missing. If it's green, then it's working. Now when we add a new machine, I can just go the Web-based GUI and type the server host name, which directory we need to back up on and which schedule. The interface is designed in an intuitive way based on what we want to back up and to where and when we want to back up. We have done quite a few tests and we've recovered all the machines each time.