Desktop Backups Grow Well On Stac's Sequoia

By Jay Milne  The process of backing up hundreds--even thousands--of client nodes presents problems with capacity and support. If a client wants a particular file restored, this may involve calls to the support center and local system administrator, creating unnecessary hassles. Stac addresses this problem with Sequoia, a strong, new product that provides an easy-to-use client backup system requiring no administrator intervention. I tested a beta version of Sequoia in Network Computing's San Mateo, Calif., lab. Although our beta copy supported only Windows95 clients (NT client support is expected in the final version) and had a rudimentary server administration interface, I was impressed by the ease in which it backed up and restored client files. Sequoia's performance of complete backups also was noteworthy. While Sequoia provides a strong solution for end-user backups, it does not have many of the features that enterprise solutions demand. I was disappointed that the Sequoia server offers no integrated facilities for archival to tape or other media, such as optical jukeboxes. For archiving or off-site storage, you'll need to allot more money in your budget for a separate product. (Of course, Stac recommends purchasing its Replica product at an additional cost.) Also noted, Sequoia supports only NT servers, so enterprise networks with NetWare servers are out of luck. Sequoia lacks any means of communication or integration among various Sequoia servers for redundancy or load-balancing. This creates a single point of failure for the Sequoia server and client data. And, the Sequoia server backs up only workstations, not servers. Bloomin' Backup Right off the bat, I noticed the simplic ity of Sequoia's setup. Since Sequoia uses the server's hard disk as the data repository, you don't have to purchase or install tape drives or other traditional backup media. Stac's Net Pack technology incorporates three compression facilities that enable faster and more efficient backups. All of Net Pack's technologies foster Sequoia's efficiency over a slow dial-up connection--something I found to be very handy. During testing, about 1,232 MB of files comprised all three Windows95 clients, but thanks to Net Pack, only 442 MB were used by our server--a 3:1 savings. If you're putting Sequoia in the enterprise, where numerous clients are running the same applications, you'll experience an even greater space savings. To perform a backup, I simply brought up Windows95 Explorer, selected the root of my hard drive and clicked on the right-mouse button. In the pop-up menu, just click on the option for backup and Sequoia works its magic. Sequoia tracks individual file backups and lets you recover any version of that file. Sequoia also accommodates scheduled backups, letting you select day and time. In the lab, this process went off without a hitch. I opted to back up all three systems at midnight and encountered no problems. I also wrote a simple script so that my Win95 machine would dial up our company's network, log in and initiate a backup--all while I was asleep. Although it was not included in the beta version, the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), a standardized interface and launch site for management applications, will ship with Sequoia. This tool lets you manage the Sequoia server from a consistent interface, so you won't have to learn a new menuing system. Jay Milne can be reached at jmilne@nwc.com.

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