Backup Exec VS Paragon Protect and Restore Centrally Managed DR Competitive Analysis

Backup Exec VS Paragon Protect and Restore
Overview

Backup Exec VS Paragon Protect and Restore is a disaster recovery solution, which competes against Paragon Protect & Restore, as both products offer similar feature sets at their core.

Both solutions deliver Centralized Management of Physical and Virtual machines, Agent-driven and Agentless backups, Image-level and File-level protection, as well as options for Deduplication, Migration, Failover, and Granular Recovery of select business critical applications.

In the slides that follow we objectively compare Veritas Backup Exec 16 to Paragon Protect & Restore 6 from the standpoints of Licensing, Capabilities, Performance, and Usability.

Paragon Protect and Restore One site license that covers all your physcal servers, virtual host, workstations. At least 40% less than VEEAM, Backup Exec Acronis and more.
This is the same solution NASA, Phillips Healthcare and more rely on.
Licensing Backup Exec 16 Editions
Backup Exec 16 base Edition, licensed per server
Backup Exec 16 V-Ray Edition, licensed per occupied socket
ØV-Ray Edition provides protection for VMware and Hyper-V virtual infrastructures
Backup Exec 16 Capacity Edition Lite, licensed per TB with unlimited agents
Backup Exec 16 Capacity Edition, licensed per TB with unlimited agents and options
Trial/Demo Availability, 60 days trial period, offers full access and unlimited use

Backup Exec VS Paragon Agents
VMware & Hyper-V Agent, supports VMware vStorage APIs, MS VSS
Applications & Databases Agent, adds support for Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, Active Directory, Oracle, and Veritas Enterprise Vault in a virtual or physical environment
Windows Agent, adds support for client-side data processing and compression, NDMP for remote Windows servers, open file protection, and Simplified Disaster Recovery
Linux Agent, adds support for supported Linux distributions, full/incremental/differential backup, and client-side deduplication
Mac Agent, adds support for Apple systems, must be installed locally
Licensing Backup Exec 16 Add-on Options
Remote Media Agent for Linux Server Option, adds locally attached tape or disk storage, to reduce network bandwidth and remote storage requirements.
Deduplication option, reduces storage requirements by up to 90%
Enterprise Server Option, simplifies licensing by consolidating Advanced Disk-based Backup and Central Admin Server options for unlimited use.
NDP Option, adds Network Data Management Protocol support, for backing up and restoring Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices – including NetApp, EMC Celerra (discontinued), and IBM N-Series storage configurations
Library Expansion Option, support ability to leverage multiple tape drives
Virtual Tape Library Unlimited Drive Option, simplifies licensing for unlimited tape drives and slots on a Backup Exec media server.
Backup Exec 16 License Control
License Control, accomplished offline via License Key file, or online via Entitlement ID number
No answer for Protect & Restore Unified Site License
Backup Exec VS Paragon does not offer a simplified site license option comparable to the Protect & Restore Unified Site license.
Backup Exec provides its users with a 23-page guide to licensing their solution.
Varitas offers two capacity-based, per TB, licensing models, as well as legacy a la carte licensing.
Backup Exec 16 requires the same capacity license between sites. So even if some sites are smaller than others they must be licensed identically by the largest required capacity.
Capabilities: Backup Exec 16 New Features
User Interface, rebranded from Symantec to Veritas
Windows Server 2016 & Hyper-V 2016 backup, recovery and migration support
VMware vSphere 6.5 backup, recovery and migration support
MS Azure read and write cloud support, including Hot & Cold storage tiers
Cloudian Hyperstor read and write cloud support
Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS), read and write cloud support
RedHat Ceph Storage, read and write cloud support
Note, Google, AWS, and S3 compatible private clouds supported since BUE15
Backup Exec 16 capabilities and features not present in PPR
Differential Backup
Cloud connector integration, with direct-to-cloud backup capability and cloud storage summary report
Retire Server option, feature manages servers independently of active-duty servers, while allowing data recovery retired sever backups, retired servers can be brought out of retirement
Tape Support and Tape Media Rotation Strategies, i.e. Grandfather, Father, Son
Live Update, superior notification and product update experience
BUE Diagnostics, useful report details the state of BUE and its components, including a list of all files, their size, version and other relevant info
Annual Scheduling, provides scheduling for annual backup and retention tasks
Backup Exec 16 capabilities and features not present in PPR
SQL Express databases, offer greater capabilities vs PPR’s MySQL databases
Checkpoint Restart, attempts to resume some types of full backups before jobs fail
Copy Server Configurations, Enables you to copy configuration settings and logon information between Backup Exec servers.
Environment detection and validation tool, Utility run before installation to determine whether infrastructure supports rollout, returning pass/warn/fail results
Additional language support, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese (Brazilian) – PPR & BUE16 commonly support English & German
Backup Exec 16 capabilities and features not present in PPR
Backup Calendar, shows scheduled jobs and job history
Job Hold, prevents job processing until selected jobs are taken off hold
Job Prioritization, increase/decrease a jobs priority in the job queue
IPv6, supports IP4 and IP6 networking protocols
RSS Reader, integrated into console, provides Veritas and BUE news
Network Adapter Selection, specify network adapter for backups/restores
MS Active Directory Backup, Backs up the following AD files independently of a system state backup – Ntds.dit (Active Directory database), Edb.chk (checkpoint file), Edb*.log (transaction logs), Res1.log and Res2.log (Reserved transaction logs)
NVMe Controllers, supports the interface for solid state devices
Backup Exec 16 capabilities and features not present in PPR
PDF Report Format
FIPS Support – FIPS 140-2 compliant software encryption
Backup to disk + Simultaneously Create VM, or backup then create VM
Storage Protection, option to prevent data from being overwritten on attached storage
Business Critical Resource Tagging, prioritizes backup jobs
Windows 2012 Server Deduplication, supports back up of deduped volumes, data is backed up and restored in its entirety.
Upgrades, BUE customers can upgrade to v16 from BUE v12 or later
Recovery, BUE16 restores backups from as far back as v2010 R3-SP4 or later
Performance Backup Exec VS Paragon Protect & Restore outperforms when it matters!!
VM Restore completes 45% FASTER
Physical Machine Backup completes 35% FASTER
Physical Machine Restore completes 35% FASTER
VM Replication (VMware) completes 40% FASTER
Physical to Hyper-V Migration completes 88% FASTER
Agent Deployment Completes 66% FASTER
VM Backup performed equally between the two products
Performance Test environment
Physical Host – Lenovo P50, Core i7-6820HQ 2.7GHz, 64GB RAM, Windows 7 OS, VMware Workstation 12 Pro, 1TB Samsung NVMe storage
–ESX6 Host nested as a VMware Workstation Guest VM, 2 Processors, 8 Cores, 16GB RAM
–2016 Server + Hyper-V role, running as a VMware Workstation Guest VM, 2 Processors, 4 Cores, 16GB RAM, 3 60GB HDDs (Thick Provisioned)
– PPR Administration Server, Backup Server and Hyper-V Application roles
– Backup Exec 16 Server
–2008 R2 x64 ESX Guest VM, 1 Processor, 2 Cores, 4GB RAM, 40GB HDD (Thin Provisioned)
– Protect & Restore ESX and VIM agents
– Backup Exec 16 Agent for Windows
–2012 R2 x64 ESX Guest VM, 1 Processor, 2 Cores, 4GB RAM, 40GB HDD (Thin Provisioned)
– Protect & Restore VIM Agent
– Backup Exec 16 Agent for Windows
Usability

This section covers the Backup Exec 16 user interface.

Slides with comparative Protect & Restore 6 screenshots have been intermixed to help distinguish the similarities and differences between products.

Usability – BLUE16, Installation

Installation of Backup Exec 16 takes a considerable amount of time. BUE16 includes several pre-installation checks as well as a review of installation results.

backup exec VS Paragon
Usability – BLUE16, Installation

Installation of Backup Exec 16 provides the opportunity to define the agents and options that will be rolled out.

Usability – BLUE16, Instalation

Installation of Backup Exec 16 completes with the opportunity to immediately check for and install updates and reboot the system if necessary.

Usability – BLUE16, Installation

Installation of Backup Exec 16 is finalized with an opportunity to submit feedback

Usability – BLU, Home Tab

Home tab displays a wealth of BUE related information and is customizable to a user’s preference. The tab is too busy, with nearly all options displayed by default.

Usability – Paragon Protect and Restore, Home Tab

The PPR6 Home tab, provides access to administration and management tools for, license management, recovery media creation, system discovery policy configuration, etc., as well as the ability to add new machines and infrastructure components.

Usability – BLUE16, Backup & Restore Tab

Backup & Restore tab, displays protected servers and provides access to common backup tasks like and recovery options such as File Recovery, Instant VM Restore, Recovery Media Creator, Convert to VM, etc.

Usablity – PPR6, Backup & Restore Tab

The PPR6 Backup & Restore tab, displays buttons enabling policy creation for virtual and physical backup, recovery and replication tasks. Each selection launches a wizard driven configuration interface, while the remainder of the UI displays content related to the selection made in the left-hand navigation links.

backup exec vs paragon
Uability – PPR6, Failover and Launch Tab

The PPR6 Failover & Launch tab, displays buttons enabling Launch Backup, Replica Failover options. There’s little need for this tab, as its contents would be suitable for placement on the available space within the Backup & Recovery tab.

backup exec vs paragon
Usability – BLUE16, Job Monitor Tab

Job Monitor tab presents job history, job logs, and job controls such as Run Now, Hold Job, Edit Job, Duplicate Job, Edit Job Schedule, Retire Servers, etc.

Usability – BLUE16, Storage Tab

Storage tab allows for setting up new storage, re-configuring existing storage, and access to Backup Jobs, Backup Sets, Job History, Storage Properties, and related settings

Usability – BLUE16, Reports Tab

Reports tab displays a wide range of predefined reporting topics for Jobs, Storage, Devices, and Alerts, along with the ability to define custom reports

backup exec vs paragon
Conclusion

Veritas Backup Exec 16 provides a well rounded backup and disaster recovery solution that can meet the needs of both large and small organizations.

However, since the product has matured over a number of years while being maintained by different business organizations, Veritas initially – then Symantec – and now Veritas once again, the solution is in need of an overhaul. With Veritas again managing the Backup Exec product line, such changes should be forthcoming in future versions.

Backup Exec vs Paragon is slightly difficult for new users to configure. It has a higher learning curve and requires more product education (proven by a 1339 page Administrator’s product guide) than competing solutions such as Paragon Protect & Restore 6, which have taken a more intuitive approach to their design.

Backup Exec VS Paragon performs well and has a wide range of features, but is not on par with Paragon Protect & Restore 6. PPR6 outperforms BUE16 in physical machine backup and recovery, VM recovery, Hyper-V migration, VM replication, and agent deployment. BUE16 delivers equal performance for VM backup and Deduplication. Maintenance operations, such as Retention and Archiving are areas were BUE16 excels in its performance.