Symantec NetBackup Updated to V7.6

Symantec Corp. announced the latest version of its NetBackup solution, bringing new functionality to protect the largest scale VMware-based environments as enterprises move to a software-defined data center architecture.

NetBackup 7.6 is a backup product designed for enterprise scale, which can accommodate hundreds of thousands of VMs and petabytes of data while giving customers 400x faster VM recovery than a standard restore. IT organizations can now simplify and automate the protection of massive and complex physical, virtual and cloud environments that are the building blocks of a modern data center.

IT leaders are modernizing their data centers in response to the need for more agile, scalable and heterogeneous computing. At the same time, data is growing at 60 to 70% yearly, according to Symantec’s State of Information Report. This growth, combined with the proliferation of virtualization and flat or declining budgets, is forcing CIOs to address the new reality where traditional protection models are inadequate. Modern enterprise solutions must provide faster and automated application protection, give insight into large, complicated virtual environments and provide the foundation for partners and service providers to deliver backup-as-a-service. NetBackup 7.6 delivers these benefits so that enterprise organizations can ensure a modern software-defined and protected data center.

New Feature Highlights:

• 400x faster recovery of vSphere VMs by booting directly from backup storage, compared to the hours or days that could be required for a traditional restore. The solution’s NetBackup Instant Recovery for VMware environments allows customers to increase productivity and performance by powering on VMs from within NetBackup, making them 100% available in vSphere during the restore.
• NetBackup Accelerator for VMware eliminates the need for full backups by leveraging integration with VMware Changed Block Tracking. The result is a complete, automated backup that is 35 times faster than traditional approaches, allowing customers to increase performance without compromising budget.
• Customers can protect 300 VMs in 300s, proactively backing up and recovering data with NetBackup Replication Director for VMware by leveraging NetApp array-based snapshots to protect virtual environments without giving up recoverability.
• Additional features include multi-tenant hosting options for channel partners and MSPs to improve scalability; and automated DR from a physical to a cloud platform to ensure data is always protected and available.

“As organizations continue to realize the benefits of the software-defined data center, we are pleased to work with Symantec to empower customers to protect their IT infrastructure. Symantec’s data center, with NetBackup 7.6 and VMware vCloud Suite, is a strong example of a transformative software-defined data center,” said Sanjay Katyal, VP, global alliances and OEMs, VMware, Inc.

“Data growth, complications from VM sprawl and stagnant IT budgets have increased demand for backup solutions that protect, automate and efficiently manage data center environments. Symantec and NetApp have a long history of partnering to deliver innovative solutions that solve these pressing data management challenges. The combined strengths of NetApp storage and Symantec NetBackup software enable customers to improve data protection service levels and reduce operational costs. NetApp looks forward to future collaboration to extend integration and provide enhancements for the benefit of our joint customers,” said Edward Sharp, VP of integrated data protection, NetApp, Inc.

“A recent study from ESG found that improving backup and recovery, increasing server virtualization, and managing data growth will remain some of the most important priorities for IT. In addition, ESG continues to see “tolerance to downtime” shrinking, the sheer numbers of VMs per environment growing and the increasing use of snapshots in combination with (and managed by) backup systems to achieve the protection and recovery-agility that customers need. ESG performed hands-on testing of NetBackup 7.6 for VMware to test Symantec’s ability to meet those customer demands – and found NetBackup to exceed expectations. This combination of NetBackup 7.6 and VMware appears ready to deliver the protect-ability that highly virtualized large enterprises are seeking,” said Jason Buffington, senior analyst for data protection, Enterprise Strategy Group.

NetBackup 7.6 is available through Symantec’s channel partners or from the company directly. Customers with current maintenance contracts can download the new version. The updated NetBackup 5230 appliance is also available with 14TB of capacity and NetBackup 7.6 software pre-installed.