NetWorker Devices - Tape, Disk or Data Domain?

For many years now, I have always maintained that Dell EMC NetWorker is an enterprise class Data Protection Software. The primary reason for that is, apart from its ability to backup multiple types of applications like, OS, Databases, virtual machines etc. It has capabilities to backup to a multitude of devices. 

A Device in NetWorker is any storage target that the backups can be pointed to. Below is a brief note on the different devices supported by Dell EMC NetWorker and how they compare.

TAPE: One of the oldest forms of devices supported in NetWorker - Tape Devices are of 2 flavors - Chocolate and Vanilla - just kidding.. Physical and Virtual Tape. Traditionally many are very familiar with this device type and is relatively easy to configure and use, however can have some challenges in terms of speed and flexibility. Physical tapes are also associated with maintenance and tape storage issues. Today mainly used only for compliance purposes and offsite long term storage.

DISK: Originally implemented in NetWorker to mimic tape, it quickly realized the full potential of disk, having the ability to read and write at the same time, backups and restores could be performed simultaneously on a single disk device (oh cant do that on tape - missed typing it there). Local disks on storage nodes and NAS shares were/are popularly used for this type of device. Known as AFTD (Advanced File Type Device) It is fast and reliable however comes at an additional cost.

DATA DOMAIN: Its probably going to take an entire week to talk about this but I will be brief. A PowerProtect DD can be used with NetWorker in almost all forms of supported devices. NAS shares created as AFTDs, VTLs presented as tape devices, but guess what? One can not call them all Data Domain devices. Only DDBOOST devices specifically are called Data Domain Devices in NetWorker. This technology is fast, and extremely efficient over the LAN as it incorporates Dedupe capabilities on a NetWorker client. It uses only a fraction of disk space to store backup data and is probably the MOST popular device type used with NetWorker in today's backup world.

I will elaborate more about the DDBOOST dedupe and flow of data in my next post. But until then, Click the below link to learn more about NetWorker devices and more NetWorker info:

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If you have any questions, please comment below

Until next time then

Guru