Computer Associates ARCserve Backup 12 review

To test this feature we called up an Overland Storage REO 4500c appliance and presented a virtual 30-slot NEO Series library and LTO-2 tape drive to the primary server over iSCSI where it was recognised by ARCserve and integrated into the device window without any fuss. From the Device menu we could view all populated slots, run inventories on the library and erase and format selected virtual tapes.

CA now supports the hardware encryption introduced with the Ultrium LTO-4 tape drives - previously only HP's Data Protector offered this function. ARCserve automatically identifies drives that have this feature enabled and we tested this successfully with an HP Ultrium 1840.

ARCserve's own encryption has been beefed up to 256-bit AES and you can perform encryption at the source server, the backup server or during a D2D2T data migration from disk to tape.

Performance is another reason for picking ARCserve as in all our lab tests it has consistently outstripped the competition with every tape drive we've tested.

For the LTO-2 virtual iSCSI drive we saw backup speeds pan out at 48MB/sec over gigabit ethernet and in our original tests of the LTO-4 drive with ARCserve 11.5 it returned an unbeatable sustained transfer rate of 106MB/sec. We didn't have the LTO-4 drive to hand to test with ARCserve 12, but expect speeds will be the same.

CA has certainly taken its time to release a new version of ARCserve but the wait has been worthwhile.

With still no sign of a new version of EMC Retrospect, the main competition comes from Symantec's Backup Exec but ARCserve is clearly superior: it's faster, has better D2D2T facilities, a more intuitive management interface - and it also offers excellent value.

Author: Dave Mitchell