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bruAPP is a first-of-its-kind appliance that delivers leadership back up, and most importantly, reliable restoration of client/server-based data without dependence on any server on the network. Every component needed to support D2D, D2T, and D2D2T backup strategies is tightly integrated within bruAPP. I have heard bruAPP is called a "toaster", why? Yes, the term aptly distills the function of bruAPP into a single word. A toaster has one function, and that is to make toast. The bruAPP appliance has one function, and that is to reliably and accurately back up and restore data; both doing their job exceptionally well. Yes it is. bruAPP is a self-contained solution whose operation is not dependent on any OS server platform supporting the network. All of the major Unix platforms are supported - including Linux and Mac OS X. Is bruAPP a Windows backup tool? Yes it is. Because bruAPP is a totally self-contained solution, Windows systems, whether they are laptops or the largest Windows Server 2003 system, are treated simply as client systems by bruAPP and all of their filesystem attributes are properly backed-up and restored. What is the benefit of using bruAPP to do D2D2T backups? Backup windows are shrinking, data is growing, and the bottom-line premise of backing up is the expectation to be able to recover data from a near-line (disk stage), or off-line repository (tape) when needed. In addition to the ability to validate the accuracy of BRU backups, only BRU technology can recover from read and tape errors that can occur during a restore - even though the backup was accurately written. The BRU technology in bruAPP will always return more data than any other tool as long as the media can physically be read. Can I add other applications to bruAPP? No, bruAPP is designed to perform one function, and that is the accurate backing up and restoring of data. Is the software in bruAPP different from the BRU Server product? No, the software is identical. Should I use bruAPP, or just the BRU Server software? It depends. The same BRU Server software is implemented in both. The primary purpose of bruAPP is to enable smaller organizations to easily protect their data by eliminating the configuring, installation, and compatibility issues that normally arise - especially when system administration resources and/or time is scarce. When an organization has the expertise and supporting hardware infrastructure (i.e. disk staging/tape) in place, BRU Server software may be all that is needed. Even in this environment, bruAPP can be appropriate because its operation is insulated from the effects of patches or software upgrades applied to the network. In larger organizations, bruAPP can be used to back up local or remote departments, and then serve as an agent system to push its data up to a central repository. How is bruAPP different than other backup appliances? Self-sufficiency best describes the difference. Other backup appliances provide only a part of a backup capability. For example, virtual tape appliances (VTLs) require a physical system and backup software to operate. The bruAPP appliance is an entire backup server system solution that contains a backup-focused boot environment, disk stage capacity, tape technology in some models, the backup software, and licenses to back up client systems - all in a tightly integrated package. What operating system does bruAPP use? bruAPP/OS brings up the bruAPP appliance. It is backup focused, and is more of an operating environment to boot the BRU Server software versus a full operating system with the associated trappings. bruAPP/OS is comprised of portions of Linux, FreeBSD, and TOLIS code that support the delivery of leadership data backup and restore services. bruAPP can be installed in as little as 10 minutes. Simply plug a temporary keyboard and monitor into bruAPP (mouse not needed), supply power to the unit, and attach bruAPP to the network (dual gigabit Ethernet ports are provided). Five simple screens then guide you through inputting of the date, time, network settings, your password, and the initiation of a hardware scan. Following the hardware scan, bruAPP is installed. Note: the hardware scan can take up to 5 minutes per tape drive when an externally attached tape library is implemented. How is the agent software loaded onto the client systems? Following installation of the bruAPP appliance, a Web browser is opened and the appropriate platform agent is selected and directed toward the client system. The bruAPP console can be installed on a variety of systems and can be installed on local or remote multiple systems to best advantage. Console operation from a Windows system is under development. How
fast is bruAPP? Following the first full backup of client systems, users may not even know the subsequent incremental backups of their systems is occurring. The bruAPP appliance's high throughput, coupled with leadership disk staging performance and the ability to verify a backup for accuracy (on disk or tape) in an out-of-band process delivers the backup industry's fastest, fully data verified, backup window. Does bruAPP back up everything? It can, including Unix permissions and Windows registries, but you might not want to back up everything all of the time. bruAPP supports many different backup schedule types such as: full, differential, incremental, grandfather, father, son, etc. Complete directories can be backed-up or selected portions, and files can be excluded by type, such as MP3 music files. Does bruAPP back up duplicate files? Yes it does, and for good reason. Exactly similar files will reside on systems across the network, and these files are typically critical to a system's operation. If only one copy of a particular file is kept and a damaged system must be rebuilt, the necessary file or files must be sourced from potentially multiple archives. Misplace an archive containing the only copy of a required file and timely system recovery becomes a challenge. Are bruAPP archives compatible with my other BRU archives? Yes, regardless of the platform created on (Linux, Sun, HP, IBM, Mac OS X, etc.). What impact does bruAPP incur on the network server? Absolutely none. Unlike other backup tools that can bring down a network server during a backup process, bruAPP is its own backup server and incurs zero impact on network servers. The only interaction between bruAPP and any network server occurs when bruAPP is backing up that system. How many client systems can bruAPP support? The number of client systems that can be backed-up by bruAPP, while retaining acceptable performance, is limited only by the available network bandwidth. While each network's characteristics are different, the following guidelines should be helpful: 10baseT = 25 clients, 100baseT = 250 clients, 1000baseT (Gigabit Ethernet) = 1000 clients. Does bruAPP automatically "find" client systems on the network? No. This is a dangerous scenario because the choice of what systems to back up should be decided by the administrator, and not the backup application software. The bruAPP appliance is exceptionally secure. A Diffy-Hellman handshake is employed to assure authorized communication between bruAPP and the authorized client systems. An AES 256-bit algorithm is employed when encryption is enabled. How do I add additional client system support? Depending on the bruAPP model, either 10 or 25, or 150 licenses are provided out-of-the-box. Additional single, and value-pack licenses, are available. The new license string is inputted directly into bruAPP by re-attaching the keyboard and monitor. A planned update will support inputting a new license string via the bruAPP console. Does it cost more to backup servers instead of desktop? No. TOLIS Group views the type of software a system is running differentiates it as a server system, not the physical size of the system. The bruAPP appliance treats all systems on the network simply as nodes or seats. Does bruAPP back up client systems one at a time? No, because the scenario is not efficient. The low overhead of the BRU Server software in bruAPP supports the backing-up of multiple, simultaneous data streams from client systems to achieve the highest throughput possible. And, even while doing so, client system data is not interleaved with data from another client system. That too, is a poor approach. How is bruAPP disk staging different from other tools? bruAPP writes a fully verifiable backup to the disk stage. Other tools simply write an "image" to the disk stage. When using other tools, the image written to the disk stage must first be restored before the target file can be accessed. Using BRU, the target file can be restored directly from the disk stage to the client system, or re-directed to another system. And, unlike other tools, when the contents of the bruAPP disk stage are up-staged to tape, a target file can be accessed and restored directly from tape as well. Because the data written to the bruAPP disk stage is a fully verifiable backup, it can be validated for 100% accuracy in an out-of-band process that does not require continued access to the original data on the client system for comparison. Proofing a backup is important because if the backup isn't accurate; the restore cannot be accurate. How can the disk stage capacity be incremented? Disk stage capacity can be increased several ways. If a T or R250 or T or R500 model has been purchased, increasing the size of the disk stage is as simple as adding another hard disk drive. TOLIS-supplied drive modules preserve the warranty. As higher capacity drives become available, and are certified by TOLIS, they can replace the existing drives. Significantly larger disk stages (i.e. 4 TB) can be custom-quoted. Can the disk stage be configured as a RAID set? Yes. The bruAPP disk stage default is RAID 0. Other levels such as RAID 5 can be configured although they reduce the disk stage's available capacity. Are the drives in the disk stage "hot swappable"? The drives in the disk stage are not currently hot swappable. To swap out a disk, the bruAPP must be powered down. Upon reboot, bruAPP will recognize the new disk, and if it is one of larger capacity, bruAPP will automatically adjust the disk stage total capacity accordingly. Can multiple bruAPP units be connected to the same network? Yes. When network response time is critical and even the fast bruAPP backups become invasive, additional bruAPP units can be implemented to minimize the impact of the backup process. The administrator need only define which client systems will be backed-up by which bruAPP. Can I do single file restores? Yes, and efficiently. bruAPP writes an actual backup to the disk stage, and to tape when the data is upstaged. Because these are actual, fully verifiable backups (not just images), bruAPP keeps track of where each file resides (disk stage or on tape) and will recover the target file directly from where it resides to wherever the administrator directs it to go. Can I restore to a different system? Yes, see previous answer. How can I restore a damaged system? Speed is the primary requirement when recovering a system following a disastrous failure. The combination of reloading a system's baseline OS and then fully restoring the system from a BRU archive takes less time than that needed by the disaster recovery CDs created by other tools to merely boot the system. This holds true when recovering Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and other Unix-core systems. Additionally, the comprehensiveness and accuracy of BRU backups assures the system is completely and accurately restored to its pre-failure state. Can I attach bruAPP to a SAN via the optional F-C HBA? No. The optional Fibre-Channel HBA is dedicated to support FC attached tape libraries. The gigabit Ethernet ports are used to connect to the SAN. Is there additional cost to support externally attached tape libraries? No. Out-of-the-box bruAPP supports tape technology from a single drive to the largest multi-drive silo. Can bruAPP be used as a NAS box? No, each serves a different purpose. A NAS appliance serves as a data repository and bruAPP is a totally self-contained backup server system. The disk stage capacity implemented within bruAPP is integral to the reduction of the overall backup window while providing near immediate access to backed-up data. Yes. Mount the NAS box to a client system and bruAPP will back up the NAS data as a volume. Can I add a FC HBA at a later time? Yes, but it must be TOLIS-supplied and installed. The opening of a bruAPP case by a user voids the warranty. If there is a suspicion that an externally attached FC tape library will ultimately be implemented, it is recommended that the bruAPP be ordered with the optional FC HBA installed. It is cost-effective and assures the use of the bruAPP will not be interrupted to integrate FC at a later time. Can other format tape drives be integrated into bruAPP? Yes. VXA-3 and LTO-2 tape technology has been chosen for standard inclusion into select bruAPP models. Other tape devices can be integrated as a special order, as long as half-height drives are available in that particular tape format. What bruAPP hardware/software support options are available? The standard bruAPP warranty is 3-year, depot, and a 3-year on-site repair option is also available. After the first year, an annual TOLIS Group technical support agreement is available to cover the software component of bruAPP that provides unlimited support and free bruAPP software updates as may become available. The bruAPP hardware component is comprised of high quality standard components, and the software is BRU Server. bruAPP can be tested for suitability to meet your business needs by downloading the BRU Server demo, a full functionality 30-day trial. At day 31 following installation, the demo will no longer back up data, but any archives created will always be able to be restored. This capability is consistent with TOLIS' commitment to always return the most data of any backup tool. Archives created with the demo are fully compatible with bruAPP. bruAPP is custom built perorder. The bruAPP solutions are currently available from two sources: TOLIS Group directly, and from Avanu (www.avanu.com), a valued TOLIS Distributor. |
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