Backup Exec

Veritas Backup Exec
Original author(s)Maynard Electronics
Developer(s)Veritas Technologies LLC
Initial release1980s
Stable release
22.2 / Oct, 2023
Written inC, C++, C#, .Net, Python
Operating systemWindows 2019, Windows 2016, Windows 2012 R2, Windows 2012, Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2008, Windows 2003 R2, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
PlatformWindows Server, Linux, VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V
Size2.4 GB
Available inEnglish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Websitehttp://www.backupexec.com

Veritas Backup Exec is a data protection software product designed for customers with mixed physical and virtual environments, and who are moving to public cloud services. Supported platforms include VMware and Hyper-V virtualization, Windows and Linux operating systems, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Storage, among others. All management and configuration operations are performed with a single user interface. Backup Exec also provides integrated deduplication, replication, and disaster recovery[1] capabilities and helps to manage multiple backup servers or multi-drive tape loaders.

Backup Exec employs an automated installation process.[2] Installing Backup Exec 15 on a Windows Server 2012 R2 system takes around 30 minutes, according to reviews.[3] The installation wizard can be started from the Backup Exec Installation Media or the management console to push agents out to the physical servers, Hyper-V/VMware virtual machines, application/database systems hosting Active Directory, Exchange, Oracle database, SQL, and other supported platforms.

With its client/server design, Backup Exec provides backup and restore capabilities for servers, applications and workstations across the network. Backup Exec recovers data, applications, databases, or systems from an individual file, mailbox item, table object, or entire server. Current versions of the software support Microsoft, VMware, and Linux, among others.[4]

When used with tape drives, Backup Exec uses the Microsoft Tape Format (MTF),[5] which is also used by Windows NTBackup, backup utilities included in Microsoft SQL Server, and many other backup vendors and is compatible with BKF. Microsoft Tape Format (MTF)[5] was originally Maynard's (Backup Exec's first authors) proprietary backup Tape Format (MTF) and was later licensed by Microsoft as Windows standard tape format. In addition, Microsoft also licensed and incorporated Backup Exec's backup engine into Windows NT, the server version of Windows.[6]

In addition, Backup Exec's family of agents and options offer features for scaling the Backup Exec environment and extending platform and feature support. Backup Exec 21.3 is the latest version of Veritas’ backup and recovery software, released on September 6, 2021.[7]

  1. ^ Veritas Technologies LLC (2015-07-22), Backup and Recovery InfoBit - Backup Exec 15: Simplified Disaster Recovery, retrieved 2016-02-19
  2. ^ "Developing a Real Backup Plan with Symantec's Backup Exec 15". EdTech. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  3. ^ "Veritas Backup Exec 15 review". IT PRO. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  4. ^ "Backup Exec Compatibility Lists (HCL and SCL)". www.veritas.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  5. ^ a b "Media Sets, Media Families, and Backup Sets (SQL Server)". technet.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  6. ^ Network World. IDG Network World Inc. 1992-03-02.
  7. ^ "Backup Exec 21.3 Readme". www.veritas.com. Retrieved 2021-10-28.