Executive Overview

High availability of your data is crucial to the smooth operation of your business. As your database grows in size and your operations expand to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is critical that you be able to perform backups without disrupting work. In addition, after a catastrophic failure you must be able to restore your database in the minimum amount of time.

Microsoft Corporation, Compaq Computer Corporation, and Legato Systems, Inc. have joined together to demonstrate that backing up and restoring very large MicrosoftÒ SQL ServerÔ version 7.0 databases can be accomplished at the high data rates required in mission-critical applications with minimal disruption to productive use of the database. The tests we conducted used a CompaqÒ DIGITALÔ AlphaServerÔ 8400 configured with cost-effective Compaq AIT tape drives.

Two different backup software configurations were tested:

· SQL Server 7.0 integrated backup/restore capability

· SQL Server 7.0 combined with Legato NetWorkerÒ

This benchmark demonstrates that you can back up your SQL Server databases at full speed while they are online and under heavy transaction load. It is not necessary to take the database offline or select times of low activity to achieve the best backup performance. You can provide full access, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and still protect your data.

The benchmark also demonstrates how Legato NetWorker and SQL Server 7.0 work together to provide extended functionality and excellent backup performance. Among the enhanced capabilities offered by Legato NetWorker are robotic device support, advanced media management, flexible multiplatform distributed backup, and complete integration into an enterprise-wide solution.

Results Highlights

The benchmark tests produced the following results:

· Record-breaking minimal drop in transaction throughput during online backup in excess of 400 gigabytes per hour (GB/hour).

· Transaction load has virtually no effect on backup throughput.

· Record-breaking online backup throughput on Microsoft Windows NTÒ.

· Record-breaking restore throughput on Microsoft Windows NT.

All backup tests used a single SQL Server 7.0 database containing 263 GB of actual data. SQL Server 7.0 does not backup unused space that is allocated to the database.

SQL Server Online Backup During Transaction Processing

This test was conducted using three online transaction processing (OLTP) workloads, corresponding to medium, heavy, and very heavy system usage. The backup was performed using only the SQL Server 7.0 integrated backup feature. Units of measure are transactions per second (tps) and gigabytes per hour (GB/hour). The following results we achieved using 32 Compaq AIT tape drives.

Transaction workload	Transaction rate without backup	Transaction rate with backup	Relative transaction throughput	Average backup throughput
None				609 GB/hour
Medium	170 tps	133 tps	78%	602 GB/hour
Heavy	197 tps	150 tps	76%	596 GB/hour
Very heavy	278 tps	188 tps	68%	576 GB/hour

These rates were computed from the total elapsed time for the backup operation and the amount of data backed up (263 GB). This included all the time necessary to position the tapes and to update the SQL Server 7.0 system database that tracks all backup and restore operations performed. If this overhead is excluded, the maximum sustained backup throughput achieved was 655 GB/hour.

Under a medium transaction load, the Compaq AlphaServer 8400 system was backed up at 602 GB/hour with little drop in transaction throughput (22 percent). Even under the heaviest workload and backing up to 32 tape drives, transaction throughput dropped by only 32 percent, and the database was backed up at 576 GB/hour, 95 percent of the no-load backup throughput.

SQL Server Restore

This test demonstrates high-performance restore of the complete database, as would be necessary after a catastrophic failure affecting the entire database. The restore was performed using the SQL Server 7.0 integrated backup feature.

Amount of data written	Maximum sustained restore throughput	Average restore throughput	Average CPU usage
263 GB	633 GB/hour	536 GB/hour	8%

Legato NetWorker Online Backup During Transaction Processing

This test was conducted using a medium OLTP workload. The backup was performed using Legato NetWorkerÒ BusinesSuiteÔ Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server. SQL Server 7.0 is active and participates in the backup. The following results we achieved using 12 Compaq AIT tape drives.

Transaction workload	Transaction rate without backup	Transaction rate with backup	Relative transaction throughput	Average backup throughput
None				236 GB/hour
Medium	170 tps	153 tps	90%	224 GB/hour

This demonstrates that high performance backups are possible during normal operations. The drop in transaction throughput during backup was minimal (10 percent); however, the backup throughput was almost unaffected by the transaction load.

Legato NetWorker Online Backup

In this test, the database being backed up was online and available for use, but no database query or update activity was taking place during backup. The backup was performed using SQL Server 7.0 and Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server. The following results we achieved using 24 Compaq AIT tape drives.

Amount of data written	Maximum sustained backup throughput	Average backup throughput
263 GB	478 GB/hour	428 GB/hour

Legato NetWorker Restore

Amount of data written	Average restore throughput
263 GB	249 GB/hour

System Cost/Performance

The Compaq AlphaServer 8400 system used for the benchmark was configured for line-of-business OLTP and decision support on SQL Server 7.0 databases of approximately 500 GB to 1.5 terabytes in size. The benchmark system configured as follows:

· Eight 625-MHz Alpha processors

· 8-GB of memory

· 2.2-terabytes of total disk capacity

· 32 Compaq AIT tape drives

Cost-effectiveness was measured by the cost per GB/hour of online backup throughput. For this calculation, total tape storage subsystem cost was used. The total system cost, including hardware and software, is $1,619,614.

Tape subsystem cost	Online backup throughput	Cost-effectiveness
$164,307	609 GB/hour	$270 per GB/hour

Key Results

SQL Server 7.0 databases can be backed up during normal operations, eliminating the need for a backup window during which your data is unavailable. This is crucial for 24 hour a day, seven day a week operations.

Very large SQL Server databases can be backed up online and, just as importantly, restored in record time.

The Compaq AIT tape drives are a very high-performance and cost-effective backup solution for your most demanding applications .

Introduction

To maintain maximum availability of your data, you must plan for database recovery in case of catastrophic failure. Being able to restore the database quickly and efficiently is critical. A recent backup will shorten recovery time because less time will be spent rolling the database forward from the log to recover changes made since the last backup.

Because of the importance of frequent backups, the affect of the backup on normal operations must be considered. It must be possible to back up databases without serious impact on business applications. Microsoft, Compaq and Legato Systems have joined together to demonstrate that large databases can be maintained in 24 hour a day, seven day a week environments. Moreover, this can be accomplished with a cost-effective hardware and software backup solution.

In general, there are three backup techniques of interest.

Offline (cold) backup

The database is shut down cleanly and taken offline. Separate backup software then copies the files to the backup devices. When the copy completes, the database may be brought online. The data is unavailable from the time that the database begins shutting down until it is brought back online.

Many competing database management systems achieve their highest backup throughput when the database is offline. Offline backups are undesirable, and with SQL Server 7.0, are unnecessary. SQL Server derives the maximum performance from your I/O subsystem during an online backup. For this reason, offline backup was not included in this benchmark.

Online (hot) backup

The database management system is running and the database is online. However, the database itself is not being accessed, and is therefore unavailable for use by applications during backup.

Active online backup

The database is online and being used actively. The backup runs during normal transaction processing. No backup window is required.

Active online backup during normal operations is the preferred solution. Many database management systems cannot accomplish high-performance backups under transaction load without affecting transaction throughput seriously. This is because backup consumes significant resources, particularly CPU resources. This benchmark demonstrates that SQL Server 7.0 can back up your mission-critical database with minimal affect on normal operations, eliminating the need for a backup window.

Backup and Restore Performance Considerations

Backup and restore performance is determined by hardware, software, and data compressibility.

Hardware View

The key to backup and restore performance is I/O bandwidth. This is particularly true for active online backup because transaction activity imposes an I/O load beyond the extremely high I/O load of backing up the entire database to tape. Three factors affect backup and restore performance: disk throughput, tape throughput, and channel capacity.

If the disk subsystem were configured for backups with no transaction load, 190 MB/sec of disk read throughput would be sufficient to achieve the 650 GB/hour throughput achieved. However, additional disk I/O bandwidth must be provided to allow for the OLTP workload. Unlike the I/O done by backup, OLTP disk access patterns can be unpredictable. As a result, OLTP performance benefits from disk configurations that achieve many accesses per second. To meet these needs, the Compaq AlphaServer 8400 was configured with 10 UltraSCSI adapters. Each Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) port supported two logical disk devices, where each device was a hardware stripe set consisting of 12 disks. The total read throughput of the 20 logical disk devices was 244 MB/sec, or 858 GB/hour. This provided the necessary disk I/O bandwidth to sustain both OLTP and backup.

Tape throughput is another major factor in backup and restore performance. Each Compaq AIT tape drive is capable of writing at up to 6 MB/sec. The AlphaServer was configured with 12 UltraSCSI controllers dedicated to the 32 tape drives, allowing two to three tape drives per controller, for a maximum throughput of 18 MB/sec per controller. The maximum throughput of this configuration based on 6 MB/sec per tape drive is 192 MB/sec or 675 GB/hour.

The Compaq AlphaServer 8400 provides extremely high channel capacity by providing many SCSI channels. It supports up to 96 32-bit Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slots on 24 PCI buses, providing the high scalability required by enterprise environments.

Software View

The SQL Server 7.0 backup and restore capability is an integral part of the database engine. It has full knowledge of the database structure and takes full advantage of this knowledge to back up and restore the data efficiently. It transfers data from the database to the backup devices, without copying or transforming the data. Copies and transformations to the data reduce backup throughput and consume valuable CPU time.

Most importantly, SQL Server 7.0 backup does not delay normal database activity. It backs up the database files as fast as possible without regard to logical inconsistencies introduced by active transactions. It then captures the transaction log written during the time the data was being backed up. During restore, the data is restored first, and then the transaction log is applied to make the database logically consistent. The result is that online backups performed during normal operations have minimal effect on transaction throughput, while maintaining backup performance.

SQL Server 7.0 backup and restore is self-tuning, meaning it adapts to different hardware configurations automatically and it uses your I/O devices in their most efficient modes, enabling you to get the most from your I/O subsystem.

Backup and restore is part of a complete set of features that simplify database administration, making SQL Server 7.0 the best choice for mission-critical environments.

SQL Server 7.0 and Legato NetWorker

Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server takes advantage of SQL Server 7.0 Virtual Device Interface (VDI) for backup and restore to achieve the most efficient transfer of data possible. VDI uses shared-memory to eliminate copying of data between SQL Server and Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server as shown in the following diagram.

Through VDI, Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server can use all backup and restore features of SQL Server 7.0, including full and differential database backups, transaction log backups, and file and filegroup backups. Legato NetWorker supports key enterprise features including multi-platform backup (local and remote), silos, media management, and monitoring. SQL Server 7.0 and Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server work seamlessly through VDI to provide a superior enterprise backup and restore solution.

Data Compressibility

Modern tape drives such as the Compaq AIT have built-in hardware data compression that can significantly increase the effective transfer rate of data to the drive. The effect on backup performance depends on both the compressibility of the real data in the database and whether unused space in the database is backed up.

Amount of Data Transferred to Tape

SQL Server 7.0 backup captures only the portion of the database containing real data; unused space is not backed up, resulting in faster backup times.

Many competing database systems must be backed up offline to achieve the best performance. This adds to the overall time necessary to back up the database because the entire content of the file must be transferred to the backup devices. Transfer rates may appear faster, but only because unused space compresses well; the overall time to backup the database will be longer.

Although SQL Server 7.0 databases may be configured to grow automatically as needed, many customers will continue to reserve space within the database to guarantee that this space is available. Reserving space within the database does not adversely affect backup throughput or overall backup time.

Compressibility of the Test Data

The data in the test database was compressed by the Compaq AIT tape drives at a ratio of approximately 1.9 to 1. That is, for every 1.9 MB of data sent to the drive, 1 MB of compressed data was written to tape. This increased the effective transfer rate to the tape drives to 1.9 times the maximum rate possible with hardware compression disabled. This translates to a backup throughput of roughly 5.7 MB/sec per tape drive.

This compression ratio is typical of what the Compaq AIT drives can achieve with real databases in a wide variety of business applications. However, some databases will be more or less compressible than the database used in this benchmark.

Test Database and OLTP Workload

The database used for the tests consisted of 80 files totaling 320 GB. The data in the database occupied 263 GB. The extra space allowed record insertions during transaction processing.

The application modeled a supplier managing orders and inventory. Transactions were provided to submit an order, process a payment, record deliveries, and check order status and stock levels. The underlying components and activities of this application are typical of any OLTP system.

Three workloads were used, representative of an OLTP system under medium, heavy, and very heavy usage, as determined by CPU utilization. The following table shows transactions per second (tps) achieved without a concurrent backup.

Transaction Rates without Concurrent Backup

Medium workload

(50% CPU)

Heavy workload

(62.5% CPU)

Very heavy workload

(75% CPU)

170 tps

197 tps

278 tps

To perform the online backup with each workload, the system was placed under load and allowed to stabilize. At that time, the backup was started and allowed to run to completion.

SQL Server Benchmark Results

These tests were performed using SQL Server 7.0 integrated backup. No other backup software was used.

Active Online Backup Results

The following chart shows transaction throughput during online backup as a percentage of the reference throughput.

Medium	78%	84%	88%	92%	95%	96%
Heavy	76%	82%	88%	92%	94%	96%
Very heavy	68%	75%	80%	84%	89%	94%

In only a few cases was the transaction throughput degraded by more than 20 percent, and in many cases the drop in throughput was 10 percent or less. Even in the worst case, with the heaviest transaction load backing up to 32 tape drives, throughput was reduced by only 32 percent.

By selecting the number of tape drives used, database administrators can adjust their maintenance procedures easily to maintain a high level of service.

The following results show that backup performance is virtually unaffected, even under heavy transaction load, regardless of how many drives are used.

No load

243

324

404

482

555

609

Medium

242

319

398

475

536

602

Heavy

241

319

398

470

536

596

Very heavy

240

316

395

467

531

576

SQL Server 7.0 maintains transaction throughput during online backup. At the same time, backup throughput was not compromised. Even under the heaviest transaction load, backup throughput was, at worst, 95 percent of the throughput with no transaction load.

These results demonstrate the following:

· Excellent relative transaction throughput during online backup.

· Excellent online backup throughput, despite heavy transaction loads.

With SQL Server 7.0, it is no longer necessary to provide a backup window during which data is unavailable or performance is poor. Even during periods of variable usage, high transaction throughput will be maintained and backup will complete quickly.

Online Backup without Transaction Load

In this test, there was no application activity during backup.

The following chart gives the backup throughput achieved using different numbers of Compaq AIT tape drives.

GB/hour

243

324

404

482

555

609

Processor usage was extremely low: 14 percent during backup to 32 tape drives.

These results demonstrate the following:

· Extremely high performance online backup throughput of 609 GB/hour.

· Predictable throughput gains as additional Compaq AIT tape drives were used. SQL Server delivers the most for your backup hardware investment.

· Extremely low processor utilization during SQL Server backup, leaving a large amount of system resources for transaction processing.

The following chart shows the time required to back up databases of various sizes. Databases in this size range are well matched to this hardware configuration.

Restore Results

This test measured the time to restore the complete database following a catastrophic failure.

The following chart shows restore throughput achieved using different numbers of Compaq AIT tape drives.

GB/hour

239

317

392

464

500

536

Restore performance was excellent, nearly matching the throughput rates of the online backup. In case of catastrophic failure, your database can be operational in record time.

Average processor usage during restore was very low (16 percent). Although the database being restored is unavailable, work can continue on other databases unaffected by the failure.

These results demonstrate the following:

· SQL Server databases can be restored quickly, minimizing downtime following catastrophic failure.

· Restore is efficient; normal operations can continue on other databases.

Legato NetWorker Benchmark Results

These tests were performed using Legato NetWorker. SQL Server 7.0 is online and operational during the backup. SQL Server and Legato NetWorker communicate using the SQL Server 7.0 Virtual Device Interface (VDI) for backup and restore.

Active Online Backup Results

This test was conducted using a medium OLTP workload. The following results were achieved using twelve Compaq AIT tape drives.

Transaction workload	Transaction rate without backup	Transaction rate with backup	Relative transaction throughput	Average backup throughput
None				236 GB/hour
Medium	170 tps	153 tps	90%	224 GB/hour

This demonstrates that high performance backups are possible during normal database operations. The drop in transaction throughput during backup was minimal (10 percent), yet the backup throughput was almost unaffected by the transaction load. Backup throughput dropped by only 5 percent.

Online Backup without Transaction Load

In this test, Legato NetWorker was used to backup the test database. SQL Server 7.0 was active and participated in the backup; however, there was no transaction activity during the backup. The following chart shows average backup throughput using various numbers of tape drives.

GB/hour

236

318

N/A

428

The total elapsed time for the backup, including all tape positioning, was used to compute the average backup throughput. The maximum sustained backup throughput with Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server was 428 GB/hour.

Performance gains are predictable as additional tape drives are added.

Restore Results

This test demonstrates high performance restore of the complete database, as would be necessary after a catastrophic failure affecting the entire database. The restore was performed using Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server.

Amount of data written	Average restore throughput
263 GB	249 GB/hour

The Benchmark System

The software and hardware used in this benchmark were configured as follows. System pricing is also provided.

Software Configuration

The software used in this benchmark consisted of

· Microsoft Windows NT, Enterprise Edition 4.0 Service Pack 4 operating system.

· Microsoft SQL Server, Enterprise Edition 7.0 pre-release, with 250 user licenses.

· Legato NetWorker Power EditionÔ for Windows NT.

· Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite ModuleÔ 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server.

Hardware Configuration

The I/O devices were configured as shown in the following diagram. SCSI channels were distributed evenly among the 24 PCI buses, one per bus.

Twelve UltraSCSI channels were dedicated to the 32 Compaq AIT tape drives, with either two or three tape drives attached to each channel.

The database files were distributed evenly across all 80 logical disks. Each logical disk was formed from three 9.1 GB disk drives by hardware striping. Eight logical disks were attached to a single UltraSCSI channel. An additional logical disk (not shown), consisting of 26 disk drives distributed across four UltraSCSI channels, was used for the SQL Server transaction log. This logical disk was created using Windows NT software striping.

Complete Benchmark System Pricing

The following table contains pricing for the Compaq AlphaServer 8400 system and all software used in this benchmark.

Qty	Part number	Description	Price	Extended price
1	DN-292GG-AA	AlphaServer 8400 Dual CPU Expanded Base Server	$334,200	$334,200
3	758P5-AX	Windows NT 5/625 SMP add-on module, includes two 5/625 CPUs per module	$41,000	$123,000
1	DWLPB-AA	PCI plug-in unit with one PCI box for AlphaServer 8400 system cabinet only	$9,000	$9,000
2	DWLPB-BA	Second PCI expansion box for mounting in DWLPB-AA	$9,000	$18,000
1	BA670-AA	Ultra SCSI Single Channel StorageWorks PIU¾includes two shelves, 16-bit I/O personality module, single channel I/O module, 48 V/150 W dc power supply, and AlphaServer 8400 mounting hardware.	$2,600	$2,600
3	KZPBA-CA	PCI one-port UltraSCSI Single-ended Adapter	$460	$1,380
3	BN38C-02	SCSI cable	$125	$375
27	DS-RZ1DF-VW	9.1 GB 7200 RPM 16-bit wide SCSI disk drive	$1,449	$39,123
1	KFTHA-AA	I/O Module	$8,200	$8,200
1	H9F00-BA	AlphaServer 8400 I/O expansion cabinet	$28,344	$28,344
2	DWLPB-AB	PCI plug-in unit for AlphaServer 8400 expansion cabinet only, maximum two per expansion cabinet, four per system	$9,000	$18,000
2	DWLPB-BB	Second PCI expansion box for mounting in DWLPB-AB	$9,000	$18,000
1	DE500-AA	PCI 10/100 Mbit Fast Ethernet Controller—Twisted Pair	$169	$169
1	SN-PCXAV	17” professional series auto-scanning color monitor	$777	$777
Base System Subtotal				$601,168
5	DS-SWXES-BA/BB	ESA 10000 high bandwidth base unit	$88,307	$441,535
20	QB-5SBAD-SB	HSZ70 Solutions Software Kit	$750	$15,000
10	KZPBA-CB	PCI one-port UltraSCSI Differential Adapter	$825	$8,250
240	DS-RZ1DF-VW	9.1 GB 7200 RPM 16-bit wide SCSI disk drive	$1,449	$347,760
Disk Storage Subtotal				$812,545
1	DS-SWXES-CA/CB	ESA 10000 dual expansion base unit	$22,907	$22,907
32	DS-TZS20-VW	Tape drive in StorageWorks 3.5-inch carrier, wide, 277 blue-gray carrier/bezel, TZS2X-CA data cartridge, TZS2X-HA cleaning cartridge, manual	$4,100	$131,200
12	KZPBA-CA	PCI one-port UltraSCSI Single-ended Adapter	$460	$5,520
12	BN38E-0B	SCSI Cable Adapter	$140	$1,680
12	BN37A-10	SCSI Cable	$250	$3,000
Tape Storage Subtotal				$164,307
1	QB-5YUAA-WB	Windows NT Server 4.0/Enterprise Edition, 1-8 CPU license and media	$2995	$2995
1	810-00217	Microsoft SQL Server, Enterprise Edition 7.0 (includes 250+ concurrent client access licenses)	$28999	$28999
1	5902-00	Legato NetWorker Power Edition for Windows NT	$6,500	$6,500
1		Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server	$1,200	$1,200
1	3304-00	Legato NetWorker ClientPak for Windows NT	$1,800	$1,800
1	2088	Legato NetWorker Data Zone for Windows NT Media Kit	$100	$100
Software Subtotal				$32,089
Total				$1,619,614

Compaq and Legato prices are list.

Cost vs. Performance

The following chart demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of the backup solution, as measured by the cost per GB/hour of SQL Server 7.0 average backup throughput. Tape subsystem cost was used in computing this measure. Tape drives were configured 2 per SCSI controller up to 24 drives. For 25 through 32 drives, some of the 12 controllers were configured with three tape drives.

The Compaq AIT Tape drive system is highly cost-effective and becomes more cost effective as additional tape drives are added.

Compaq Product Overview

This section contains an overview of Compaq products used in this benchmark.

AlphaServer 8400

Compaq's AlphaServer 8400 for Windows NT redefines the concept of power, providing the most scalable Windows NT platform available today. In addition, this scalable power is supported by a high-availability design that the world's top Internet sites rely on to run their businesses.

The AlphaServer 8400 system is an Alpha microprocessor-based, high-performance SMP system suitable for open office and data center environments. The AlphaServer 8400 offers the reliability, availability, and dependability features normally associated with mainframe systems. In addition, these systems provide the option to dramatically increase capacity within the same system package, to allow expansion as application usage grows. Initial support under Windows NT Server 4.0/Enterprise Edition is from 2 to 8 processors (scalable to 14), 1 to18 GB of memory (scalable to 28 GB), and 12 to 48 PCI slots today (scalable to 96 PCI slots in early 1999 and 144 PCI slots at a later date). Full configuration support will be available with future releases of Windows NT software. And, Compaq AlphaServers are "Windows NT 64-bit VLM Ready" today!

Compaq AIT Tape Drive

The Compaq AIT tape drive is an 8mm drive designed for efficient storage of large volumes of data. It is supported on Windows NT version 4.0, both Alpha and Intel platforms. The Compaq AIT tape drive uses industry-standard Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) technology that allows greater storage capacity in a smaller form factor. With its excellent price/performance and compact size, AIT is designed for server environments and is positioned between digital audio tape (DAT) and digital linear tape (DLT) technologies.

The Compaq AIT tape drive has a compressed recording capacity of more than 50 gigabytes, a data transfer speed of up to 6 megabytes/second, and unsurpassed head and media life. The drive uses Advanced Metal Evaporated (AME) tape formulation for exceptional recording density, long tape life, and long intervals between head maintenance.

Legato NetWorker Product Overview

This section contains an overview of the Legato products used in this benchmark.

Legato NetWorker Power Edition for Windows NT

Legato NetWorker Power Edition for Windows NT is a high-performance storage management solution providing protection for the very largest, business-critical Windows NT servers in today’s enterprises. This product has the ability to drive high-speed devices and is optimized to provide high data throughput. Key features include immediate backup/recovery technology, archiving, and disaster recovery.

Furthermore, Legato NetWorker extends Microsoft SQL Server capabilities in the following areas:

· Enterprise storage management: Integrated solutions for heterogeneous environments of distributed data, enterprise applications, and database management servers.

· Distributed Backup: Legato NetWorker provides the ability to backup your data across a corporate network or a storage area network to a remote Legato NetWorker server.

· Robotic Device Support and Advanced Media Management: Legato NetWorker includes handling and tracking of removable media, support for jukeboxes, autoloaders and high speed devices, as well as the ability to share devices between Legato NetWorker servers.

Legato NetWorker Power Edition for Windows NT (Alpha and IntelÒ) and Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server (Alpha and Intel) are part of a family of products that provide high-performance, enterprise-class storage management software for Windows NT and UNIXÒ systems. The Legato NetWorker family provides comprehensive protection for data across your organization. Running on Windows NT or UNIX servers, Legato NetWorker can protect virtually any type of system. Legato NetWorker for Windows NT and BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server are Microsoft BackOfficeÒ certified. Legato NetWorker products are available from either Legato Systems, Inc. or Compaq Computer Corporation.

Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server

Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server is a major release that has been developed to take advantage of the many new features and enhancements of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 while maintaining backwards compatibility with previous versions of Microsoft SQL Server.

The product features dramatically increase performance by utilizing the new virtual device interface (VDI) of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite ModuleÔ 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server provides reliable, high-performance, backup, restore, and disaster recovery services, while maintaining the 24 hour a day seven days a week database availability that customers require. Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server provides database administrators with intelligent, database-aware storage management services integrated with Legato NetWorker. Key features include:

· File and filegroup backup

· High-performance parallel device support

· Full database, differential database, and transaction log operations

· Online database backup

· High performance SQL Server Virtual Device Interface (VDI) for backup and restore

Conclusion

These benchmark tests, conducted by Microsoft, Compaq, and Legato Systems, demonstrate that:

· High-performance backups of mission-critical Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 databases can be accomplished with minimal affect on normal operations, eliminating the need for a backup window.

· High performance restores of SQL Server 7.0 databases guarantee minimal downtime.

· These record-breaking results can be accomplished using cost-effective Compaq AIT tape drives.

· SQL Server 7.0 can be backed up as part of a comprehensive enterprise storage management strategy using Legato NetWorker.

Finding More Information

The Compaq AlphaServer 8400 used in this benchmark is available today with 48 PCI slots. The benchmark configuration with 96 PCI slots will be available in early 1999.

This benchmark was conducted using a pre-release of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 will be available in the last calendar quarter of 1998.

Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server will ship in the first calendar quarter of 1999.

Microsoft SQL Server 7.0

For information about SQL Server 7.0, see the SQL Server Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/sql

SQL Server training is available from Microsoft Education Services or through an Authorized Training Center. For more information, contact Microsoft Customer Service at (800) 426-9400.

Compaq Products

For more information about the Compaq AlphaServer 8400, see the AlphaServer Web page at http://www.digital.com/products/servers.html

For more information about COMPAQ AIT tape drives, see the following StorageWorks Web pages: http://www.storage.digital.com/swrks/guide/pg_tpdr.htm

For information about Compaq’s NetWorker see http://www.storage.digital.com/swrks/homepage/sms/networker/ExternalContentsPage.html

For more information, see the Compaq Web site at http://www.Compaq.com

Legato Products

For more information about Legato NetWorker BusinesSuite Module 2.0 for Microsoft SQL Server, see the Legato Networker SQL Web page at http://www.legato.com/sql.

For more information about all of Legato Systems’ Enterprise Storage Management software, see the Legato Web page at www.legato.com, or contact Legato sales at (650) 812-6000 or e-mail sales@legato.com