Vereinsbank Victoria Bauspar AG Relies on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and SEP Sesam for Backup Systems

Fast Facts

Industry: Financial Services

Geography: Germany

Business Challenge: To find a reliable, scalable, and easy-to-maintain backup and recovery solution for all database applications in two parallel data centres

Migration Path: Symantec BackupExec and Legato Unix Networker to SEP sesam running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Software: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, SEP sesam 3.2, Oracle 9 and 10 databases, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005 databases

Hardware: Hewlett Packard x86 Server

Benefits:
Gained a flexible, reliable solution that delivers significant cost savings, performance boosts, and
compliance with internal and external security needs

“SEP sesam on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 enables us to reliably save and back up even our most sensitive data. We specifically benefit from the automated backup, enabling us to monitor its current status at a glance. Moreover, the solution suits our system environment very well and integrates seamlessly with our heterogeneous systems. Another asset of the new backup and recovery system is its cost effectiveness.”

Karl Bach, Systems Administrator, Vereinsbank Victoria Bauspar AG

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Background
Vereinsbank Victoria Bauspar AG (VVB), a subsidiary of the HypoVereinsbank (HVB) Group and the ERGO insurance group, is a private home savings and loan association with approximately 300 employees. It is committed to strict security, service, and legal guidelines to guarantee the security and availability of the sensitive data associated with its clients’ home purchase savings, financial security, and refurbishment.

Opportunity
VVB previously utilized two parallel backup systems that were forced to grow with internal demand over the course of several years. The systems employed isolated instances of the backup and recovery systems Symantec (Veritas BackupExec) and Legato NetWorker Backup on Unix, which caused heightened expenses and performance challenges. The company additionally maintained two parallel independent data centres for potential failover.

VVB searched for a cost-effective global solution to centrally save all of its local databases, including all Oracle and Microsoft SQL server databases running within the company’s IT environment. It required a
secure backup and recovery solution that had the flexibility to operate with a heterogeneous database and server environment. VVB also needed the solution to follow specific internal and external audit specifications that could be monitored regularly.

Solution
Following a comprehensive evaluation of all available solutions in 2005, VVB selected SEP sesam backup and recovery software running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to save and backup its decentralized databases. The combination of SEP sesam and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 offered an affordable, flexible solution that gave VVB the ability to benefit from the reliable updates offered through Red Hat’s subscription model.

In August 2005, a team of VVB network and database specialists and SEP administrators began implementation of the company’s new backup and recovery system. The company had prior experience with Red Hat solutions and determined that the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 platform would provide additional cost savings and performance benefits. After a smooth implementation of SEP sesam, the company successfully migrated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 in early 2007.

“We now have an SEP sesam backup server in each of our two data centres. If one or both data centres fails, we can still function as a business and can access our data without any problems. With the security and reliability inherent in both SEP sesam and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, we are now prepared for any type of emergency,” said Karl Bach, Systems Administrator at VVB.

VVB’s new solution provides the storage capacity of 96 terabytes of the 120 slot tape library with LTO 3 drives in total and offers growth potential for future backup requirements. Currently, the SEP sesam system backs up an average of two terabytes per day, with peaks over weekends.

Benefits
Since migrating to SEP sesam and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, VVB has enjoyed a flexible, reliable solution that delivers significant cost savings, performance boosts, and compliance with internal and external security needs. The solution has freed up internal resources and simplified the monitoring of the company’s backup systems.

With VVB’s new global backup system, there is no longer a need for the twofold maintenance and backup work previously necessary for the company’s isolated applications. VVB’s backup process is almost completely automated, allowing VVB to utilize its resources elsewhere. The frequent and circular backup of Oracle archive logs guarantees the recovery of Oracle databases until the moment of failure, even if the database cluster fails completely. Additionally, the colour-coded GUI provided by SEP sesam enables VVB to easily see the status of all backups to determine if additional assistance is necessary.

“SEP sesam software combined with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 meets our high expectations for reliability. Our technicians barely have to intervene in the backup process and receive a comprehensive overview on the performance of all backup processes,” said Bach. “The support and ongoing updates associated with our new solution, specifically with Red Hat’s subscription model, have also helped us quickly and reliably ensure that our solution is functioning at the highest level possible.”

Since the implementation, VVB has relied on SEP sesam to backup all local systems and databases in both of the company’s data centres. With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, the time taken to backup data has been further optimised due to higher transfer rates. Together, SEP sesam and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 have delivered a powerful solution for VVB’s backup IT systems.