Druva inSync vs.
Altiris/Symantec DLO
NOV 2014
Table of Contents
Altiris End-of-Life ...3
The Smart Choice - Druva inSync ...3
Product Comparison ...4
Deduplication ...5
Mobile Access and BYOD Support ...6
Global Mass Deployment ...8
Installation and Management ...9
Performance ...10
Data Loss Prevention ...11
IT-blessed File Sync and Share ...12
Deployment Options ...13
End-user Experience ...14
Device/OS Heterogeneity ...14
Summary
. . . . ....14
Altiris End-of-Life
Symantec’s acquisition of Altiris and then end-of-life announcement of the Altiris Recovery Solution has left Altiris customers stranded and seeking a better alternative.
Altiris Recovery Solution was declared end-of-life in 2010
Altiris Recovery Solution was replaced by Backup Exec DLO, which is now replaced by a standalone Symantec Desktop Laptop Option (DLO)
Altiris product support ended in April 2012; Only partial support continues until October 2013
There is a heavy push from Symantec to transition Altiris customers to DLO, which is another clunky, outdated solution unsuited for the needs of today’s mobile endpoint users. Moreover, DLO formats are completely different from those of Altiris Recovery Solution; direct conversion of data is not possible
The Smart Choice – Druva inSync
Many Altiris customers have instead migrated to Druva inSync, an endpoint backup solution ranked #1 and rated excellent in Gartner’s recent report “Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Endpoint Backup.” inSync is their preferred endpoint solution because it offers these unique benefits:
It is the industry’s only solution architected from the ground-up for endpoints (laptops, smartphones, tablets)
Its unique data-deduplication technology saves 90% storage and bandwidth (ESG Lab Review - Druva
inSync), resulting in the most efficient backups for both IT and end-users
Product Comparison
Feature
Comparison
Altiris
Symantec DLO
Druva inSync
Deduplication
Server-side only
(File-level) only on
Global dedupe
initial backup
Global, client-side
dedupe on all
backups
Mobile access,
BYOD support
–
–
Mobile apps on
iOS, Android, &
Windows Phone
8, BYOD policies
Deployment,
configuration,
and management
High effort,
time consuming
time consuming
High effort,
Centralized
management,
integrated mass
deployment
Data Loss
Prevention
–
–
Integrated
encryption,
remote wipe &
geo-tracking
IT-blessed
File-sharing
–
–
Integrated, secure
Deployment
Options
On-premise only
On-premise only
On-premise &
cloud
End-user
experience
Highly intrusive
Highly intrusive
Non-intrusive
Device/OS
heterogeneity
Windows only
Windows only
Windows, Mac,
Linux, iOS,
Deduplication
Altiris provides a three-level approach to server-side deduplication and compression with each snapshot: Redundant File Elimination, which filters out files already present in the repository
Redundant Block Elimination, which reduces data transmission size by transmitting and storing portions of each file that are different from the previous snapshot
HLZS data compression
The Altiris approach has a limited impact on bandwidth and storage savings, resulting in a sub-optimal end-user experience.
DLO 7.5 performs a global deduplication only on the initial backup of a file.
Deduplication is performed at a file-level so any duplicate data at the sub-file level is not eliminated. If a file is modified, DLO does not deduplicate the file any longer but transfers all the changes in the file
which results in significant storage and bandwidth consumption. With PST files, DLO can only deduplicate attachments and not messages.
Druva inSync employs the industry-leading global, client-side, application-aware deduplication technology.
Unlike Altiris and DLO, which transfer all of the client’s incremental changes, inSync only transfers incremental data that is unique on the server
By performing deduplication across all users and devices in the enterprise for initial and subsequent backups of a file, inSync achieves tremendous storage and bandwidth gains
Further, inSync understands the on-disk application formats for commonly used endpoint applications (Outlook, Office, PDF) and is able to determine changes at a much finer-grained object level than the fixed block approach used by other solutions
inSync uses MAPI to deduplicate PST files and is able to reduce redundancy at the individual message level for optimal PST backup performance
Mobile Access and BYOD Support
Altiris and Symantec DLO offer minimal support for mobility or BYOD. Altiris and DLO backup only Windows laptops.
Neither solution allows VPN-less remote access or web-based self restores by users. Neither solution provides mobile apps for users or IT policies for BYOD enablement. DLO 7.5 is licensed per laptop
inSync provides cross-platform data backup for endpoint devices:
inSync covers a broad variety of OS and device platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, Apple iOS, Android, and Windows 8 mobile
inSync delivers multi-device access and multi-device ownership capabilities with a single license per user, for any number of devices
Optimized for WAN, inSync allows remote users to backup and restore over VPN-less WANs and
automatically resumes backups dropped because of network conditions Users can self-deploy and self-restore their devices
Users can access and restore data backed up from any of their devices using the client, inSync web, or mobile app
inSync Mobile Policies
inSync mobile app backs up corporate data for both corporate and BYOD smartphones and tablets Data loss prevention capabilities allow corporate data to be remotely wiped from corporate and BYOD
devices
Integrated file sharing lets users securely collaborate while providing IT visibility and control over corporate data
inSync’s BYOD-related policies allow IT administrators the flexibility to manage user-owned devices • Enable mobile device access and mobile sharing based on profile
• Protect critical corporate data on user-owned mobile devices
Global Mass Deployment
DLO7.5 requires significant IT effort for mass deployment, as IT must write custom scripts.
Installation and Management
DLO 7.5 requires significant IT time and effort to install and maintain.
Requires installation of DLO Administration Console, DLO Administration Server, DLO Maintenance Server, DLO Database Server, Dedupe Server, and a SQL Server
DLO can only be managed from the installed management console
inSync features integrated tools, pre-configured options, and a visual interface for simple installation and maintenance.
inSync can be set up on-premise in a matter of minutes and instantly on the cloud Pre-configured user-profiles out of the box can be easily extended to create new profiles
1-Click Quick Configuration allows administrators set up commonly used data sources such as email, desktop, documents etc. for backup
Web-based centralized administrative console allows for seamless management of users, policies, and data across inSync storage nodes
The same set of profiles and policies can be applied across endpoint backup, file-sharing, and DLP Global real-time federated search enables administrators to quickly locate a specific file on any endpoint Reports and data analytics offer detailed information on users, devices, files, versions (restore points),
date modified, and size with out-of-the-box report filters
View administrator activities with undeletable stream of all activities including managing users, data, storage, and reports
Performance
DLO
DLO’s limited bandwidth throttling and data reduction, result in backups that are intrusive causing users to turn off the client, leaving data unprotected.
Even in enhanced throttling mode, DLO does not throttle data transfers when backing up Outlook PST files
DLO’s Deduplication techniques have minimal impact on bandwidth and storage DLO does not offer multi-threaded restores
inSync
inSync offers multiple bandwidth throttling options as well as advanced deduplication techniques, so backups take place in the background and data remains continuously protected.
inSync dynamically throttles bandwidth during backups with percentage-based bandwidth throttling: administrators (and users, if enabled) can specify bandwidth usage as a percentage of what is available
inSync also offers maximum and minimum bandwidth caps
inSync offers CPU throttling: CPU priority can be assigned so that backups do not interfere with users’ high-priority applications
WAN optimization engine analyzes available network resources, selects the appropriate packet size, and spawns multiple threads to make the best use of the available bandwidth
Backups are restores are multi-threaded and any interrupted backups or restores are automatically resumed
Advanced deduplication at the client-side minimizes bandwidth and storage requirements for smaller, faster backups
inSync Bandwidth and CPU throttling from the Client inSync Bandwidth & CPU throttling from the Admin console
Data Loss Prevention
Neither Altiris nor DLO offers integrated data loss prevention. inSync’s integrated DLP reduces the total economic impact of a lost or stolen device by providing multi-layered protection of critical corporate data on endpoints.
Critical files and folders can be selected for data encryption. Encryption and decryption are automated with no need for any additional user steps
Remote wipe data on lost or stolen devices
Configure auto-delete policies to automatically wipe data if a device has not connected for a specified number of days
Geo-locate devices with an accuracy of 10-to-20 meters
IT-blessed File Sync & Share
nSync is the only solution that integrates endpoint backup with enterprise-ready file sharing providing IT with visibility & control and employees with ease-of-use and a single-client experience.
Files and folders are automatically synced across all of a user’s devices
Rich mobile sharing allows sharing from any mobile application on iOS, Android, and Windows 8 Send large files to external users via automatically expiring links (expire links based on number of days,
or number of views)
Deep IT policy management including sharing permissions within and outside the organization, ability to share on mobile devices, and data retention
IT visibility into all sharing activities
Centralized user and policy management across backup, DLP, and file-sharing
Deployment Options
Businesses typically decide between on-premise software and cloud software based on their IT strategy, investments in infrastructure, corporate policies and regulatory controls among other reasons. With Altiris or DLO, enterprises are limited to an on-premise endpoint backup solution.
Enterprises have the flexibility to deploy inSync either on-premise (including a private cloud option) or in the cloud.
inSync Private Cloud allows businesses to benefit from the elasticity, multi-tenancy, and flexibility of the cloud along with the security, compliance, and cost advantages of hosting infrastructure behind the company firewall
inSync Cloud allows on-demand storage capacity increase and the ability to create storages in multiple geographic regions
End-user Experience
Legacy backup solutions such as Altiris and Symantec DLO are highly intrusive to end-users and diminish employee productivity.
inSync’s automated backup is virtually invisible to end users and is non-intrusive.
Advanced deduplication at the client-side minimizes the bandwidth and storage required, resulting in smaller, faster backups
Both CPU and Bandwidth usage can be set to a percentage of what is available ensuring that the user-experience is optimal
Altiris and DLO do not allow any CPU throttling but allow throttling of bandwidth by specifying an absolute bandwidth cap (sub-optimal over WAN connections)
Device/OS Heterogeneity
Altiris and Symantec DLO can backup only Windows-based PCs and laptops. This leaves not only PCs and laptops running on other platforms unprotected but also an entire class of endpoints – smartphones and tablets – liable to data loss.
inSync has native clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux. In addition, inSync protects critical corporate data on iOS, Android, and Windows 8 tablets and smartphones.
Summary
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