Backup software is a solution for companies that assists them in keeping their data safe from loss, theft, or any other setback. Backup software enables backup creation with the exact copies of files, databases, and even the hard-drive contents by backing up the most critical files.
In this review, we will be comparing two of the leading backup software – Bacula and Amanda Network. We would take a few top parameters and derive a conclusive verdict based on the performances of both the software. This would help you choose the more suitable backup software of the two for your enterprise.
Table of Contents
- Key Parameters to Pick the Right Backup Software
- What Are the Pros and Cons of Using Bacula
- What Are The Pros and Cons of Using Amanda
Bacula Backup Software
Bacula is an open-source set of programs for handling enterprise-level backup, recovery, and data verification across heterogeneous networks. It provides backup solutions for various mixed operating systems by automating backup tasks that usually require a system admin’s interference. Released under the 3rd version of AGPL, Bacula came with some exceptions. These include permission for linking OpenSSL and distribution of Windows binaries.
Along with all the major operating systems, Bacula also supports professional devices like tape libraries. A command-line console, web interface or GUI can be used for configuring the system.
Amanda Network
Previously known as Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver, AMANDA is open-source archiving software for backing up data stored on numerous computers on a network. It works on a client-server model – a scheduled backup starts when the servers contact each client. Amanda can run on any Unix system and supports Windows systems with Samba or a native Win32 client with open-file support.
Providing support for both tape-based and disk-based backup, Amanda consists of essential functionalities not provided by other backup solutions. It also supports tape-spanning, which means, if one tape cannot fit a backup set, it will split itself into multiple tapes. Its key features include an intelligent scheduler for optimizing the use of computing resources across backup runs.
Learn more: Is Your Backup Strategy Putting Data at Risk? 13 Essential Questions to Ask
Key Parameters to Pick the Right Backup Software
1. Does the software’s architecture provide scalability and flexibility?
Bacula
The Bacula architecture has four main contents. The components include the director, catalog, storage daemon, and client, serving different functions. The structure of Bacula architecture consists of different interacting features. All of these features employ TCP sockets in their communication across all network connections.
Bacula Enterprise Architecture
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Amanda
Amanda network’s storage architecture consists of clusters, making it convenient to link Amanda Enterprise Backup Servers across the globe with one central console. This type of architecture manages backups of 1000s of workloads across different continents. The communication architecture of Amanda operates around TLS 1.2, enabling a more secure end-to-end communication between your Backup servers and workloads.
Amanda Enterprise Architecture
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Our analysis
Even though both Bacula and Amanda have a highly intuitive way of managing and backing up files, Bacula’s architecture is slightly more scalable. Due to a wide range of plugins, high-end databases, and ERP systems, Bacula enables easy backup of different infrastructure types, including virtual infrastructure. Additionally, optimization and automation through Bacula bring certain agility and security in the operations.Â
On the other hand, even though Amanda has an intelligent scheduler and plugin framework, running it on Windows is more complicated than Ubuntu and Linux. It also supports volume shadow copy service (VSS) in Windows to back up open files. Furthermore, it doesn’t have a GUI. Looking at the scalability and flexibility, Bacula scores over Amanda.
Winner: Bacula
2. Does the software provide support for the storage area network (SAN)?
Bacula
SAN Shared Tape Library Module by Bacula provides a comprehensive backup strategy for SAN (storage area network) networks of SCSI (small computer system interface) devices. It enables two or more separate Storage daemons to share the same physical tape device. Its key benefits include:
- Enhanced rate for the tape library and autoloader utilization
- Less time for backup
- Leverages SPCI-3 SPSI reservation protocol
Bacula SAN tape library module.
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Amanda
Amanda network makes both the SAN and NAS backups simple. And yet, they are powerful enough to comply with rigorous disaster recovery requirements. The most prominent feature of Amanda for storing backups is its holding disk, which works as a staging area. They also offer reliable protection for massive amounts of data, along with large-scale automated NAS cloud backup. It can mirror any changes made on OS clients/NAS environments. Eventually, this enables fast, reliable backup and recovery for unstructured datasets.
Amanda Network Storage Area Network (SAN/NAS).
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Our analysis
Bacula consists of a powerful GUI that makes it highly user-friendly. Besides that, its shell administrative interface allows admins to work with SSH even remotely. However, the Bacula test environment only contains a single drive, which can hinder enterprise-level requirements as they involve handling multiple libraries. Also, sometimes a kernel memory leak bug could arise amidst the data flight if not paused while de-spooling it to the tape.
In contrast, Amanda’s holding disk feature provides a cache that stores backup data from clients and app agents. Since the modern tape drives are lightning-fast with a throughput of 80 MBPS, Amanda’s staging area in holding disks can accept multiple data streams in parallel. This enables you to configure multiple backups without writing one after another.
Looking at the storage capacity, Amanda scores over Bacula.
Winner: Amanda Network
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3. Does the software provide centralized admin support?
Bacula
Bacula administration tool (BAT) is a feature-rich graphic user-interface tool. GUI of Bacula is pretty convenient even for the less-experienced users as they can effectively administer and monitor it. For experienced users, it provides many extra features, such as configuring, monitoring, and statistics. For larger deployments, Bacula has a comprehensive web-based GUI management suite.Â
Amanda
Amanda backs up all the systems over the network in parallel using encryption with OpenSSH on request. Moreover, if the backup doesn’t entirely fit on the destination, Amanda allows automatic distribution across media. Administrators can also run their own scripts before and after backups.
Our analysis
With a GUI in place, Bacula already scored a point over Amanda. Further, Bacula can be deployed in multiple scenarios owing to its BWEB feature, enabling an intuitive configuration. Whether it’s a hardware solution, database solution, or container solution – Bacula even provides flexible plugin support with its Bacula Bpipe function. Bacula’s architecture works on relational databases, client support alongside extensive media libraries and disk backup. This makes it a highly effective software for controlling and monitoring how the components interact with each other.
Whereas Amanda enables the administrators to retain their backed-up files with its archiving function. So, if an earlier backup image expires, admins can reuse the tape for new backups. Even if the configuration is set not to reuse the tapes, certain tapes can be reused as archives.
Looking at the centralized admin support, even though Amanda provides archiving options, Bacula has better and flexible interaction with the administrators.
Winner: Bacula
4. What functionalities does the software offer in terms of reporting, progress tracking, and recovery?
Bacula
The bscan program in Bacula can scan large backup volumes and easily reproduce the catalog database. It is also capable of restoring this database by utilizing the earlier saved bootstrap files. Bacula has its tools: extract and a standalone bis program for converting and listing files. Additionally, its comprehensive SQL database enables online file-viewing on any volume, easing the reporting processes.
Screenshot of Bacula’s reporting last jobs, running jobs, and statistics
Amanda
Amanda eases the monitoring and reporting processes by sending out reports of each backup through emails. Each successful/unsuccessful back contains client lists, backup levels, data volumes, compression ratio, and errors. It uses the Zmanda Management Console for recovery, wherein admins can determine which data needs restoration and where exactly.
Screenshot of Amanda network monitoring page
Our analysisÂ
Amanda was designed especially for tape drives. Its tape spanning feature enables the dumps to span from one volume and back up the data sets from any environment. For this, Amanda follows a planned roadmap before starting a dump run. This eventually makes it easier to estimate the volume of dumped data, resulting in a consistent flow of backups.
Unlike Amanda, Bacula comes with an in-built scheduler. It allows better flexibility to set up different schedules. Moreover, admins can also run specific scripts like Bash, Python, Perl – both before and after a backup. Bacula also comes with an assistant that guides you through backing up a system after installing the OS-specific daemon.
When we look at the functionalities provided by each software, both follow a step-by-step guide to take you through all the operations. However, Amanda also offers more controls that you can apply for each backup level. Instead of using proprietary tools, Amanda utilizes tar, dump, or Schilly tar for backup tools. As a result, in this case, Amanda scores over Bacula.
Winner: Amanda
Learn more: Top 3 Considerations When Choosing a Cloud Storage and Backup Solution
5. How does the software deploy data security methods for file sharing, backup, and restoring operations?
Bacula
For each one of its verified and backed-up files, Bacula implements a checksum calculation for restoring purposes. And for encrypting connections between file daemons, it utilizes TLS for ensuring restoration of all attributes of a file. Bacula has an automated recovery system for Linux and Solaris systems, starting from the bare metal. Bacula works on the continuous data protection (CDP) model, also known as a real-time backup. With CDP, it can automatically save a copy of every change made to the data. Essentially, it means Bacula easily captures each version of the data saved by the user.
Continuous Data Protection (CDP) model in Bacula.
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Amanda
Amanda has an organized process for backup admins based on roles. Segregation of users enables simplified configuration and management of sensitive data. Additionally, it provides the flexibility of encryption where it’s more appropriate. This means users have the choice to encrypt data on the client or over VPN. Standard encryption tools like OpenSSL and GPG and different interfaces make it easier to switch on the server-side encryption.Â
Our analysis
Bacula’s real-time backup makes it a preferred choice to Amanda. In Bacula, usage is not limited to one or two supported hypervisors. Bacula gives you an option to use either a web interface that you can use from any OS or a terminal with which you can SSH into the Bacula Enterprise server. Both of these options can be used simultaneously with efficient support for tapes, database lists, and autoloaders.
On the contrary, Amanda’s side effect is that it is difficult to decode the tape using a standard tool. Hence, you need to use a proprietary tool for recovering the dump. This also creates issues in speed and ease of recovery. Intermixing two dumps of data on the tape, you need to skip blocks unrelated to recovery to recover a single dump.
Hence, looking at the security methods deployed by each software, Bacula wins over Amanda.
Winner: Bacula
What Are the Pros and Cons of Using Bacula
Pros of using Bacula
Cloud and offsite backup
Bacula’s cloud backup works on the initial completion of local data and then transferring it to the cloud cache. It also offers data replication (offsite backup) to a geographically separated server via direct access or WAN.
Efficient deduplication
Deduplication engine enables a lesser duration of backups and reduction of storage space. Bacula cuts, stores, and indexes the file chunks on its Deduplication engine. It also uses compression for reducing the file size and speeding up the process.
Largest application support
Bacula consists of one of the largest databases for application support and includes all major platforms from Linux, Mac, Windows, AIX, Unix, Solaris. Application support consists of MS Exchange, MS SQL, My SQL, PostgreSQL, SAP HANA, Oracle, and SQLite.
Virtual environment support
Bacula positions itself as one of the few backup software providing support for almost all virtual environments. It uses XEN server API for accessing and backing up virtual machines and provides integration for VMware, MS Hyper-V, KVM, XEN, and Proxmox.
Backup as a service
For MSPs, backup as a service by Bacula is an extremely practical feature. BCloud offers many beneficial self-service tools, comprehensive REST API, GUI, and text interfaces.
Cons of using Bacula
Complex interface
The interface uses configuration files and text-based consoles and doesn’t have a GUI. This could make it difficult for sysadmins because bweb is an optional feature.
Cluttered configuration
The documentation can be intimidating when starting out because it’s not structured correctly. It could be challenging to find because of a steep learning curve.
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What Are The Pros and Cons of Using Amanda
Pros of using Amanda
Simple administration
Amanda is less complex when it comes to offering enterprise-level functions. Its intuitive user interface paves the way for easy installation, configuration, and management.
Highly scalable
Amanda has a single backup server that can quickly scale itself up for backing up and recovering hundreds of workstations, servers, and desktops running under multiple operating systems.
Centralized security
The management console is web-based that allows systematic protection and recovery of data across the enterprise. Additionally, for data security and storage, Amanda deployed industry-standard compression and encryption.
Optimized scheduler
Automated intelligent scheduling enables optimization of network and storage, leading to consistency and enhanced productivity.
Responsive and cost-efficient
Amanda gives two options to choose from – standard and premium, for technical support. Moreover, its centralized admin support reduces the cost of ownership.
Cons of using Amanda
Does not allow appending tapes
Each disk has a new tape if you use tape chargers, which forces the tape to be overwritten. Hence, regular flushing out of tapes after storing everything on disks is required to use tapes in a better way.
Needs several hours for setup
Since its configuration is text-based, it can take a lot of time for setup and installation. Even though it uses the system scheduler, cron, for manual or scheduled backups, Windows setup is still difficult.
Conclusion
Bacula and Amanda are both exceptional open-source backup software that spot errors quickly, get you better code quality while ensuring that the source code is available for everyone.
When it comes to Bacula, the software has been used by many top organizations like NASA, Texas University, Bank Austria, primarily because of how easy it is to get started with. The user experience for first-time users is phenomenal with Bacula enterprise. Documentation, download links, backup scenarios, terms, manuals – everything is readily available. Bacula works like a charm for Dump, Tar, and Bru programs because it offers better flexibility with catalog services.
When we talk about Amanda, at the time of writing this, over half a million servers worldwide come under the protection of Amanda enterprise. Amanda only uses standard data formats, ensuring that you are never locked with a vendor to recover your archived data. Furthermore, it is a heterogeneous centralized backup system that protects Linux, Solaris, Windows, Mac, VMware, etc.
While both the software have scored points over each other, our overall vote goes to Bacula for its Graphical User Interface, Bweb, and CDP model for data security.
Do you think Bacula scores over Amanda in terms of its application support and data security? Comment below or let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!
Disclaimer: Unless stated otherwise, any information provided in this review does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement for the products listed in the article. All information in this article is provided in good faith, however we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of products that are reviewed. The viewpoints expressed within the content are solely the author’s and do not reflect the views of Spiceworks Ziff Davis or its affiliates.