Optimal NAS Backup - NetApp or Pure?

[matt_778]

We currently backup VMware Servers incl Windows VM File Servers.

We are considering moving the unstructured data out of Windows VMs to a dedicated NAS/Filer.
This data is approx 400TB and growing.

I am familiar with the backing up of Block/VM data, not so much NAS. I am working with Veeam to get agreeable NAS licensing (I know it can be costly)
We also are at a stage where we can invest in new storage and backup hardware.

I am considering two options for the NAS (actually unified Block/NAS):

• NetApp

• Pure

I want backups to be performant. I notice in the forums etc, that Veeam can integrate NetApps storage snapshots?

"Use Snapshots to backup SMB File Shares on your NetApp ONTAP system "
https://www.veeam.com/blog/nas-backup-r ... ation.html

Which sounds good and is what we currently do when backing up VM data. Also "NetApp" gets a lot more hits on these forums.
The network/storage fabric will be 10Gb
The Backup target will be a new HPE Apollo all-in one Veeam Server running Windows.

Is there any commentary about best practice, gotchas backing up NAS? or Pure Vs NetApp as it relates to NAS backup?

Thanks

[Andreas Neufert]

In general both are options and you should select based on usual performance, scalability, reliability, space vs. cost,... criteria.

From the backup side, NetApp has the slight advantage that snapshot processing is integrated into Veeam and is fully automated, while in Pure, you would have to use one of the pre-job scripts to do so. It's a one-time overhead. On the other hand, scripts are more flexible, and you can do different things there. You can mount the snapshots for backup at non-Veeam default places to use them later differently when needed. In general storage snapshots have the advantage that open files are backed up as well.