Four of a Kind - Backup Software Shootout Part 2

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Four of a Kind - Backup Software Shootout Part 2

Wesley Brown

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November 8, 2004 at 4:24 pm

#163066

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M Chabot SSCrazy Points: 2511 More actions · Answer 1

The conclusion mentions cost as being a factor, but costs are not listed in the article. How much do these products cost?

Ray Mond SSCertifiable Points: 7159 More actions · Answer 2

MiniSQLBackup licensing costs are as follows:

single named server license - USD 99/-
two named servers license - USD 179/-
ten named servers license - USD 795/-

and includes free updates for one year from date of purchase.

SQL BAK Explorer - read SQL Server backup file details without SQL Server.
Supports backup files created with SQL Server 2005 up to SQL Server 2017.

Wesley Brown SSChampion Points: 12045 More actions · Answer 3

Cost is listed in the first part if it was available from the vendor

Sql LiteSpeed doesn't have cost on its web site

SQL Safe is $995 plus maint

Ultra Bac $495 for the base and $695 per SQL Server agent

MiniSQLBackup above.

Wes

fhanlon SSChampion Points: 13131 More actions · Answer 4

SQL Zip is another contender in this field. I have no experience with the product so I can't say how it compares. It costs US$500 per server.

Francis

Wesley Brown SSChampion Points: 12045 More actions · Answer 5

There are a few that I didn't cover SQL Zip is one of them.

firthr SSCommitted Points: 1606 More actions · Answer 6

I looked at Litespeed and found it to be way too expensive for us, for their standard product their pricing is below, they would offer some discounting so long as you beg enough 😉

Standard Pricing:

Item	Code	Unit Cost	Qty	Total Cost
LiteSpeed 2 CPU Standard License 32 BIT	SLS-ST-LC-2C-MS	760.00 £ UKP	2.0	1,520.00 £ UKP
LiteSpeed 4 CPU Standard License 32 BIT	SLS-ST-LC-4C-MS	1,410.00 £ UKP	1.0	1,410.00 £ UKP
LiteSpeed 2 CPU Standard First Year Maintenance 32 BIT	SLS-ST-FM-2C-MS	152.00 £ UKP	2.0	304.00 £ UKP
LiteSpeed 4 CPU Standard First Year Maintenance 32 BIT	SLS-ST-FM-4C-MS	282.00 £ UKP	1.0	282.00 £ UKP
Shipping		20.00 £ UKP	1.0	20.00 £ UKP
				£3,536

RML51 SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4410 More actions · Answer 7

We recently ran tests of SQL Litespeed, SQL Safe, and SQL Backup. I found minimal differences with compression and performance of the 3 products. I could not find any justification for the higher cost of the SQL Litespeed or SQL Safe products when compared to SQL Backup. The yearly maintenance cost alone of SQL Litespeed or SQL Safe was higher then SQL Backup including support.

We run this on a couple of clusters, and Red Gate has a version that supports clustered environments without problems.

SQL Backup 4.0 is due out soon, too. And, I was told that we would get the upgrade from SQL Backup 3.2 to 4.0 included with our year of support/maitenance.

SQL Backup has saved us time, disk space, and thousands of dollars.

vince.iacoboni@db.com Hall of Fame Points: 3965 More actions · Answer 8

If you have Lightspeed or SQL Backup, be sure to check out my sp_ABBackup and sp_ABRestore utilities and the article that explains them, http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/vIacoboni/moreintelligentbackupandrestore.asp.

They have saved my hide many times. Basically, it will easily let you backup and restore across several databases whether you use Native, Lightspeed, or SQL Backup. Many times you can get away with a single parameter listing the databases you want to backup/restore, and it will figure the rest out.

Give it a try.

Vince

RML51 SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4410 More actions · Answer 9

Thanks Viacoboni, that looks great! I especially like your point about SQL Backup error detection. I found some code on the Red Gate site that helps with this, but your's sounds like it's much easier to use.

vince.iacoboni@db.com Hall of Fame Points: 3965 More actions · Answer 10

vince.iacoboni@db.com

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December 12, 2005 at 6:48 am

#608977

You're welcome RML51.

Robert O'Donnell Grasshopper Points: 15 More actions · Answer 11

It looks like Red-Gate SQL BAckup is a great deal. We have servers located at branch offices on low quality DSL lines and need to bring a backup to HQ on a regular basis and also to a disaster recovery location. We are located in 11 different countries in Latin America and highspeed connections are very expensive.

While backup speed is nice, compression is our most important factor. What program woudl provide the smallest compressed file? I don't mind using out of the box SQL backup and then compressing with a ZIP program if it gets a smaller file.