Advocates of open-source software for the enterprise will get a boost this week with the announcement of BakBone Software Inc.s new module for the MySQL database and an alliance with Linux distributor Red Hat Inc.
The backup and restore module is a plug-in for BakBones NetVault suite and uses the backup API in MySQL Version 4.0 and higher, an open-source database that is distributed with some Linux platforms, such as Red Hats.
“Weve always had a strategy to develop products for the Linux market,” said Cali Sartor, product manager for the San Diego company. Features such as automated tape drive support and point-in-time snapshots add usefulness to the default MySQL API, Sartor said.
Meanwhile, the alliance with Red Hat, of Research Triangle Park, N.C., will bundle BakBones new software on Red Hat CDs, which could help BakBone get access to IBMs sales force, another Red Hat partner, said BakBones Randy Batterson, vice president of alliances and OEMs.
Red Hat engineers were able to help BakBone create better installation functions, Batterson said. “It lends a lot of support to us,” he said.
Laurie Singsaas, systems administrator at San Diego-based genetics company Sequenom Inc., said shes looking forward to BakBones MySQL module but with an eye of caution. At Sequenom, BakBone already runs on Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp. products and on a server connected to a Network Appliance Inc. storage unit.
The downside of BakBones software is a lack of customization features, but compared with the Veritas Software Corp. products that Sequenom previously used, the BakBone software is much faster, Singsaas said. “Ive got my weekends and my evenings back,” Singsaas said. And the Red Hat alliance “shows that theyre dedicated,” she added.
The module costs $995 and is available now, Sartor said. A port for Microsofts Windows NT is also available, along with ports to Linux distributions from Caldera Systems Inc., VA Linux Systems Inc. and Turbolinux Inc. In addition, a module for the PostgreSQL database may come next year, she said.
Users of the Red Hat bundled version will have a 45-day evaluation period, and BakBone will handle all support, Sartor said.