ISTech Support Forum

ISTech Support Forum
http://www.istechforum.com/YaBB.pl
Pervasive SQL >> >> Pervasive Backup Agent
http://www.istechforum.com/YaBB.pl?num=1173194560

Message started by Lynn_Pantic on 03/06/07 at 07:22:40

Title: Pervasive Backup Agent
Post by Lynn_Pantic on 03/06/07 at 07:22:40

The Pervasive Backup Agent is a tool that (as I understand it) works either alone or with your existing backup software. Its key feature is that it enables you to back up files while they are still open and users are in the system. Regular price $249 but for the month of March, Pervasive has it on their website for $99. Pervasive 9 is required.

Title: Re: Pervasive Backup Agent
Post by BtrieveBill on 04/18/07 at 14:35:50

There are two versions of the Backup Agent. V1.0 will run ONLY on PSQLV8 engines. V1.1 will work ONLY on PSQLv9 databases -- be sure to get the right one!

Also, the Backup Agent is merely an enabler for Continuous Operations mode, a feature of the database that has been in the environment for many years. You must still use some other method to back up the data, either a file copy, backup software, etc..

Title: Re: Pervasive Backup Agent
Post by kkmfg on 04/18/07 at 17:23:39

Holy.... cow... $249 for something that might almost make PervasiveSQL as easy to backup live as PostgreSQL (a *free* product mind you) already does. But, having been to your site, it would appear that continuous mode is a crude hack placed in by Pervasive or one of it's predecessors. It's somewhat novel but you would think that they'd have come up with something better by now than freezing the datafiles and making temporary files to store changes in.

If you can't tell I don't like to pay for anything. ;-)

Title: Re: Pervasive Backup Agent
Post by kevind on 04/18/07 at 18:21:41

kkmfg wrote:

If you can't tell I don't like to pay for anything. ;-)

My guess is that it's a good thing YOUR customers don't have this same additude! :P

Title: Re: Pervasive Backup Agent
Post by kkmfg on 04/18/07 at 19:07:30

kevind wrote:

[quote author=kkmfg link=1173194560/0#2 date=1176945819]If you can't tell I don't like to pay for anything. ;-)

My guess is that it's a good thing YOUR customers don't have this same additude! :P
[/quote]

Yes, that's of course true. If what we make were available for free over the internet I'd expect our business to be rather difficult though. Really, $250 is not worth it on top of the price one already pays to Pervasive for their product. This is especially true when there are open source alternatives to PSQL that are available totally for free. In many cases those free products are on par with or better than PSQL in many areas. In fact, the Backup agent would be a totally unnecessary thing with PostgreSQL.

Needless to say, I'm not Pervasive's big fan. Though, software is a really funny thing... It's getting harder and harder to charge for things when so much is available for free. I suppose I feel somewhat bad for PSQL when they're up against an impossible problem: You can't beat free. Their saving grace is that not every company has a techie on staff and so many places go gonzo for support. Of course, you can buy paid support with PostgreSQL and mySQL too.