Bruce,
NDMP is the strategic direction for backup at Network Appliance. We see NDMP as a winner for Network Attached Storage (NAS) vendors and ultimately we think this could also be very prevalent in Storage Area Network (SAN) environments too. There is definite momentum building for the use of NDMP. Back-up solutions for NetApp which use NDMP are now offered from four large vendors and we see third party support for additional solutions expanding. The currently offered solutions include Legato (BudTool), Veritas (NetBackup), CommVault (ABARS)& Workstation Solutions (Quick Restore).
Note however that NetApp's solutions are in fact broader than NDMP and we are open to considering other alternatives. Other current solutions include - backing up over NFS mounts & CIFS shares, and - RPC-based solutions such as the about to be released Legato Networker Client for NetApp.
You may not know it, but to achieve multiprotocol backup over CIFS with current (unchanged) NT backup products such as ARCserve & Backup Exec, NetApp engineering developed a patent pending solution that allows unix permissions to be wrapped into the ACLs captured by the NT backup process.
As to the Legato Java-based client about to be released, Legato and NetApp worked jointly to develop this multi-protocol backup solution. The product is currently being tested at beta sites and should FCS early September. Bruce, NetApp is committed to NDMP and will continue to work with our partners to further define, enhance, and expand acceptance of NDMP as an industry standard. And we, as a company, will also continue to perfect our implementation.
/***************************************** Mike Marchi - Director, Enterprise Marketing Network Appliance, Inc. (http://www.netapp.com) 495 East Java Drive Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Phone: (408) 822-6283 Fax: (408) 822-4415 Email: mjm@netapp.com *****************************************/