Amanda Named “Best of Open Source Storage Software” by InfoWorld

August 04, 2008

InfoWorld’s 2008 Bossies recognize the top free and open products for business, IT, and personal productivity

If the phrase “open source software” continues to conjure images of impassioned programmers selflessly collaborating for the common good, it may be because, even as commercial interests are behind many of the most prominent projects, the results are no less inspired — and typically no less free. Yes, advanced functionality or maintenance and support may require writing a check, but freeloaders looking for high-quality software — of almost any kind — have never had it so good.

Chosen by InfoWorld Test Center editors, analysts, and reviewers, InfoWorld’s annual Best of Open Source Software awards (or Bossies, for short) celebrate the best products that open source has to offer: the best free software on the planet for businesses, their IT staffs, and their employees’ workstations.

Amanda provides a way to back up a variety of enterprise data sources and applications, supporting multiple flavors of Unix and Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Amanda can encrypt data in transit from client to server, or encrypt data at rest on tape or disk or both simultaneously. Because the software doesn’t use proprietary device drivers, it can work with any device supported by the host operating system. And it stores information via native dump or tar utilities, allowing it to be reconstructed even without the Amanda client.