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avanti's TaskMaster ® SXCOPY / SYNC
versus
Novell's NCOPY & Microsoft's XCOPY
(Last Updated: 23 December 2004)


Criteria: Replicate the entire contents of the Local NetWare Server Volume to a Remote NetWare Server Backup / Disaster Recovery / Fail-Over Volume, including all NetWare specific directory / file entry information. Maintain synchronized directory structures / file contents between the Local / Source and the Remote / Destination Server Volumes.
Environment: Software: avanti TaskMaster v4.05
Novell NCOPY v4.14
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6 XCOPY v4.00

Features Supported /
Replicated Items 		TaskMaster v4
SYNC 		TaskMaster v4
SXCOPY 		Novell
NCOPY 		Microsoft
XCOPY
Activity Logging (method) Redirection Redirection Redirection Redirection
Advanced Scheduling / Scripting Yes 3 Yes 3 No No
Attributes (DOS & Extended) Yes Yes Yes No
Compressed Data Transfer Yes Yes No No
Compressed File Support (NW) Yes Yes Yes No
Continue on Error Yes Yes No Yes
Date/Time Stamps (NW) All All Create n1 No
Data Verification (method) Checksum/CRC Checksum/CRC None n2 Re-Read
Encrypted Data Transfer Yes Yes No No
Hidden/System Entries Yes Yes No n3 Yes
Inherited Rights Mask (IRM) Yes Yes Yes n4 No
Name Space Support DOS/Long/Mac/NFS DOS/Long/Mac/NFS DOS / Long DOS / Long
Overwrite Read-Only Yes Yes No Yes
Ownership (NW) Yes Yes No n5 No x1
Processing Statistics Real-time & Completion Real-time & Completion No No
Server-Based (no WS required) Yes Yes No No
Trustee Rights Yes 4 Yes No No
Block (Delta Change) Processing
(update only modified data blocks) 		Yes Yes No No
Incremental Processing
(see table below) 		Yes Min 5 Min n6 Min x2
Open File Processing
(Safely Close Destination) 		Yes 6 Yes 6 No No
Tiered Processing
(One-to-Many / Many-to-One) 		Yes Yes No No
Two-Way Last Update Processing
(Put Local / Get Remote) 		Yes 7 No No No
Notes:
3: Any TaskMaster command can be scripted then scheduled as a task.
4: Trustee Rights are synchronized for any added or updated entry.
5: Minimal (see table below)
6: Tries to safely (w/o killing connection) close Remote file on update
7: Data Synchronization supported. File Replication (i.e., adding new files both ways) is limited.
n1: Creation Date/Time reset to copied date/time.
n2: Read After Write (Re-Read) supported for local drives only.
n3: May not process all Hidden/System entries (no option defined).
n4: System directories with 0x100 IRM not set properly.
n5: All Directories/Files set to (owned by) logged in User.
n6: Minimal (see table below)
x1: All Directories/Files set to (owned by) logged in User.
x2: Minimal (see table below)

Subsequent / Incremental
Backup / Copy Options 		TaskMaster v4
SYNC 		TaskMaster v4
SXCOPY 		Novell
NCOPY 		Microsoft
XCOPY
Update Remote (method)
(If Local newer, Copy to Remote) 		Last Update (/M)
Update & Size (/V) 		Archive s1
(/A | /M) 		Archive s1
(/A | /M) 		Archive s1
(/A | /M)
Query mode
(List actions w/o any processing) 		Yes (/Q) No No Yes (/L)
Add New Entry To Remote
(If no Remote copy, Add to Remote) 		Dirs (/A /S)
Files (/A) 		No No No
Del Extraneous Remote Entry
(If not on Local, Delete from Remote) 		Yes (/D) No No No
Replace Entry on Remote
(Replace Remote with Local) 		Yes (/R) No No No
Update Entry from Remote
(If Remote newer, Copy to Local) 		Yes (/U) No No No
Update Entry Info w/o Copy
(Attr/Dates/Owner/Trustee only) 		Yes (/M | /V) No No No
Notes:
s1: Relying on the Archive bit being set to determine if a file has been modified is precarious, at best. Using the /A option will cause the file to be copied every process since the Archive bit is not being reset after each update. Using the /M option to reset the Archive bit can cause incremental Backups to skip the file as unmodified, compromising the integrity of the Backup process. A safer method is to compare the Last Update (or Last Modified) date/time, as SYNC does (/M & /U). The safest method to check for any modifications is to compare both the Last Update date/time AND the file sizes for any discrepancies, as SYNC does (/V).