The top 5 backup solutions for VMware & Hyper-V could not be complete without including Veeam Backup & Replication product.
Despite the multiple features it provides, Veeam solution is extremely easy to configure and use and includes powerful capabilities to ensure data integrity and business continuity.
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Veeam Backup & Replication
Veeam Backup & Replication
Currently available as version 9.5, Veeam Backup & Replication is a complete software solution for VMware and Hyper-V virtual platforms that can be installed on Windows-based physical or virtual machines and it is suitable for small, medium and enterprise environments.
The management of the software is made through a simple UI installable on Administrators' clients where the user can manage multiple Backup Servers with a clean and intuitive layout.
License and available editions
The product is licensed per physical CPU socket and includes the first year of Maintenance & Support.
Veeam Backup & Replication is available in three editions:
- Standard – limited features available. Advanced capabilities, such as Items recovery, Storage Snapshots, SureBackup, WAN Accelerator, are not included.
- Enterprise – includes most of the available features with the exception of Backup from NetApp SnapMirror and SnapVault and Nimble Replicated Copies, On-Demand
Sandbox for Storage Snapshots. Scale-out Backup Repository supports max 3 extents. - Enterprise plus – all available features of the product are included.
Veeam provides also an affordable Veeam Backup Essentials version for small businesses for the protection of virtual environments of 6 CPU sockets or less.
A Free edition is available and includes a license for 2 VMs. To test the application, Veeam Backup & Replication is available as 30-day trial.
A detailed pricing is available in the Veeam website.
Backup features
Veeam performs an image-based backup (snapshot technology) and VM backups can be reversal or forever incrementals using the Changed Block Tracking (CBT) technology to identify and transfer only changed data to the repository. To optimize data transfer, Veeam provides the support for three transport modes: NBD, Hot-Add, and Direct Storage Access. To save space on the repository, VM backups are automatically deduplicated at the block level and compressed to ensure that the least amount of space is used.
The WAN Accelerator is component of the product specific for backup copy jobs and replication jobs, and allows to speed up data transfer over slow WAN.
Backups are performed using the application-aware mode to ensure consistency for applications data and databases (Exchange, Active Directory, MS-SQL, SharePoint, and Oracle). Transaction Logs can be retained or truncated after a successful VM backup or replication and the capability is configured in the VSS section of Microsoft SQL and Exchange from the Guest Processing window.
Veeam supports Storage Snapshots for HPE, NetApp, EMC, Nimble Storage, and Cisco for faster backups and restores.
Instant VM Recovery
Veeam supports the Instant Recovery feature to recover VMs and files as well as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Active Directory, and Oracle objects directly from deduplicated and compressed VM backups. A full restore from backup is not required and the recovery is performed directly from the backup repository. Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure feature allows the restore of VMs to the cloud optimizing resource allocation and minimizing costs.
Copy backups Offsite and to Cloud
To store backup copies offsite, Veeam provides the backup copy feature to send backup to external storage devices or to cloud using the Veeam Cloud Connect feature. You can easily setup the copy process maintaining a mirror of your backup repository.
Replication
Replication creates an identical copy of the VMs on target ESXi hosts allowing to quickly recover a VM in case the production VM fails. To recover the VMs is required to powering on the replicated VMs only.
Test backups
To ensure you can recover a VM from a backup, the backup must be checked performing a recovery test. With SureBackup and SureReplica technology, Veeam can verify files, applications, and virtual servers they can be restored to ensure business resiliency through automated backup and disaster recovery (DR) testing.
Veeam is a powerful and complete backup solution with all the features requested for maximum data protection and disaster recovery of your virtual infrastructure. A complete guide for the installation and configuration of Veeam Backup & Replication features can be found in these articles.
Website: https://www.veeam.com
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