Acronis vmProtect

Acronis vmProtect 6

On August 29, 2011 at the VMworld 2011 conference the Acronis company announced release of a new, fast and simple backup system in use and disaster recovery for the VMware platform.

The Acronis vmProtect 6 software product is created especially for the VMware vSphere servers (versions 4.0, 4.1 above) based on hypervisors of ESX and ESXi. This the simple solution in deployment and management allows to organize backup and fast recovery in virtual environments of VMware without installation of software agents on virtual machines.

At the price of one license in 475 euros * for the physical processor and lack of restrictions on number of migrations of P2V (physical servers in virtual machines), Acronis vmProtect 6 represents an inexpensive backup system, carrying out migration and disaster recovery for a virtual server environment of VMware.

The Acronis vmProtect 6 installation takes about five minutes ** then the solution allows to recover the virtual machine directly from a disk image, and recovery can take less than a minute.

The possibility of the Acronis vmProtect 6 installation as the virtual device allows to do without purchase of the additional hardware, minimizes an expense of RAM and facilitates management. Availability of the web interface allows to work with processes far off, including, using the smartphone.

Acronis vmProtect 6 supports recovery at the level of disk images and separate files that allows to recover only the necessary data. Acronis vmProtect 6 also allows to select volumes for backup and to analyze the file system to exclude copying of not used files and folders, for example, of the swap file or temporary files, for reduction of a downtime in case of recovery from the backup copy.

Acronis vmProtect 6 is delivered together with the means of deduplication and data compression allowing to reduce time of creation and cost of storage of backup copies. Besides, backup copies can be protected using an industry standard of enciphering of AES with key length in 256 bits.

"We consider that protection of servers of VMware should not be neither expensive, nor difficult. And it can be reached if to use the solution which is closely integrated with the VMware platform — the CEO of Acronis Jason Donakhyyu says. — Therefore we are sure that Acronis vmProtect 6 will allow our clients to accelerate transition to virtualization and also to save them from permanent concern on whether there is enough sokhranna the data located on virtual servers".

Advantages and possibilities of Acronis vmProtect 6

• Speed: backup without the need for installation of agents on the virtual machine allows to save RAM and to simplify management; function of the choice of the protected files allows to copy only what is necessary, having reduced a downtime and having saved the place on the hard drive;

deduplication of data allows to reduce practically to zero decline in production of a system during backup; backup copies contract before sending for the reserve carrier; recovery at the level of a system or the separate file allows to select data which need to be protected.

• Flexibility: possibility of the choice of an operation mode: the virtual device on the existing server or the separate physical machine running Windows; the simple and clear web interface allows to manage processes even from the smartphone; the unlimited number of migrations of P2V (physical servers in virtual machines) accelerates transition to virtualization.
• Security: verification of backup copies: the integrity of the backup copy can be checked without the need for gaining access to the protected virtual machine; use of an industry standard of enciphering of AES with key length in 256 bits; integration with a cloud service of Acronis allows to store backup copies in online storage.

Acronis vmProtect 7

New management tools, support of replication of virtual machines and Microsoft Exchange allow a new product to accelerate considerably process of backup and recovery of the virtual servers VMware vSphere.

In the new version of Acronis vmProtect 7 integration into the VMware vCenter console is added to the web interface used for management of backup copies of virtual machines. It will help to centralize accomplishment of tasks of management of virtual environments.

The powerful tools of replication used in innovation with functions of switching and return and also a possibility of start of virtual machines directly from backup copies, considerably reduce the recovery time of virtual servers. Even in case of physical breakdown of the server the virtual machine can be recovered on the equipment with other hardware configuration, considerably having reduced idle times.

Acronis vmProtect 7 supports data recovery of Microsoft Exchange at the level of separate elements. It saves from need to create the separate backup copy of Microsoft Exchange on a case of search of separate messages or the lost contacts.

Virtual servers stopped being an exclusive prerogative of the large organizations and steadily win medium and small business with the predicted growth rate 21%* in a year. It means that also the need for simple methods of recovery, sometimes without participation of technical specialists grows. Acronis vmProtect 7 proposes the solution of this task due to creation of the plan of disaster recovery. This function creates clear step-by-step instructions of recovery which allow any user surely and to quickly recover the machine after failure including far off.

Main opportunities and advantages

Acronis vmProtect 7 is created especially for the VMware vSphere environments and necessary in one convenient solution which can be unrolled in read minutes and to start quickly backup and recovery of virtual machines offers all.

Acronis vmProtect 7 offers a number of new useful features, including:

• Replication of the virtual machine per other host server
• Management of backup and recovery from the VMware vCenter console
• Recovery of Microsoft Exchange
• Recovery on "naked iron" a host server of VMware vSphere ESXi, even on the different equipment
• Automatically created plan of disaster recovery
• Improbable ease of deployment

Acronis vmProtect 7 can be set and configured in several minutes. You can set vmProtect on Windows machine or unroll per host server (ESXi) in the form of the ready virtual device (Virtual Appliance).

• It is optimized for VMware vSphere

Acronis vmProtect 7 executes backup without installation of software agents on each virtual machine that minimizes the need for management and a RAM expense. Besides, the solution reads out data directly from network storage, eliminating excess load of a local network and hosts (ESXi).

• Integration about vCenter and the intuitive web interface

It is possible execute backup and recovery of VMware vCenter, the same interface using which you operate virtual machines. It is also possible to use own vmProtect 7 web interface for these purposes. The intuitive Acronis vmProtect 7 web interface almost does not require mastering that allows to master quickly backup and recovery of virtual machines and also to execute these transactions even from the smartphone.

• Effective and safe backup

Backup is exclusive in the incremental mode with compression and deduplication of data guarantees the greatest possible speed of backup together with economy of traffic and the place in storages.

• Industrial enciphering on an algorithm of AES with key length of 256 bits protects contents of backup copies, and the built-in check of backup copies certifies that these copies are not damaged, guaranteeing successful recovery. Automatically generated plans of disaster recovery contain detailed instructions on recovery.
• Acronis vmProtect Online allows to organize safe storage of backup copies on the external platform using cloud computing.
• Fast selective recovery

Fast recovery of the virtual machine by start from the backup copy or start of the copy of the virtual machine on another a host server for faster recovery. An opportunity to recover a host of VMware of ESXi entirely, separate virtual machines or files only selected. Support of recovery of Microsoft Exchange Server at the level of the database entirely or separate mailboxes, el. letters, contacts and other elements for choice.

• Unlimited migrations of P2V and V2V

The possibilities of carrying out unlimited number of migrations of physical and virtual machines which are not requiring additional payment allow to accelerate virtualization at transfer of physical servers or virtual machines from other hypervisors in the VMware vSphere environment.

Acronis vmProtect 8

In October, 2012 the Acronis company announced the Acronis vmFlashBack technology providing considerable reduction of recovery time of virtual machines in environments of VMware. This technology is included into the new version of the product Acronis vmProtect 8. Besides, the Acronis company simplifies backup to the cloud storage at the expense of system implementation of multilevel storage in the course of creation of backup copies.

The new Acronis vmFlashBack technology considerably reduces the recovery time of virtual machines at the expense of the system of tracking and preserving in the backup copy only of the changed information blocks. This technology accelerates process of recovery after failure to 100 times.

According to the research conducted at the VMworld San Francisco 2012 conference, nearly 70% of users of VMware of ESX already implemented or are going to vnedit backup of virtual machines in a cloud. To satisfy this requirement, the Acronis company provided technology of multilevel backup for the principle a disk-disk-cloud in the latest version of Acronis vmProtect. Now administrators of virtual servers will be able to increase efficiency of data protection and systems thanks to preserving of backup files in several storages, including, in the external cloud storage of Acronis.

Automation of backup in Acronis vmProtect allows to apply different schedules to the different systems without user intervention that in turn increases efficiency of backup and optimizes use of data transmission channel. In combination with remote recovery of files from a cloud via the web interface, Acronis vmProtect actually allows to organize universal access to corporate information from the protected cloud storage.

As a result of complex testing and careful selection of solutions, the mastering French fashion house Gerard Darel was selected by Acronis vmProtect for backup of the virtual servers. The technical director of Gerard Darel Samuel Chemuni tells: "During testing of Acronis vmProtect we saw that process of backup requires only 5 minutes and several mouse clicks. At the same time we did not need preliminary personnel training and the address to a support service of Acronis. In comparison with competitors, the solution Acronis vmProtect is more convenient in use, offers faster recovery and the increased efficiency".

At the cost of license at one the physical processor in the amount of 20965 rubles of Acronis vmProtect 8 supports unlimited number of migrations between physical and virtual environments and provides complex approach for backup of hosts and virtual machines, data transfer and disaster recovery in the environment of VMware vSphere. The customers who purchased Acronis vmProtect 7 with a subscription to support services acquire the right to free updating to Acronis vmProtect 8.

Acronis vmProtect 9

The vmProtect web interface is optimized for the small vSphere environments including 1-15 BM, but can work also with hundreds of VM. Unlike difficult products with a large number of the functions expected large environments, software of Acronis vmProtect it is focused on ensuring profitability and convenience to satisfaction of the needs of the corporate level for the modern small and medium companies and also at remote offices and branches.

Possibilities of Acronis vmProtect 9: recognition of file systems, an exception of unnecessary files and incremental recovery of virtual machines with maximum speed by means of vmFlashBack; start of virtual machines directly from compressed or deduplitsirovanny images; support of backup in several systems of appointment: automatic copying on an additional way — locally or in a cloud; support of automatic backup with a possibility of preserving and recovery of configurations of import and export; a full integration with VMware vCenter: backup, recovery and replication are controlled directly from VMware vCenter; simple and fast acquisition via the Internet.