Veeam Backup

Veeam Backup provides for the backup and recovery of VMware Virtual Servers and their data; including support for whole server or file level recovery and the ability to restore previous versions of data.

The product combines two backup methodologies, allowing the user to choose the method most appropriate for the targeted VM: the traditional method, utilizing standard backup and restore techniques, and a mirror/replication backup of whole virtual machines. With traditional backup, the data is saved to storage in a vendor proprietary format; whereas replicas are mirrored to a spare ESX Server in the native VMware ESX format for expedited recoveries.

The vendor notes that with Veeam Backup a full backup of data need occur only once; from that point on, only incremental backups are performed. Additionally, the incremental backups are stored such that the full system image is compiled and made available with each incremental backup; so that the most recent data stored will be the most efficient to restore when necessary. "Reverse-incremental" restore packages are then calculated backwards from this image; enabling the restoration of data to previous points in time. Both file-level and full VM system restores are possible; the former having the advantage that the file(s) can be recovered without requiring the full extraction/restoration of the VM to the local drive. The vendor states that FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS file systems are all supported.

Other features include:

- Support for use with or without VMware Consolidated Backup

- Deduplication of common data blocks between VMs when backing up multiple VMs

- Integration with the vendor's FastSCP offering (the products share a common interface)

Veeam Backup is available now; pricing is listed at $499 per socket.

Contact the vendor for further information.