vReplicator and vRanger Pro Alternatives?

[RGS3]

We are evaluating backup and replication solutions and I have so far only setup the Vizioncore products in a demo environment. So far these two products seem to do the job pretty well, albeit some issues getting CBT to work(support also has been unable to fix this yet, and support has been SLOOOOW).

Our main goals are VM replication (crash consistent is ok) to another SAN, and nightly backups to disk. I will say, I really like how vRanger compresses down the backups, which let me keep ALOT of recovery points for a long time. Also, the simplicity in the Vizioncore stuff impresses me.

What are some other top competitors to these products aside from VCB? What do most of you use for DR and what works best and why?

Thanks for any input!

Richard

[bkboyer]

We're starting to evaluate alternatives as well after finding out that VCB will no longer be supported. (We tried VDR, but it just didn't seem reliable or informative enough for a production environment). Anyhoo, here's who we're looking at:

Veeam: http://www.veeam.com/

PHD esXpress: http://www.phdvirtual.com/

vRanger

Netbackup 7.0/Backup Exec 2010

I'm curious if others will be going a third-party route. I'm surprised I haven't seen more on this forum after the announcement that VCB was EOL. Maybe more people are putting their faith in VDR than what I suspected?

[AntonVZhbankov]

Veeam Backup & Replication without any doubts

---

MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[RGS3]

Can you elaborate a little why Veeam is superior? Have you tried anything else to compare it to?

I will be testing the Veeam products in the coming weeks. So far it does look like a top competitor.

Anyone else have any pro's / cons for a VMware backup product?

[JulienThesin]

Hi,

I'm currently in the same process of backup solution evaluation right now and my features comparison grid looks like :

- Which product can backup virtual and physical servers as well ?

- In which format the backed up files will look likes ? Are they still in VMware format or we still have to make a 2 steps restore process?

- Does the backup software manage the full VM and incremental backup ? And when we have to restore only 1 file in a VM, can it restore it directly in the VM ?

- Does it support VSS ?

That's just few thoughts !! Don't hesitate to add more !!

Also could you please point me the official VMware annoucement about VCB EOL ?

Regards

Julien

[khughes]

We run esXpress (phdvirtual) and haven't had any issues with them over the past 3 years besides little hickups here and there that were solved within a day or two. We don't utilitilze replication so I can't personally speak for that part of the software but I've seen in demo and know of other users using it and it looks pretty slick - http://www.phdvirtual.com/products/esxpress-virtual-backup

I think they are worth looking into and playing around with, and from my experiances their support has always been helpful and quick, which is what you want with your support.

• Kyle

[bkboyer]

Here's VMware's announcement for end of availability for VCB:

http://app.connect.vmware.com/e/es.aspx?s=524&e=12880125

[petedr]

Thanks Kyle for mentioning our support.

Pete@esXpress

www.phdvirtual.com, makers of esXpress

[gboskin]

Apart from the single file replacement ..you really can right your own backup script operatingb form the console ....as they all just use the "cp command to copy the files or vmdk and just compress and the destination. So really it all depaend on space and type of backup needed

But for me vRanger anyday .....

[ealaqqad]

You all might want to test Veeam Backup & Replicaiton v6.1 as well PHD Virtual Backup & Replication v6. Both of them have quite few interesting features. A good comparison between the two products can be found at PHD Virtual v6 vs Veeam backup & Replication v6.1

You can as well other people comments as well both vendors comments (which can get interesting) of that comparison at: http://www.itcomparison.com/blg/backup-solutions/veeam-backup-replication-vs-phd-virtual-backup-repl...

I believe both of them is worth giving it a look, though they are not the only one worth checking out. Few others that I like if you are still into tapes:

EMC Avamar

Symantec Netbackup

IBM Tivol Storage Manager (Need a different skill set to manage, though if that what you use to backup other workload nothing stop you from sticking with it for your virtual work load).

NetApp has some interesting ones as well, if that what you use for your storage.

Enjoy,

Eiad

http://www.VirtualizationTeam.com