Backup Solution

[vmmax2479]

Hello All,

I am looking for a backup solution that will dot he following for us.

1. backup at VMs

2. backup at file level. We are keeping our backups for legal purposes for the period of 2 years.

3. replicate to DR site

The only product i am about to evaluate is esxRangerpro

Any suggestions would appreciate.

Max

[Eldron]

esxRanger looks like the application for most of what you are looking to do. Are you looking for one piece of software that will do the backups, and automated replication to your DR site?

Do you have a backup solution for physical servers? My company purchased esxRanger Pro, but we have not used it. Our CommVault install, using VCB, handles everything we need. We can do file level backups and CommVault reports show us historical information for use in legal discovery.

[vmmax2479]

automated replication to your DR site? Yes

As of now we are still using ArcServer to do file level backup only.

I will evaluate the esxrangerpro shortly. it says it can do VM and physical server. restore files with plugin - no charge for a plugin if you purchased licenses. and it can replicate to DR.

Seeking if someone experienced it or have other solutions.

What is CommVault? does it do all that I am looking to do?

Price?

Thanks

[petedr]

Hey vmmax2479,

My company's product esXpress may be another alternative for you.

esXpress does hot VM image backups ( Full and Deltas ) in the virtual space using Virtual Backup Appliances (VBAs), it does not use VCB. Backups can be sent to either network targets ( ftp/ssh/smb ) or to vmfs either local or on your SAN or both network and vmfs at the same time. Lots of other features as well including template backups, backing up VMs with existing snapshots, backup archive management etc.

Our new 3.1 version also includes File Level Backups (its an add-on feature). What happens here is when the VM image level backup is made esXpress will also create a seperate file level backup archive for the folders indentifed to be backed up and will place the archive on a network share.

Also in 3.1 esXpress now does what we call Simple Replication. What this is we use the backups to replicate to another esx host ( could be your DR site ). How this works is the production host sends its delta backups to a backup target ( usually a ftp server but other possibilities exist ), then second host is looking on that target ( usually hourly ) for any new backups and then automatically restores them.

Pete@esxpress

[Eldron]

CommVault is a backup solution for the Enterprise, like BackupExec. It does not do the DR site replication. It is not a cheap solution, so if you are a small shop you may want to go another route.

I have used Pete's product in the past, and I liked it. It looks like some new features have come online to make it even better.

[vmmax2479]

Pete,

Is evaluation of your product available? who sould I contact about price information and about functionality details?

Max

[petedr]

Max,

You go to our web site ( http://www.esxpress.com ) and you will see a link when you can register to download the product for a trial evaluation. After that you can contact me for any questions or our sales and support groups. The contact information for that is also on the web site.

Pete@esxpress

[admin]

I can recommend esxpress, we use it in our production environment and it's a great product.

[vmmax2479]

thank you all