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September 23, 2020

VMware Protection with NAKIVO Backup & Replication

NAKIVO Backup & Replication is a data protection solution for virtual, physical, cloud and SaaS environments. The solution includes functionality for backing up, replicating and recovering VMware VMs running on vCenter-managed and standalone ESXi hosts, and Site Recovery, built-in disaster recovery orchestration. NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers lower-priced licensing plans for SMBs, full packages for enterprises and 24/7 technical support. 

VMware Backup

NAKIVO Backup & Replication performs agentless, incremental backups with Changed Block Tracking (CBT) of regular and VMware fault-tolerant VMs. The solution also includes tools designed to minimize backup sizes, reduce network congestion, increase backup speeds and automate data protection activities.

Backup Data Reduction Techniques

  • Deduplication: NAKIVO Backup & Replication can deduplicate backups across an entire repository.
  • Compression: The solution includes three compression levels that allow businesses to strike a balance between smaller backups and higher backup speeds.
  • Incremental backups: The solution uses VMware's native CBT to back up only data that has changed since the previous backup session.

Backup Speed Tools

  • Network Acceleration: Depending on their infrastructure, customers can increase backup speeds by up to two times by using a second repository. This feature also reduces bandwidth consumption.

Reduced Network Congestion

  • Bandwidth Throttling: This feature can be used to establish an exact limit on the amount of bandwidth that backups jobs can consume.
  • LAN-Free Data Transfer: NAKIVO Backup & Replication supports both HotAdd and Direct SAN access, two data transport modes that can be used to run backups offline.

Task Automation

  • Scheduling: Customers can schedule backups to automatically run on preferred schedules, including daily, weekly, yearly or on a custom basis.
  • Job Chaining: Backup jobs can be "chained" so that jobs run automatically one after the other as scheduled.

VMware Replication

NAKIVO Backup & Replication can directly replicate active or inactive VMware VMs and create VMware VM replicas from VMware VM backups. The solution includes automated failover and failback. These features are designed to limit downtime if the primary VM goes down and to restore operations back to the primary VM after a recovery takes place. Enterprise editions of NAKIVO Backup & Replication include Site Recovery, a functionality that allows customers to configure automated disaster recovery workflows.

VMware Recovery

NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers full, granular and P2V recoveries for VMware VMs. The Full VM Recovery feature for VMware VMs supports recovery from compressed and deduplicated backups. The solution also includes Instant VM Recovery, which allows customers to boot VMware VMs directly from backups. The granular recovery types include:

  • Instant Object Recovery for Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory
  • Instant File Recovery
  • Universal Object Recovery

NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers two P2V recoveries: full and instant. Full P2V Recovery uses a backup to restore a physical machine to a VMware VM that is ready for long-term use in a production environment. Instant P2V Recovery also recovers a physical machine backup to a VMware VM but the VM must be migrated before long-term use. The latter recovery type is designed to eliminate downtime after a machine failure.

Backup Destinations

NAKIVO Backup & Replication can send backups to NAS appliances, storage systems, cloud storage services and tape media. The solution can be deployed on NAS appliances to create backup appliances with improved VM backup and recovery performance. Supported cloud storage services include Amazon S3, Amazon EBS, Wasabi and Microsoft Azure. NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers integration with EMC Data Domain (with Boost support), NEC HYRDAstor and HPE StoreOnce (with Catalyst support). The solution supports both conventional and virtual tape libraries.

Pricing

VMware backup and replication is included in all editions of NAKIVO Backup & Replication. Higher editions include the full set of recovery types and features. NAKIVO Backup & Replication is available with a perpetual or subscription license. Pricing starts at USD 99 per CPU socket for perpetual licenses and USD 25 per VMware VM for subscription licenses (which are priced per workload). The solution is available for free for 15 days with the full-featured trial.

Support

NAKIVO offers two support options for NAKIVO Backup & Replication customers. The first, Standard Support, enables customers to contact technical support via phone, chat and email on weekdays during business hours. The second, 24/7 Support, allows customers to receive technical support at any time.

Conclusion

NAKIVO Backup & Replication is an all-in-one data protection solution that seamlessly integrates into VMware environments. The solution provides agentless, incremental backups; Site Recovery with replication and failover; multiple recovery types; and backup performance tools. A leader on the data protection market, NAKIVO Backup & Replication delivers backup and recovery to SMBs and enterprises with a price point below top tier solutions on the market.

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About the Author

Veniamin Simonov, Director of Product Management

Veniamin Simonov 

As Director of Product Management at Nakivo, Veniamin Simonov is responsible for driving the execution of features and functionality for NAKIVO Backup & Replication. His background includes several positions in product management, with 10 years of experience working with virtualization and cloud technology.