by Archiware Staff
Virtualization is a well-established, future-proof technology. It increases efficiency, reduces downtime and expands datacenter utilization. The IT industry relies on server virtualization to reduce costs and improve productivity. Now, it is also becoming an important trend in the Media and Entertainment business.
Customers from the Media and Entertainment sector have trusted Archiware’s P5 Software Suite to manage their data for years. To backup and restore virtual machines in VMware environments, the new product, Archiware Pure now provides them with the ideal solution. Its lean design and straightforward licensing model allow users to secure their virtual machines with unmatched simplicity.
Server Virtualization: Pros and Cons
Server virtualization partitions a physical server into multiple virtual servers (also referred to as virtual machines, or VMs) using virtualization software (e.g. VMware). Each virtual server simulates a physical machine, running its own operating system and applications on the hardware. The result: operating systems can simultaneously run on the designated hardware, extensive IT resources are eliminated and the versatility of a physical machine is expanded.
The improved efficiency nevertheless comes with a price. A virtualized environment is not only an investment, the risk of downtime or data loss increases with the VMware setup as single point of failure. The more services are virtualized, the greater the dependence. Therefore, virtual machines must be sufficiently secured using a VM backup solution.
Pros and cons of server virtualization
Virtualization Requires Protection
On one hand, setting up virtual machines is simple. On the other hand, it is difficult to find the right product to reduce downtime and protect against data loss, user error and attacks. Using snapshots to secure a VMware setup may be tempting. However, snapshots only freeze a dataset for the short-term and cannot restore an entire VM. In case of a platform crash, a snapshot disappears along with other virtual machines and cannot be restored.
To create an actual copy of data independent of the VMware setup, a real backup is paramount. The majority of products address this need with a dedicated backup server. This is contradictory when considering that the purpose of server virtualization is to save hardware. A dedicated backup server is an additional investment, which requires a separate OS, maintenance and regular updates.
This is where Archiware Pure leads the way back to the original advantages of virtualization: efficiency and simplicity.
Maximum Security with Minimum Effort
Archiware Pure’s simple setup, automatic backup and verification within the ESXi environment minimize complexity, cost and hardware requirements. As a result, Pure achieves maximum security with minimum effort. Product advantages include:
Focus on Essential Features
- Powerful, lean design
- Extremely fast, Changed-Block-Tracking based backup
- Maximum data integrity through backup verification
- Streamlined recovery of a VM, a single VMDK or just a single file
Easy Installation and Operation
- Pre-configured as a VM appliance
- Simple, 5-minute deployment & setup
- Configured and maintained from a web-browser
- No additional hardware or software required
Minimum Investment and Operating Costs
- Simple and fair licensing per VMware host server
- No hidden costs – full functionality for every host
- No additional costs for physical backup server
- Cost-effective licensing at €500 per physical host server
Backing Up Virtual Machines with Archiware Pure
Archiware Pure is quickly configured as a VMware Virtual Appliance following a simple, 5-minute installation. The appliance resides on a VMware server with other virtual machines. There are no additional hardware costs for a physical backup server.
Pure installation as a virtual appliance in a VMware vSphere environment
Pure secures virtual machines in two phases. The first phase of a backup run saves all systems incrementally. VMware delivers the required information with which Pure is able to copy only modified data. This way, numerous virtual machines can be backed up in minutes. In the second phase, Pure verifies that original and backed up data are identical. This guarantees maximum data security and integrity.
Download Archiware Pure as a fully-featured, free 90-day trial under: http://pure.archiware.com/download
If you have questions regarding how to plan and build your professional data security solution with Archiware, please do not hesitate to contact your local reseller or submit a ticket to our support team.
