Virtual Machines

  • VMware vSphere Support for Agentless Backup of VMs from Host

    VMware TAP Alliance Partner

    As a VMware Technology Alliance Partner, AIMstor provides a number of ways for you to protect critical VMware data, and to formulate the exact protection strategies you need for both physical and virtual server environments.

    AIMstor vSphere Add-on Details: Cofio’s AIMstor vSphere Add-on offers comprehensive backup and recovery support for VMware’s ESX/ESX(i) 4, and vSphere 4.0/4.1 and 5.0 platforms. Capabilities, all managed through AIMstor’s Workflow User Interface, include:

    VMware vSphere Specific Features

    Feature
    Benefit
    Reduced Load on VMs
    Block-granular near-continuous backups using VMware Changed Block Tracking (CBT) for big reductions in Virtual Machine (VM) I/O loads, backup transfer capacities and network traffic.
    SQL and Exchange
    Application consistent recovery of Exchange and SQL.
    File & Folder Restore
    Granular recovery to allow file and folder level restore from VMs after boot.
    Local & Remote Protection
    Allows you to set single or multiple backup targets for local or remote VM restore.
    Bandwidth Optimized
    Optimized data transfer for low bandwidth networks using vSphere CBT or AIMstor's Source Side Deduplication.
    Local & Remote Protection
    Allows you to set single or multiple backup targets for local or remote VM restore.
    Flexible Restore
    Flexible restores options to choose destinations for fastest possible restore, such as:
    1. Restore a VM to its original host, or another host
    2. Cloning, which is a restore assigning a different group name
    3. Restore to any specified datastore on any host
    4. Restore to any specified resource group

    The AIMstor vSphere Add-on is available as an add-on to AIMstor 2.5, and is installed on any VMware-supported Linux or Windows platforms (Windows 2003, 2008, and Linux OS's with kernel 2.6 and later). The agent is also available as a virtual appliance for deployment on any VMware ESX or ESXi hypervisor.

  • AIMstor Support in Hyper-V Windows Environments for Hosts and VMs

    AIMstor protects Hyper-V Host and VM data on several levels, providing various types of RPO and retention to fit your needs, all with Drag and Drop workflow within the AIMstor User Interface.

    AIMstor's Hyper-V Add-on Details:

    Hyper-V Specific Features

    Feature
    Benefit
    Unified Hyper-V Backup and Replication
    For Hosts and VMs, AIMstor allows you to create batch or real-time Backups, real-time CDP snapshots, and real-time Replication to another physical Hyper-V Host or Hyper-V VM. Multiple Recovery methods for your data, but only touching your data once,a nd moving it once.
    Hyper-V Specific VSS Control and Management
    AIMstor directly supports the Hyper-V VSS writer that makes sure that the hyper-v cache is flushed, called Hyper-V save state. AIMstor also communicates with the Hyper-V VSS writer relative to the Guest Machines to ensure consistency during VM backups.
    Source Side Deduplication for Hyper-V Data Transfers
    Byte-granular continuous and/or scheduled backups using AIMstor Changed Byte Transfer for big reductions in Virtual Machine (VM) I/O loads, backup transfer capacities. Optimized data transfer for remote networks using AIMstor's Source Side Deduplication.
    Hyper-V Host and VM Bare Metal Restore
    AIMstor provides native bare metal restore to any Hyper-V host to dissimilar hardware, or VM to other VM or physical hardware.
    Automated Hyper-V VM Policy Distribution
    AIMstor automatically classifies Hyper-V VMs for any policy, allowing massively scalable policy changes within an instant. If you have 50 Hyper-V hosts with 400 Hyper-VMs, AIMstor can change the RPO on all systems and VMs from a 2 hour window to a 1 minute RPO within seconds.
    SQL and Exchange
    Application consistent recovery of Exchange and SQL.
    Local & Remote Protection
    Allows you to set single or multiple backup targets for local or remote Host or VM restore.

    The AIMstor Hyper-V Add-on is available as an add-on to AIMstor 2.5, and is installed on any Microsoft Hyper-V Windows platforms (Windows 2003, 2008, 2008R2).

    The ONLY Unified Backup and Real-Time Replication Solution for Hyper-V Data Protection

  • VMware vSphere Specific Features

    Feature
    Benefit
    Reduced Load on VMs
    Block-granular near-continuous backups using VMware Changed Block Tracking (CBT) for big reductions in Virtual Machine (VM) I/O loads, backup transfer capacities and network traffic.
    SQL and Exchange
    Application consistent recovery of Exchange and SQL.
    File & Folder Restore
    Granular recovery to allow file and folder level restore from VMs after boot.
    Local & Remote Protection
    Allows you to set single or multiple backup targets for local or remote VM restore.
    Bandwidth Optimized
    Optimized data transfer for low bandwidth networks using vSphere CBT or AIMstor’s Source Side Deduplication.
    Local & Remote Protection
    Allows you to set single or multiple backup targets for local or remote VM restore.
    Flexible Restore
    Flexible restores options to choose destinations for fastest possible restore, such as:
    1. Restore a VM to its original host, or another host
    2. Cloning, which is a restore assigning a different group name
    3. Restore to any specified datastore on any host
    4. Restore to any specified resource group

    Hyper-V Specific Features

    Feature
    Benefit
    Unified Hyper-V Backup and Replication
    For Hosts and VMs, AIMstor allows you to create batch or real-time Backups, real-time CDP snapshots, and real-time Replication to another physical Hyper-V Host or Hyper-V VM. Multiple Recovery methods for your data, but only touching your data once,a nd moving it once.
    Hyper-V Specific VSS Control and Management
    AIMstor directly supports the Hyper-V VSS writer that makes sure that the hyper-v cache is flushed, called “Hyper-V save state”. AIMstor also communicates with the Hyper-V VSS writer relative to the Guest Machines to ensure consistency during VM backups.
    Source Side Deduplication for Hyper-V Data Transfers
    Byte-granular continuous and/or scheduled backups using AIMstor Changed Byte Transfer for big reductions in Virtual Machine (VM) I/O loads, backup transfer capacities. Optimized data transfer for remote networks using AIMstor's Source Side Deduplication.
    Hyper-V Host and VM Bare Metal Restore
    AIMstor provides native bare metal restore to any Hyper-V host to dissimilar hardware, or VM to other VM or physical hardware.
    Automated Hyper-V VM Policy Distribution
    AIMstor automatically classifies Hyper-V VMs for any policy, allowing massively scalable policy changes within an instant. If you have 50 Hyper-V hosts with 400 Hyper-VMs, AIMstor can change the RPO on all systems and VMs from a 2 hour window to a 1 minute RPO within seconds.
    SQL and Exchange
    Application consistent recovery of Exchange and SQL.
    Local & Remote Protection
    Allows you to set single or multiple backup targets for local or remote Host or VM restore.

    General Virtual Machine Environment Optimization

    Feature
    Benefit
    Instant VM Classification
    Through the User Interface, AIMstor identifies VM Machines distinctly, providing easy visual references to physical and virtual resources. Applying the right "VM specific" policies is done in a few seconds.
    VM Flexibility
    With VMware you have several options. Either put the agent on the VMware host machine, or put agents inside the VMware machines, or do a hybrid of both approaches. AIMstor Unified Repository deduplicates all data at VM source, and within the repository as well, managing all AIMstor tools for your AIMstor environment: Live Backup, CDP, Replication, Bare Metal Restore, File Versioning, and more.
    Host Based AIMstor
    The main benefit of putting the agent on the physical VM host is that disaster recovery becomes substantially quicker. You could also setup a policy and capture all current and new VM machines the moment they are created. By automating the recognition of VM's being created, DR is more easily accomplished, and granular changes made within a VM are captured as well.
    Agent Based AIMstor
    A fast install of AIMstor into the VM helps achieve intelligent and granular management and protection of VM data, just like a physical machine.
    VM Backup Performance
    AIMstor real-time data protection reduces and eliminates backup windows. Say goodbye to intrusive scans and trawls by legacy backup products. Your physical host server will breathe a sigh of relief as loads are vastly reduced, and replaced by even rates of real-time, change-specific data transfer and protection. VM backup window I/O nightmares are history.
    VM Bare "Metal" Restore
    Would you like to do a full DR restore onto a VM from a destroyed physical server? Or vice versa? AIMstor allows dissimilar machine Bare Metal Recovery which supports VM.

    General Virtual Machine Data Protection

    Feature
    Benefit
    Next Generation Live Backup
    Eliminates the inadequacies of Legacy Backup by providing zero-wait backup windows, unified deduplication, and fully unified disk repositories that can scale to your needs.
    Continuous Data Protection, CDP
    Similar to backup, but optimized for faster Recovery Time Objectives, AIMstor CDP can be used with Backup, and can use the same data, allowing the source to move the data only once. Perfect for a local Remote Office Repository to facilitate easy and ultra-fast restore.
    Real-Time Replication
    Synchronous, Asynychronous and Asynch Journaled File Level Replication for local and remote sites, with on-demand restore and disaster recovery. With Replicator, you can implement a single, truly unified solution, mixing other tools such as Backup, CDP and Versioning within the same policy instance. Eliminates bandwidth waste and capacity usage of Volume Replication.
    File Versioning
    Because AIMstor auto-classifies dataMore frequent backups cause no CPU or system overhead on the source machine. Data is captured incrementally as it is changed or created. A backup is in effect a point of consistency triggered from the source to create a snapshot in the repository.
    Next-Generation Restore
    Granular and full image restores, with indexed object store for search capable files. Browsing snapshots based on search parameters, and many other restore advantages that are simply not available outside of AIMstor.
    Multi-Tier Backup Deduplication
    Utilizing several backup deduplication schemes, from the point of primary data change awareness, to transfer of data, and post process, AIMstor reduces storage capacity needed many fold. See Data Deduplication for more information.
    Bare Metal Recovery
    Utilizes existing backup and CDP repository data to enable restore to same or dissimilar systems, such as VM to Physical, VM to VM, Physical to VM. Provides easy, 1-2-3 process for bringing up a system from a completely new replacement, fully unified as part of AIMstor.