Achieve Virtual Backup Success Without Becoming a Backup Expert

Server virtualization affects more than just how small and midsize businesses (SMBs) manage their IT infrastructure and the data that resides there. It also changes how they need to approach backup because server virtualization impacts (and often breaks) existing backup processes. But achieving virtual backup success requires more than changing out backup software. It calls for SMBs to identify a solution that addresses today’s new backup challenges without requiring them to become backup experts in the process.

Server virtualization changes IT infrastructures in many ways. It changes how applications oper-ate, hardware is deployed and the flow of existing business processes. But one area that is easy to overlook is how backup changes in virtualized environments.

In particular SMBs need to focus on:

• Thenewbackupchallengesthatservervirtualizationcreates

• Thefeaturestheyshouldlookforinnextgenerationbackupsoftware

• Whatbackupsoftwaresolutionssatisfythesecriteria

Server Virtualization Deployments Feel Real Backup Pain

In December 2010, the analyst firm IDC forecast that by 2014 23 percent of all servers will actively support virtual machine (VM) technology with more than 70 percent of all server workloads resid-ing in VMs.1 While possibly shocking to some, these numbers are reasonable because the of the real advantages that virtualization offers.

As SMBs virtualize their servers, virtual machine (VM) backup and restore emerges as a major pain point that often hinders their deployment. While virtualization does not “break” backup per se, it may open up gaps in data protection that cause backup agents to run inefficiently and limit the ability of IT managers to restore virtual machines and virtual machine data. The result is that IT managers must re-think their backup strategy.

Five factors that particularly impact backup processes negatively in a virtualized environment are:

1. Fewerphysicalresourcesavailableforbackup. In virtualized environments, many VMsshare the same physical resources on the host. As a result, backup software agents that runon each VM become very resource intensive, especially when one considers how they work.

Backup agents:

• Requiresignificantserverresourcestofirstcalculatewhatfilesorblocksneedto be backed up

• Needtocompressthebackupdatafortransmission

• Aredisk-intensivebecausetheagentdoesafullscanofallfilestobebackedup

• Requirenetworkbandwidthtomovethebackupdatatothecentralrepository

Server virtualization changes everything about managing IT infrastructures. However one aspect that often gets overlooked is how much backup and recovery changes in virtualized environments. Using Eversync, organizations can meet the new data protection challenges that virtualized environments present, remain confident they can protect existing physical machines and know they can manage their new mixed physical-virtual environment from a single console without needing to become a backup expert.

Executive White Paper > Eversync

Company Eversync

900 E. Hamilton Avenue, Suite 100Campbell, CA 95008

www.eversyncsolutions.com

IndustryData Protection

Five Factors that Negatively Impact Virtual Machine Backups• Fewerphysicalresources

available for backup• VMsusevirtualdisks• DifficulttodetectnewVMs• VMscanmigrate• Granularrestoresareproblematic

Solution• EversyncAll-in-OneBackupSolutions

Key Eversync Benefits• Applicationintegration• Deduplicatesbackupdata• DeepintegrationwithVMwarevSphereandvCenterServer

• Performssyntheticbackups• Physicalhostrecovery• Physicalandvirtualhostreplication• Singleeasytouseconsoleto

manage physical and virtual backups• SupportforVMwareVADP• UniqueIntegratedremovable

disk archiving

September 2012

By DCIG Lead Analyst Jerome M Wendt

Eversync provides the right mix of features that organizations need to meet their physical data protection demands while offering the additional new flexibility required to meet their virtual backup and recovery demands now and in the future.”

— Jerome Wendt, DCIG Lead Analyst

Compounding the problem, backup jobs may execute within multiple VMs at the same time, competing for the same limited set of resources on the physical host. All of these factors contribute to potentially slowing both backup speeds and applications residing on these VMs. The big takeaway here is that the host’sphysicalresourcesarenolongeravailableforbackup.

2. VMsusevirtualdisks. To avoid resource contention, some administrators consider backing up directly to thestorage volumes where the VM data resides. While this may work for the VM’s metadata (configuration filesfor example) it is not advisable for each VM’s virtual disk (VMDK.)

Current virtualization technologies commonly create a VMDK that is part of a larger physical disk pool. TheseVMDKs are then implemented as one or more files that are each tens of gigabytes in size.

This presents a problem to standard backup tools. Absent any knowledge of the internal structure of the VMDK file,the backup software must back up this file as a whole. This is extremely inefficient and in some cases may requirefull backups of each VMDK.

The other risk is that if the VM is not powered down or suspended during the backup, the VMDK may not bein a consistent state so the metadata may not match the VMDK’s state.

3. DifficulttodetectnewVMs. One of the big advantages of virtualization is how easy it is to create new VMs.However absent any integration between the backup software and the virtual OS it is difficult to detect whena new VM is created. Backup administrators must either rely on server administrators to install a backup agentand set up a backup schedule on each VM as it is created or have some manual process in place to detect thecreation of a new VM lest it go unprotected.

4.VMscanmigrate.Backup software historically assumed that applications would remain on the servers on whichthey were installed. In a virtualized environment however, VMs may migrate from one physical host to another.This can lead to unprotected VMs when such a migration occurs since the backup software does not knowwhere the VM is located.

5. Granularrestoresareproblematic. Quickly and easily backing up an entire VMDK is one of the big attractionsof doing VM backups. However it is also one of its largest drawbacks as the backup software may have novisibility into the VMDK file. As a result, the backup software treats the VMDK like any other file as it hasno reason to peer inside the file.

The downfall of this approach is that IT administrators most commonly need to restore individual files, recordsor emails contained within a VMDK, not the entire VMDK. So to restore a file or email, an administrator mustfirst restore the entire VMDK file and then go into it to restore the needed file or email.

It is for these reasons that agent-based backup is no longer the right approach for protecting a virtualized environ-ment. Thisisalsowhyit is imperativeforSMBstoadoptbackupsoftwarethattightlyintegrateswiththevirtualizationhypervisorandleveragesthenewdataprotectionfeaturesitoffers.

A Balanced Backup Approach in a Mixed Up Physical-Virtual World

As organizations look to better protect their virtual environment, they need to keep in mind that applications like Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server may persist on physical servers for some time to come. As such, simply iden-tifying a solution that protects virtualized environments is insufficient. It must also protect physical servers and applications that will likely continue on some time even after SMBs virtualize their environment.

To that end, there are five (5) primary features to look for in a backup solution to ensure that it protects both physical and virtual environments.

1. VMwareVADPsupport. VMware APIs for Data Protection (VADP) provides the most effective and efficient wayto back up VMs while minimizing or even eliminating the need for a backup agent on individual VMs.

For example, using VADP, backup software may look inside VMDK files and perform granular file-level backups.This also serves to deliver high levels of deduplication when VMDK files are backed up and it facilitates restoresof individual files inside the VMDK without the requirement to first restore the entire VMDK.

Further, VADP may leverage guest OS supported snapshot tools such as Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service(VSS). This is less intrusive than guest OS-based agents while capturing the needed metadata and data of theVMs and their associated VMDKs so they are in a consistent, recoverable state.

Executive White Paper > Eversync

September 20122

2. VMwarevSphereintegration. Integration with VMware vSphere’s management layer keeps the backupsoftware informed when a VM is created, modified, removed or migrated from one physical host to another.Using this integration, new VMs are automatically included in existing backup schedules while existing VMsare tracked as they move. Inactive or deleted VMs may be removed from backup schedules.

vSphere integration also facilitates the creation of a centralized management console. Using backup softwarethat snaps into VMware’s vCenter Server, administrators may go directly to the vCenter Server console toschedule backups and perform restores.

3. Applicationintegration. Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server are widely used in SMBs. As such, the backupsoftware must integrate with these applications to fully protect them. The catch here is that these applicationsuse large data files that are constantly open and accessed by large numbers of users. This requires levels of dataprotection integration above and beyond what is natively found in virtual OS hypervisors.

For these transactional applications, properly integrated backupsoftware must include granular recovery of tables and/or emailmessages through integration with Microsoft’s native snapshotutility and use of its VSS Writer to create application consistentbackups without requiring an additional agent in the guest OS.

4. Physicalhostrecovery. The recovery of an entire physical server isoften neglected in virtualized environments. However just as in therecovery of a virtual host, SMBs should have the flexibility to returna physical host to a fully consistent state in the event of a disaster.

In virtualized environments this becomes a two-step process. The physical host is first recovered including itshypervisor and management software. This is then followed by the recovery of each VM on the physical host.

To achieve this, the backup solutions must support both backup and restore of physical servers as well asintegration with the hypervisor for backing up and restoring the virtual environment. Furthermore, there willalmost always be servers in the environment that are not virtualized. In these cases the backup solution shouldbe able to provide data protection for both physical and virtual servers.

5. Physicalandvirtualhostreplication. One of the strengths of virtualized environments is the ability to quicklycreate new VMs. Backup software should complement that functionality by enabling the replication of point-in-time snapshots of virtual as well as physical machines in the event that a disaster occurs because SMBs willexpect to recover their physical machines as quickly as their virtual ones should such an event occur.

Knowing what backup challenges server virtualization creates and what features backup software should possess to address these concerns, sets SMBs up to achieve an important next step: identifying a data protection solution such as Eversync that protects both physical and virtual machines.

Eversync Brings Physical and Virtual Backup Together

Eversync provides the right mix of features that organizations need to meet their physical data protection demands while offering the additional new flexibility required to meet their virtual backup and recovery demands now and in the future. More importantly, it gives SMBs the freedom to do so without requiring their IT administrators to become backup experts in the process and without requiring them to buy two separate backup solutions.

It does so in the following ways:

• EversyncintegratestightlywithVMware. When deployed, Eversync initially probes VMware to gatherneeded metadata from vSphere to identify VMs in the environment so they may be backed up and thenmanaged throughout each VM’s life.

Eversync’s vSphere integration highlights its VM lifecycle tracking feature that tracks VM migrations from onephysical host to another. Then again using its VMware integration, Eversync associates the history of each VMbackup regardless of where the VM resides making it easy for an IT administrator to do a recovery of any VM.

• EversyncalsotakesadvantageofVADP to safely and efficiently perform snapshots and backups of VMswithout requiring the installation of an agent in the guest OSes. Using VADP, Eversync eliminates the overheadthat could result when backing up multiple VMs on the same physical machine.

ExecutiveWhitePaper—Eversync 3

Eversync provides a single, integrated solution that brings the management of physical and virtual machines under control without requiring SMBs to become backup experts in the process.”

— Jerome Wendt, DCIG Lead Analyst

©2012 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. The information, product recommendations and opinions made by DCIG LLC are based upon public information and from sources that DCIG LLC believes to be accurate and reliable. However since market conditions change, the information and recommendations are made without warranty of any kind. All product names used and mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. DCIG LLC assumes no responsibility or liability for any damages whatsoever (including incidental, consequential or otherwise) caused by one’s use or reliance of this information or the recommendations presented or for any inadvertent errors which this document may contain. Any questions please call DCIG LLC at (402)884-9594.

DCIG, LLC | 7511 Madison Street | Omaha NE 68127 | 402.884.9594dciginc.com

September 2012

Executive White Paper > Eversync

About Eversync

Eversync gives peace of mind to its customers by providing total data protection solutions. The company’s products combine enterprise-level disaster recovery, compliance, and backup capabilities in a simple and affordable package that is purpose-built for mid-sized businesses. Eversync sells its products to a growing list of customers through an exclusive network of channel partners who are focused on SMBs and virtualiza-tion. For more information, see www.eversyncsolutions.com.

• EversynchasnotabandonedagentstoprotectVMs.Integral to its backup process is ensuring thatthe data of virtualized applications like Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server remain easily recoverable.

To accomplish this, Eversync initially protects each respective guest VM’s file system and application datausing vSphere’s VADP and Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Server (VSS). Eversync then uses its agentsduring restores to recover these applications. This combined approach ensures no impact backups whiledelivering very granular recoveries.

• Eversyncperformssyntheticfullbackups. In situations where snapshots are not an option, syntheticbackups almost totally eliminate the need for administrators to schedule a full backup. Eversync builds a“synthetic” or virtual backup from previously created full and incremental backups which keeps all backuptraffic localized to the Eversync appliance and enables instant file level restores.

• TotakecareoftheduplicatedatathatresultsfromVMbackups,Eversyncusesitspatentedin-linededuplicationtechnology. Its technology examines byte sequences in backup data to strip out duplicatedata and ensure identical data is only stored once. This is a critical feature because virtual machineimages typically have significant duplicate data.

• Finally,EversyncaccountsforthemixedworldofphysicalandvirtualmachinesthatmostSMBswillhavetoprotect,recoverandreplicatefortheforeseeablefuture. Its new VMware integrationcoupled with its years of protecting physical environments positions organizations to use the sameproduct to protect both their physical and virtual environments. Using Eversync’s single integrated userinterface, IT administrators can manage all of their backups and replications from one console. Thismeans that users do not have to learn any new interfaces in order to manage their virtual and physicalenvironments. In this way SMBs may recover the physical host while also recovering virtual hosts inparallel and without the use of host-based agents.

This physical-virtual integration also comes into play as it supports the offsite replication of data. In thisway, organizations get more than a backup and recovery solution from Eversync. They also get a disasterrecovery solution as well.

Eversync Delivers Virtual Backup Success Without SMBs Needing to Become Backup Experts

Whether an SMB is just starting down the virtualization path or already has a significant portion of its environ-ment virtualized, there is a lot to consider from identifying what applications to virtualize to acquiring the right hardware to host their VMs. However what too often gets overlooked is the type of solution that they should use to backup and recover their newly created mix of physical and virtual machines.

Eversync makes backup and recovery a non-issue. By combining support for both virtual and physical environ-ments, Eversync delivers the new generation of data protection solution that transcends these very real boundaries that exist in SMBs today.

By combining physical backup and recovery strengths with key features that are needed to protect virtual environments, Eversync provides the single, integrated solution that SMBs need to bring the manage-ment of their physical and virtual machines under control without requiring them to become backup experts in the process.

1. IDC. “Worldwide Market for Enterprise Server Virtualization to Reach $19.3 Billion by 2014, According to IDC - PrUS22605110.” Worldwide Market for Enterprise Server Virtualization to Reach $19.3 Billion by 2014, According to IDC - PrUS22605110. IDC, 6 Dec. 2010. Web. 12 Sept. 2012. http://www.idc.com/about/viewpressrelease.jsp?containerId=prUS22605110.

About DCIG

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