by Greg Roody
VMware Data Recovery (VDR) isn’t new, it’s been around since the release of vSphere as a no-charge option, but it is gaining some new attention as a means of not only doing de-duplicated B2D but also as a means of storing those backups remotely to Cloud Storage. In effect, combining VDR with a Cloud Storage option like CloudArray™ will achieve B2D2C in a simple, secure, and cost effective way.
VDR has its limitations to be sure; it only supports 100 VM’s and 2TB of de-du[ped/compressed target data (VMware does see up to a 10:1 comptression ratio however) per VDR instance and it doesn’t support linked vCenter servers or linked clones. But even within those limitations (it’s a first generation product, and you can be sure VMware will improve it and expand its reach), it can be a very viable solution to real headaches you are fighting today.
One big win for VDR is that not only does it perform de-duplication, but it also does changed track updates. What this means is that the notion of Weekly Full backups and Nightly Incremental is gone. After you create the first image backup (and remember, it is doing block level de-dupe so even that is a much smaller image than your source), every backup after that only sends the changed data which is again also de-duped. VDR also maintains restore points based on every backup run, so you still have multiple restore points to choose from, just like with traditional backup solutions. Of course, it’s all disk based so there is no need to manage tapes.
Now combine that capability with CloudArray, and you can remotely replicate those backups to a Cloud Storage provider (Public or Private). This provides a critical element for a BC/DR strategy without the direct expense of maintaining a second location.
With CloudArray, you have the option to maintain a full local copy in CloudArray cache, or a partial copy. The advantage of maintaining a full local copy is that you will never have to go to cloud storage to retrieve your backed up VM's unless you have a major site disruption. In either case, you have the option to take snapshots in the cloud, thus preserving older restore points and allowing you to maintain the consistency of the backup set in the event something happens to your on-line copy.
If needed, these remote backups can be restored to any location you choose, even from instances running on Amazon EC2. This greatly expands your options if a disaster recovery site ever needs to be stood up.
Of course, being a B2D2C solution, the need for tape is eliminated, as is the need to manage those tapes or transport them to offsite storage facilities. And since the backups are on-line, you can restore from either local cache or the Cloud without having to schedule a truck to go and try to find them.
It’s non-disruptive
There is no need to upgrade or rebuild your current environment to start using VDR. It’s a simple appliance deployment and a plug-in, both included with vCenter and vSphere. From the CloudArray side, it’s a simple appliance deployment and client UI install. Along with some simple configuration steps, that’s all you need to start backing up your VM’s to cloud storage. You can even retain your current backup environment, using VDR on only those VM’s you want at any given time and slowly converting over.
Fast. Simple. Secure.
You can literally go from no solution to a complete VDR solution with CloudArray in under 30 minutes. Included will be full AES 256 bit encryption to the target Cloud Service Provider. You can watch a short 10 minute demo here (http://www.twinstrata.com/VideoCloudArrayVMwareVDR) of the major steps required to configure and use it.
And once you have CloudArray installed, you can also use it as primary VMFS storage or as RDM devices for any use with VMware. That means that you can use SVmotion, cloning templates to cloud storage for safe keeping, or just build new VM’s directly onto cloud storage.
More Information.
Visit http://www.twinstrata.com/VMwareVDR.html for more information on using Cloud Storage with VMware, including customer use cases and real world applications. You can learn more about VMware Data recovery at http://www.vmware.com/products/data-recovery/ , and you can follow discussions about VDR at VMware’s blog, http://blogs.vmware.com/uptime/.
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Stumble UponTags: backup to cloud, Cloud Storage, CloudArray, vdr, vmware
The kindly folks at VMware corrected me on the amount of data that can be backed up, so I changed the post to reflect that. I had originally posted that VDR only supported 2TB of source data. That is incorrect.
VDR supports up to a 2TB target store, which is compressed and de-duped data. VMware sees up to a 10:1 compression ratio in practice, so you that should equate to 10-20TB of source data.
You can reach us at sales@twinstrata,com, or Ann Doyle @508-651-0199 x 218
This sounds like a very attractive option, and I am very interested, but can this data really be restored to a non-VMware environment? From my testing, it appears that you need at least one host runing ESX/ESXi, a VirtualCenter VM (with root access to the ESX host), and the VDR virtual appliance. How can this be accomplished in a public cloud (such as Rackspace or Amazon)? Even the vCloud providers such as Terremark and Bluelock do not provide root access to the ESXi host.
What is your solution to this issue?
Pardon me for the delay in responding to your post of March 7th. We have experienced some shuffling of roles.
I believe you’re asking about recovery to the Cloud. Specifically, you’re asking about the second step of the recovery process where the backup server is re-instantiated.
In the event of a cataclysmic site failure, it’s a fairly simple matter to create an instance of CloudArray in the cloud, for example in Amazon EC2. Once completed, you will have access to critical data, albeit remotely. This process, if previously tested, takes less than half an hour.
The problem I believe you’re addressing is the next step which is recovery of your infrastructure. There are two choices at this point. Traditional procedures require new or off site equipment and the reconstruction of the original environment. A newer option, gaining a lot of momentum, is to recover critical servers to the cloud thus restoring critical functionality while the local data center is rebuilt.
In either case, the required next step is the re-instantiation (or re-creation, depending on the solution) of the backup server. I believe your question is indicating that you don’t feel it’s possible to re-instantiate VDR in a cloud environment due to a lack of root access which is required for VDR. Is that correct?
We can easily re-instantiate the CloudArray appliance and gain access to the data either in the cloud or at an off site location. Creating a VDR server, with appropriate authority and in the cloud, is where the difficulty lies.
I look forward to any clarification you’d like to provide and will follow up with VMWare to discuss.