StorageCraft product information
You Asked, We Listened
By now you may have heard that we’ve announced new virtual server pricing for MSPs on our flagship product, ShadowProtect®. We’ve had special pricing for virtual servers for a while, and our MSP partners have been asking for the same thing with ShadowProtect® for Managed Service Providers™. Now the price discount is across the board — both for MSPs and perpetual licenses.
This isn’t just an exercise in patting ourselves on the back for making the change. I might break an arm doing that. But it is to make the point that we do ask for your feedback. And we do listen to it when you give it. We want to hear what you have to say about our products, our partner program and StorageCraft as a company.
This year, we’ll be rolling out new products, introducing new programs and making changes to our current offerings. Like any company, we anticipate that we’ll have to make adjustments along the way. We hope that you’ll be open to telling us if something isn’t working for you — and if it is! We like to hear the good things, too. The StorageCraft team plans to add new ways for you to tell us how our business continuity solutions are helping you and your customers as well as the creative ways you’re using them. We are working on some cool incentives to share that feedback, so please stay tuned.
You talk, and we will listen. We promise.
StorageCraft Announces Virtual Server Pricing for MSPs
ShadowProtect for Managed Service Providers gets new pricing option
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DRAPER, Utah, U.S.A. – Jan. 19, 2012 – StorageCraft Technology Corporation, a provider of best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops, has announced new virtual server pricing for StorageCraft® ShadowProtect® for Managed Service Providers™.
The new pricing will be available beginning February 1, 2012, but managed service providers (MSPs) may begin installing it on virtual servers immediately.
In addition, MSPs who have signed up for the StorageCraft MSP Rebate Program will receive a $6 rebate for virtual servers they add (over and above their “base” installation number) during their rebate period.
“Many of our partners asked us to provide separate pricing for virtual servers for ShadowProtect for Managed Service Providers, and this new option is a direct response to that. Our channel partners are important to us, and their feedback is an important factor in our decision-making process,” said Curt James, vice president of marketing and business development at StorageCraft.
ShadowProtect for Managed Service Providers features benefits from the award-winning ShadowProtect product line, such as recovery from bare metal to dissimilar hardware or to and from virtual environments, and it gives MSPs the power to deactivate ShadowProtect licenses remotely from the MSP licensing console.
“Our goal is to make it easier for our partners in the channel to provide virtualization and business continuity solutions to their customers, and providing pricing options tailored to virtualized environments is one way to accomplish that,” said James.
This pricing option will be available to MSPs in North America. To get more information, please contact StorageCraft at sales@storagecraft.com.
About StorageCraft Technology Corporation
StorageCraft Technology Corporation provides best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops. StorageCraft delivers software products that reduce downtime, improve security and stability for systems and data and lower the total cost of ownership for servers, desktops and laptops. For more information, visit www.storagecraft.com.
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StorageCraft and ShadowProtect are trademarks of StorageCraft Technology Corporation. Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
StorageCraft Offers New Purchase Options on Backup and Disaster Recovery Software
New choices based on feedback from channel partners
DRAPER, Utah, U.S.A. – Dec. 12, 2011 – StorageCraft Technology Corporation, a provider of best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops, is now offering new purchase options for its ShadowProtect® solutions, thanks to suggestions and feedback from managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs).
“It’s not enough to offer a product without listening to feedback from the channel. We want to develop solutions that are useful and that make sense to our partners, and these new options reflect the feedback we heard from them. Their feedback is critical to us, and we want them to understand that they have a voice,” said Mike Kunz, vice president of sales at StorageCraft.
StorageCraft is offering the following purchase options:
ShadowProtect Virtual Server 1-pack
StorageCraft originally offered ShadowProtect Virtual in 6-pack bundles, but it developed the 3-pack option after receiving feedback from small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that wouldn’t use that many licenses. The single-pack version is also the result of partner feedback, and it ends up serving the same purpose.
“We’re committed to helping SMBs grow successfully. Now they can order the exact amount of licenses they need without overspending on their budgets for licenses they won’t use,” said Curt James, vice president of marketing and business development at StorageCraft.
This product offering is available through StorageCraft’s authorized distribution partners in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
ShadowProtect Bundles
The new bundle options give MSPs and VARs flexibility with ShadowProtect Small Business Server, Server and Desktop products. The bundles include:
- ShadowProtect Small Business Server (one license) and ShadowProtect Desktop (10 licenses)
- ShadowProtect Server (one license) and ShadowProtect Desktop (10 licenses
These bundles are available in the United States and Canada only through StorageCraft’s distribution partners, Lifeboat Distribution and SYNNEX.
About StorageCraft Technology Corporation
StorageCraft Technology Corporation provides best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops. StorageCraft delivers software products that reduce downtime, improve security and stability for systems and data and lower the total cost of ownership for servers, desktops and laptops. For more information, visit www.storagecraft.com.
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StorageCraft and ShadowProtect are trademarks of StorageCraft Technology Corporation. Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
StorageCraft Releases ShadowControl ImageManager
Management tools and services give users greater control, flexibility
DRAPER, Utah, U.S.A. – Sept. 20, 2011 – StorageCraft Technology Corporation, a provider of best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops, announces the release of StorageCraft ShadowControl™ ImageManager™ 5, software designed to help manage, customize and enhance the backup process.
ShadowControl ImageManager works in conjunction with StorageCraft ShadowProtect®, the award-winning line of backup and disaster recovery software. It includes tools and services that allow users to replicate backup images to the cloud, pre-stage backups as virtual machines, consolidate backup image files and monitor and manage backups created with ShadowProtect.
“Small to midsize businesses (SMBs) don’t often have the resources to manage costly systems that would provide redundancy in their computer environments. ShadowControl ImageManager gives them flexible, reliable tools to make that possible,” said Brandon Nordquist, vice president of product management at StorageCraft.
ShadowControl ImageManager increases control over backup images created with ShadowProtect®, which allows the user to more efficiently manage physical, virtual or cloud backups.
New and notable features of ShadowControl ImageManager include:
- ShadowStream™ accelerates the file transfer of backup images up to five times faster than traditional file transfer does. Its technology transports ShadowProtect backup files off-site quickly and reliably by controlling bandwidth capacity.
- intelligentFTP™ enables the user to filter files for replication locally, to the network, or to an off-site location. The user can set parameters for the replication, whether it’s every incremental backup or just backup files that have been verified.
- HeadStart Restore® reduces the recovery window by proactively constructing the backup image as a virtual machine, allowing the user to restore the system in minutes, saving critical time.
In addition, ShadowControl ImageManager provides management tools that allow users to verify and re-verify backup image files over time to make sure they are still intact. ShadowControl ImageManager also consolidates backup image files and allows the user to set up retention parameters locally and in the cloud, saving valuable storage space both on-site and off -site. Users can set up email notifications to track the status of backup images as well.
“SMBs have a critical need for simplified, automated business continuity solutions because they often cannot afford the infrastructure and resources required to manage complicated systems. Products like this one from StorageCraft are important because they provide backup and disaster recovery solutions to a large, underserved SMB market,” said Deni Connor, principal analyst for Storage Strategies NOW.
Pricing and Availability
ShadowControl ImageManager is included free with a ShadowProtect license. Jobs using ShadowStream, intelligentFTP and HeadStart Restore require additional licensing fees, depending on the software the user selects, and are available through Lifeboat Distribution, SYNNEX and authorized StorageCraft solution providers, managed service providers and value-added resellers.
For additional information about pricing and licensing, visit the ShadowControl ImageManager product page, contact StorageCraft Sales at (801) 545-4711 or email sales@storagecraft.com.
About StorageCraft Technology Corporation
StorageCraft Technology Corporation provides best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops. StorageCraft delivers software products that reduce downtime, improve security and stability for systems and data and lower the total cost of ownership for servers, desktops and laptops. For more information, please visit www.storagecraft.com.
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Some background on our new backup and disaster recovery software
As we prepared for the launch of ShadowControl ImageManager(TM), we kept talking about how we wanted our partners to feel like they could control the backup and disaster recovery process, rather than just manage it. To us, the word manage feels like just getting by or being able to just handle it.
The ImageManager technology has always been a standard component of ShadowProtect since we release version 3 a few years ago, but it’s now branded as ShadowControl ImageManager with features like ShadowStream(TM), intelligentFTP(TM) and HeadStart Restore(R), the user can customize his or her settings to what best suits the scenario. Need to transfer large files over a highly-latent connection? Use ShadowStream. Are you already a pro at setting up off-site FTP servers? Then intelligentFTP may meet your needs. Want to pre-stage your backup image, making it possible to recover your data within minutes? HeadStart Restore is the tool for you. ShadowControl ImageManager puts you squarely in the driver’s seat.
We’ve also worked on creating pricing that makes sense. We encourage our partners to create customizable backup and disaster recovery solutions for their customers, and making you buy licenses and jobs you’ll never use just doesn’t fit with that philosophy. With the pricing structure for ShadowControl ImageManager, you pay only for the licensed jobs you need. Your pricing and perks will rely on your current configuration, so it’s best to contact one of our distribution partners – Lifeboat Distribution or SYNNEX – or one of our inside sales reps to get specifics.
Questions? Check out the product page or get in touch with our sales department; they’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Check out the ShadowControl ImageManager press release.
New ShadowProtect Virtual Pack
When we announced ShadowProtect Virtual last week, a lot of you told us you loved the new pricing and licensing options, but something was missing: a server 3-pack license. We kicked the idea around a bit, discussed why we should (or shouldn’t) do it, and then came to a decision. We’re adding a server 3-pack license.
It’s going to take us a couple of days to add SKUs and make sure all of our ducks are in a row, but by week’s end, we hope to have the server 3-pack available on our own Web store and through Lifeboat distribution (in North America). We want you to be able to standardize all of your servers with one backup and disaster recovery solution.
This also gives us a chance to say that we really do value your feedback, and we do listen to what you have to say. We hope you’ll continue to let us know where we can improve our products and our programs. We would like to say “Thank you” to those of you who did take the time to share your opinion and add your two cents. We’ll keep on listening.
ShadowProtect makes Microsoft Exchange backup easier
Back in 2010, we released our Microsoft Exchange recovery tool called ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange. This tool provided end users with the ability to quickly restore Exchange mail messages, even attachments, in minutes. But beyond that, GRE provides Exchange administrators the ability to quickly perform complete mailbox migrations as well as the ability to migrate the entire Exchange database from one Exchange server to another, using the simple drag and drop functionality that GRE provides. Now instead of wasting hours or even an entire weekend on completing an Exchange backup, you can finish it in minutes.
Last week, we announced the release of ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange version 6.1 with the added support for Exchange 2010. Users also have the ability to perform keyword searches – not just into the message body, to/from fields, or subject line that was provided in version 5.1, but directly into attachments as well. This makes it so much easier to track down that hard to find message that an end user accidentally deleted.
Although these added features are certainly worth talking about, the other big news here is the change in pricing, which makes GRE a much more affordable solution for anybody using ShadowProtect to backup Exchange. To get more information about ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange, visit our product page.
- Matt Urmston, StorageCraft senior product manager
StorageCraft Releases ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange – 04/20/2011
New version of Exchange recovery software delivers simple solution for e-mail recovery, search and migration to new servers
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DRAPER, Utah, U.S.A. – April 20, 2011 – Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face unique challenges when it comes to backing up, restoring, searching or migrating their Exchange database (EDB) files. It’s often expensive and time consuming, which can bring productivity to a screeching halt.
StorageCraft Technology Corporation, a provider of innovative backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops, makes searching and restoring Exchange servers faster and easier with the release of StorageCraft® ShadowProtect® Granular Recovery for Exchange™.
“Microsoft Exchange is one of the most popular email servers for companies of all sizes, but Exchange backup can also be complex, which sometimes makes it difficult to recover and restore individual mailboxes and email messages. ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange takes the guesswork out of that process, restoring critical data within minutes instead of hours or days,” said Brandon Nordquist, vice president of product management at StorageCraft.
ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange complements ShadowProtect Server and ShadowProtect Small Business Server, which provide point-in-time backup images of an Exchange server. With those existing images, IT administrators can simply use ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange to access the Exchange EDB backup file contained in the backup image, navigate to the desired email files – whether it’s entire mailboxes, individual email messages, or email attachments – then drag and drop the needed files to a production Exchange server or save them to a PST file. Additional benefits include:
• Rapid restore of deleted email
Find and restore a single email in minutes, eliminating the need for a comprehensive restore of an entire server to recover a few missing files.
• Rapid recovery of specific mailboxes
Expedite the recovery of a single mailbox or specific groups of mailboxes without requiring an entire database recovery, saving time and money.
• Swift search of email archives
Search email messages and attachment file name by key word, subject, sender, recipient, or send date. An optional add-on allows even more in-depth search with the ability to scan attachment contents.
• Easy migration to a new Exchange server
Drag-and-drop user mailboxes to the new Exchange server once it’s online, minimizing migration time.
The new version of ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange, which also has an available trial version, also supports Exchange 2010.
Pricing and Availability
ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange is available from authorized StorageCraft distributors and value-added resellers (VARs). Volume discounts are available.
For additional information about StorageCraft ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange or to learn more about volume licensing, visit the product page, send an e-mail or call StorageCraft at +1 801 545-4700.
About StorageCraft Technology Corporation
StorageCraft Technology Corporation provides innovative backup, disaster recovery, system migration and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops. StorageCraft delivers software products that reduce downtime, improve security and stability for systems and data and lower the total cost of ownership for servers, desktops and laptops. For more information, visit www.storagecraft.com.
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StorageCraft Training Event: Disaster Recovery
This week, we’re offering a brand new training Webinar that focuses on simplifying disaster recovery. This technical training event is called, “Architect simple solutions with ShadowProtect®.”
It may seem daunting, but Disaster Recovery really doesn’t have to be complicated. In this online training seminar, we’ll walk you through a basic DR architecture. We show you how to provide local and remote protection of critical systems and data. We’ll explore fast recovery options that are already available in ShadowProtect. This training will also cover features like HeadStart Restore® and VirtualBoot™.
To sign up, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/262296513.
Expanded Sales and Technical Training
The new year is off to an excellent start at StorageCraft. We’re hiring new sales and support staff and we’re expanding our training to help you more. We’ll be revamping and revising things over the next few months, but starting this week we’re offering brand-new training sessions.
This Thursday, we’re beginning our weekly series offering in-depth technical product training for StorageCraft solutions. This week’s Webinar is: “Working with StorageCraft Support: The fastest path to resolution.” We will also offer our sales training introduction, “How to Win More Business with a Better Disaster Recovery Solution” on Wednesday. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll have addition technical and sales training sessions.
To learn more about upcoming Webinars or to sign up for a specific training event, please visit the StorageCraft Events Center. And if you have a suggestion for a specific type of training event that you’d like to have, please let us know.
Recorded Training Sessions
If you missed out on our recent technical and sales training sessions, it isn’t too late to catch these Webinars. We’ve recorded them so that you can watch them when you have a little spare time.
To watch our deep-dive technical training, “Unravel the mysteries of ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise,” visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/498164689.
To watch our sales training Webinar, “How to win more business with a better Disaster Recovery solution,” visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/633511585.
Both Webinars are free, but you’ll need to enter your e-mail address to view them.
Sales Training: Winning More Business with a Better DR Solution
It may seem like rocket science, but it isn’t hard to protect your customers’ critical data and make a profit for your business. You just need the tools in order to do it. The first is a great disaster recovery (DR) solution. The second tool is a training event to show you how to sell it. Well, done and done.
StorageCraft is offering a FREE sales training Webinar next Wednesday to show you how to win more business with a better DR solution: StorageCraft ShadowProtect. This event will show you why it’s critical for you to have a simple, RELIABLE backup and DR solution to offer your customers and how to sell it to them.
Register for this complimentary Webinar right away, because space is limited.
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/618569697
Winning More Business with a Better DR Solution
Wednesday, December 8
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. MST (2:00 EST, 1:00 CST, 11:00 PST)
Free Product Training: ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise
StorageCraft released a brand new product in our ShadowProtect line this year: ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise. It has some features that allow you to replicate your backup image files on-site and off-site. It also lets you pre-stage a server backup as a virtual machine, nearly eliminating restore windows and drastically reducing recovery time objectives. So in practical terms, how does that help you and your customers?
Next week, StorageCraft is offering a free technical product training Webinar to help you better understand the features in ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise and how to use them. This technical deep-dive will look at image replication, HeadStart Restore, plus all of the management capabilities like image consolidation, backup verification and notification features.
Register for this complimentary Webinar right away, because space is limited.
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/498164689
Unravel the Mysteries of ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise
Thursday, December 9
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. MST (2:00 EST, 1:00 CST, 11:00 PST)
Powered by StorageCraft
Two of our partners announced they are working together with us on an offering that will make life a whole lot easier for MSPs. LabTech and Doyenz will be using StorageCraft ShadowProtect technology to power a new offering that allows server failover in the cloud. This makes it a whole lot easier for MSPs to monitor their systems with LabTech, backup their systems with ShadowProtect and failover to a virtual machine on-site or off-site in the Doyenz Shadowcloud.
Here’s more about this “Freemium” offering from the press release:
“MSPs need an efficient method of protecting their customers’ information and monitoring their systems to prevent problems before they happen,” said Curt James, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at StorageCraft. “This strategic relationship between LabTech, Doyenz and StorageCraft not only allows MSPs to keep tabs on servers and resolve issues before they become problems, it also allows them to backup and failover systems in the cloud, in case of a catastrophe that can’t be prevented.”
“By partnering with LabTech and StorageCraft, we are proud to offer the channel a truly innovative, end-to-end disaster recovery solution, previously only available to enterprise market,” said Eric Webster, VP of Sales and Marketing for Doyenz. “Managed Service Providers can now ensure complete business continuity and manage their clients remotely with LabTech—and make significant profit margins while doing so.”
“The formed partnerships with Doyenz and StorageCraft, and the newly developed Freemium offer is a huge benefit to our LabTech partners and the entire MSP industry,” said Matt Nachtrab, CEO of LabTech Software. “LabTech Software and its partnerships with other leading industry solution providers like Doyenz and StorageCraft is giving today’s MSPs the needed toolsets to help their IT businesses become more efficient, productive and profitable.”
This gives MSPs a lot of options for backup and disaster recovery. You can read the entire press release here.
In the Cloud
StorageCraft is hanging out at Cloud Expo this week. Not only are we a sponsor, but we’re also heading up a breakout session on backup, disaster recovery and system migration in the cloud. Basically, we’re showing off the many ways you can use ShadowProtect in the cloud. So if you’re at the Cloud Expo this week, be sure to swing by our booth or our presentation.
If you didn’t know that ShadowProtect plays well in the cloud, we can tell you that it’s the backup and disaster recovery solution of choice for a lot of providers — companies we’re happy to partner with. Did you know that Zenith Infotech’s BDR solution is powered by StorageCraft ShadowProtect? So is the BusinessContinuitySuite — part of our relationship with Symform. We’re also working with Doyenz as part of their Shadowcloud solution. We also partner with GCloud3 and many others.
You may have seen one of our presentations where we mention that our technology is on millions of systems around the world. This is why. So many other people trust StorageCraft solutions to help power their own offerings. It’s just another reason why you can rely on ShadowProtect to protect your systems and data.
Data Corruption in Backups
By: Scott Barnes, StorageCraft CTO
Corruption is of course a very scary word. It’s one that we hear very rarely at StorageCraft. When we have heard it, it has generally been related to hardware failure or other software failure. But when we created ShadowProtect, we have had several development rules that have prevented ShadowProtect images from suffering corruptions due to StorageCraft software.
- Backup Image Files can only be written to once. In other words, the image file is created, the backup data is written and then the image file is closed. The backup image file is never opened for write access again.
- Related to rule number one, any tool that must add data to an existing image must do it in an incremental file. For example, when mounting an image file for read-write access, all changes are stored in a separate file, the original image(s) is opened for read only access and a write buffer file is created to store all new writes.
- Only the backup data for a single volume is stored in a single file. For good or bad, our files represent only data for one volume. This is also related to rule 1. Each partition is backed up independently of each other and would require reopening an image file to add a different volume’s data.
When backups images are saved to a local drive, like an internal or USB drive, the file system is very, very good at detecting any type of write failures during a backup. If Windows did not do this, Windows would quickly cease to exist.
The possibility of corruption during a backup to local drive is very low. Have we seen it? Yes, Western Digital MyBooks don’t work well with HP machines. This was tested within and without StorageCraft and it is very repeatable. We don’t recommend the combination.
When saving backups to network shares, you are dependent on a few things, the transport and the file server. In a Windows environment network and server, we have seen very few corruption events. Windows again is very good at detecting failures. We have seen more in the NAS world. Not all NAS devices are equal. There are some very cheap NAS devices. If backups are important to you, I would avoid cheap storage. But if you do opt for the cheaper route, I would test it thoroughly with large files. There was one NAS that would only corrupt images that were between 2-4 GB, but not 5-6 GB, then again from 7-8 GB, but not from 9-10 GB. Test, test, test.
When saving to removable media such as DVD, we highly recommend you use good quality media and again, test, test, test. Cheap DVD media is cheap. Just because you’ve copied many DVD movies doesn’t mean it will work for data. Movies don’t care about corruption; they keep playing right through it. Backups do care.
If an image file is corrupt, it most likely will fail to restore. This depends a bit on where the corruption is in the file, but each part of the file is important and linked to one another so if there is corruption, ShadowProtect will probably fail to restore.
ShadowProtect mounting tools are not so picky. Even if an image is corrupt, in most cases it will mount and you should be able to retrieve some data from it. Even some of the volume recovery tools will work against a mounted volume. Corruption either happens during the backup or long after the backup. If the Backup image file verified once correctly, nothing that ShadowProtect does would corrupt that file after it has been created.
Corruption after the fact is caused by disk issues or software issues. Disk issues include sector rot and general drive failures. Most common software issues would include file system corruption where applications are allowed to write over the top of sectors that are in use, but part of an image file.
Verify run from the system that is to be restored usually picks up any corruption that could occur during the restore. A verify from another machine may not pick up issues related to corruption by the transport during restore. But we rarely see corruption issues. If we have, it has 99.99% of the time been related and traced to the hardware with events to backup the hardware failures.
It is a good idea to verify your image files from time to time. Generally, corruption issues don’t come and go. They are either already there and haven’t been exposed yet or they come and don’t leave.
Always check your event logs. Don’t let any disk related events go unexplained or un-fixed.
For additional information about solving issues with unverified ShadowProtect backup images, please visit the StorageCraft Knowledge Base.
Visit us as MSPWorld Conference & Expo
StorageCraft will be participating in the MSPWorld Conference and Expo next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. If you’re planning to attend, please make sure you stop by and say hello. We’ll be talking about ShadowProtect 4, of course, because that’s what we do.
We’ll also be telling people about the new features that help businesses get back up and running even faster than ever. Can you recover a 1TB server in five minutes or less? We can! And we’ll show you how you can, too. Our booth is #853. Even if you’re already sold on ShadowProtect, we would love to hear from you.
To find out more visit the MSPWorld Conference and Expo Web site http://www.mspnews.com for all of the details.
Video: Business Continuity Suite
In the last few weeks we’ve told you a bit about our partnership with Symform. We’re working together on the Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform. Symform worked with Varvid Video to put together this short introduction to the Business Continuity Suite, which includes interviews with Brandon Nordquist, StorageCraft’s vice president of product management and one of its co-founders, Praerit Garg, Symform’s CEO and co-founder and Jamison West, CEO of JWCS, a managed service provider already using the Business Continuity Suite.
If you’d like to know more, visit www.businesscontinuitysuite.com
Business Continuity Suite Web Training
Today’s Business Continuity Suite Web training is underway, but there are still a couple of opportunities to sign up. These free, one-hour Webinars will show you how easy it is to offer your SMB customers simple, affordable cloud backup with the Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform. Next week, we’ll have two training session, on Tuesday and on Thursday, so you can learn how StorageCraft ShadowProtect and the Symform Cooperative Storage Cloud can make it easy for you provide cloud backup to your customers. In addition to easy implementation, the Business Continuity Suite is also very cost effective. Hard to believe? The free Web training will explain why it’s time to move your customers to the cloud.
Here are some benefits of the Business Continuity Suite:
* Rapid recovery
* Restore to bare metal, to dissimilar hardware or to and from virtual environments.
* Backup near-line and in the cloud
* Encryption of backup files using 256-bit military grade AES algorithm
* Redundant storage of secure files in multiple locations and around the world.
In addition to saving money, the Business Continuity Suite is also fast and extremely secure. You won’t have to worry about unwanted intruders stealing you or your customers’ data.
The upcoming online training events are Tuesday, September 14 and Thursday, September 16. Check out the Business Continuity Suite Web site to find out more, and to sign up for a Webinar.
Analyst’s view of the Business Continuity Suite
StorageCraft and Symform zoom into online disaster recovery and business continuity
Partnership between software vendors for MSP storage services
By Deni Connor
Senior Analyst
Storage Strategies NOW
September 2010
Data protection and recovery software developer StorageCraft and cloud services provider Symform moved into the world of cloud-based disaster recovery and business continuity with a recent partnership in which Symform will be a platform for protecting StorageCraft ShadowProtect images.
The Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform allows Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to offer their customers backup and disaster recovery as a cloud-based storage offering. Using ShadowProtect™ technology, MSPs save backup images onsite and offsite, via the Symform Cooperative Storage Cloud™ to enable near-line and cloud-based disaster recovery.
Simply, the Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform allows ShadowProtect image-level backups to be securely distributed across other small and mid-sized businesses and among its IT service providers in a cooperative and shared storage fashion in order to protect it and ensure its recoverability.
StorageCraft and Symform are among the first vendors to craft such a deal, which provides their MSP partners and their SMB customers with an affordable and easily implemented means of disaster recovery.
Market background
In the SMB market, although 50% of businesses have a local backup strategy, they often do not have an affordable and efficient means of moving data offsite for protection in the event of a disaster. They may shuttle tapes offsite or they may use an online backup service such as EMC MozyPro or Carbonite, whose pricing is based on a capacity of storage stored. An SMB will soon find that these methods for protecting data and providing business continuity are too error-prone, cumbersome to administer and time-consuming means to recover data quickly. And, they are expensive – online backup services can cost almost $400 a month to protect even just one file server.
Enter the Business Continuity Suite
StorageCraft has partnered with Symform to use its distributed storage system across small and mid-sized businesses and their IT storage service providers. Here’s how the Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform works.
StorageCraft ShadowProtect Server™, ShadowProtect Small Business Server™ or ShadowProtect Desktop™ creates an encrypted, image-based backup of a designated system. This series of differential and incremental point-in-time backup image files are then stored in locally hosted folders. The Symform Node software, which is installed on one computer in the customer’s network, is pointed at these local folders, where it monitors them for file adds or changes. It then automatically mirrors the adds and changes made to local storage to the cloud, where it creates a duplicate file structure.
Each StorageCraft image file is reduced to a series of 64MB blocks, which are then encrypted using AES-256 encryption algorithms. These 64MB blocks are then shredded locally into 1MB fragments. Using an erasure encoding algorithm called Reed-Solomon, 32 parity fragments are added to every 64, resulting in 96 fragments. Dubbed RAID-96™ by Symform, any 64 of the 96 segments can recreate the original block, thereby guaranteeing recoverability and high-availability.
All 96 fragments are distributed using a random statistical model to 96 participating Nodes in the Symform Cooperative Storage Cloud. An application called Symform Cloud Control™, which runs at Amazon Cloud Services (EC2) acts as a traffic controller, tells the local machine where to place each of the fragments.
When the Symform Node is configured, the end-user or MSP determines how much local disk space it plans to contribute to the cloud. This can be disk space at a local office or that of a MSP. An SMB or its MSP simply needs to contribute as much disk space as the disk space they want to consume with StorageCraft image-level backups.
Channel impact
The Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform is a completely channel-focused program, with pricing determined by StorageCraft and Symform MSPs. It makes disaster recovery practical for SMBs and at much less cost – approximately $50 per month per protected server.
The solution lets MSPs provide disaster recovery and business continuity services without a huge outlay for business continuity infrastructure. By simply donating disk space to the Symform Cooperative Storage Cloud, the MSP can reap the advantages of acting as a storage services provider (SSP).
SSG-NOW Assessment
StorageCraft’s and Symform’s approach to cloud-based business continuity is a shoo-in for the small and mid-sized business, which is faced with expensive and often unreliable solutions for cloud enablement. The MSP focus of this announcement is close to perfect for the SMB who does business with a particular MSP because of the customer’s inability or disinclination to provide IT resources and because of its relative inexperience with technology. The Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform is priced right for the MSP market – at $50 per protected server, it provides an affordable, easy for the MSP to implement alternative to other inefficient cloud-based backup and recovery solutions on the market.
Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform
Looking for a way to have your cloud and still make money, too? We announced our new joint cloud backup venture today, the Business Continuity Suite powered by StorageCraft and Symform. The news announcement highlights our partnership and how MSPs can use the Business Continuity Suite to backup their customers’ systems and data near-line and off-site — without it costing an arm and a leg.
In the next few weeks, Symform and StorageCraft will offer Web-based training courses so you can learn how the Business Continuity Suite works and how to set it up to get the most benefit for your customers. Basically, you use StorageCraft ShadowProtect technology to backup servers, desktops and laptops and then save the point-in-time backup images to the Symform Cooperative Storage Cloud.
The Business Continuity Suite will help you provide the following:
• Get systems up and running quickly after a catastrophic failure.
• Backup on-site and replicate to the cloud for flexible disaster recovery options.
• Restore to bare metal, to dissimilar hardware or to and from virtual environments.
• Multiple levels of encryption and military grade security of backup files to prevent intrusion.
• Schedule full and incremental backups to be saved automatically on-site and in the cloud.
• Contribute excess storage and get valuable cloud storage in return.
• Rapid recovery of files, folders or your entire system should a disaster occur.
You can learn more about the Business Continuity Suite at www.businesscontinuitysuite.com, where you’ll find white papers, data sheets, an analyst’s report and more. Or sign up for the free, one-hour classes which will show you how you can offer simple, affordable cloud backup to your customers.
Setting Up Your Server Backup
We get a lot of requests for best practices and recommendations for ways to set up your server environment. ShadowProtect makes it pretty easy to backup everything on your Windows servers, but there are ways to set things up so that you’re maximizing your resources and your business continuity.
So one of our technical engineers has put together a great guide that outlines some ways to configure your servers and keep them up and running. It involves backing up each Windows server with ShadowProtect Server (or ShadowProtect Small Business Server) and running ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise on your critical servers so they’re backed up onsite and offsite. This way, when there’s a business disruption — from a server crash to a category 5 hurricane — you can restore your servers, recover your data, and get your business running again.
These scenarios involve our new VirtualBoot technology, that allows you to boot a ShadowProtect backup image file into a virtual machine in a matter of a few short minutes, as well as HeadStart Restore, which allows you to restore your backups before they’re needed. You can find out more about ShadowProtect by visiting the product pages, or you’re always welcome to contact us with your questions.
ShadowProtect Server Scenario Guide
ShadowProtect Server and ShadowProtect Small Business Server have a lot of uses beyond backup and disaster recovery. You may not even know all of the ways that ShadowProtect Server can help you protect your valuable business data. That’s why we’ve put together a scenario guide that shows several different ways you can use ShadowProtect Server for various problems.
For example, if you thought ShadowProtect Server was just a tool to help you perform server backup or bare metal recovery, you will be pleasantly surprised. Some of the other use cases include server migration, granular recovery of files and folders, disaster recovery testing and planning, backup verification and backup management.
The scenario guide is posted on our Web site as a PDF. Download it to find out all of the ways that the latest version in the award-winning ShadowProtect line of backup, disaster recovery and migration software can help you protect your data.
ShadowProtect Server Review in Redmondmag.com
Redmond Magazine just posted a review roundup of several backup and disaster recovery products for servers. The review spotlights four products designed especially for SMBs, including StorageCraft ShadowProtect Server™. The reviewer gave ShadowProtect high marks, and pointed out several great features.
Backups in SP are image-based, using the underlying VSS technology in Windows Server and providing very fast backups after the first full backup, as only changed sectors are backed up.
SP is a comprehensive product, offering efficient backups and smoothly blending the physical and virtual worlds for easy disaster recovery.
Check out the full review online and see why ShadowProtect is a great choice, especially if maximizing business continuity is really important for your company.
Recover Faster
In the last article, we focused on the features in ShadowProtect ImageManager™ and how they can help you manage your backup image files. In April, StorageCraft released an enhanced version of the product called ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise™. It has all of the features in the standard version: consolidation of backup image files, file verification as well as notification settings.
But ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise also includes two additional features that make it much easier to improve business continuity and lower your recovery time objective (RTO), the maximum amount of time your server systems can be out of commission. These features are HeadStart Restore™ and replication.
HeadStart Restore – or HSR – allows you to begin the server recovery process right away, before a disaster. Whether it’s a natural disaster that took you out or a RAID router meltdown, it doesn’t really matter. You have to get access to your data as quickly as possible and you have to get your business running again.
First, you need to set up ShadowProtect Server (or ShadowProtect Small Business Server) to take regular backups of your data, then ShadowProtect will take snapshots of a point in time on your server. You can even set the scheduler in ShadowProtect to take incremental backups – just the deltas or small changes to your server – throughout the day.
The next thing you do is set ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise to create a restore job for a specific server. Once you’ve set up that job, ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise updates that restore job with the incremental changes that are made, so your restore job has all of the data updates that were made throughout the day. Here’s the really cool part: when a catastrophe strikes, you won’t have to wait hours and hours (or days and days) to get that server online again, because HSR has already been restoring the server. Recovery starts and is ongoing as your backups continue.
To get the server online, it will take just a few more steps. First, you finalize your restore job, which takes just a few seconds. Now you need to get it ready to restore into a virtual machine so you run ShadowProtect’s Hardware Independent Restore™ technology. Now you just reboot your server, and you’re up and running again. This process takes 15-20 minutes, even if you have a multi-TB volume of data.
The other key feature in ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise is replication. Now you can send your backup images to an off-site location so that your backups are secure in case your primary location is wiped out by flood, fire or another sort of catastrophe.
You’ll want to note that ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise is licensed per server. So one license allows you to perform one HeadStart Restore job, one on-site replication and one off-site replication.
You can find out more by visiting the ShadowProtect ImageManager Enterprise product page. Included there is a product overview which explains just what it is and how it works.