Posts Tagged ‘virtualization’
Virtually There
We hope you saw the news that StorageCraft is now an “Elite” member of the VMware Technology Alliance Program. We’ve been part of TAP for several years now, and our technology has been integrated in VMware’s converter tool for about five years. It’s a natural partnership for us since we’ve been specializing in virtualizing data from the beginning. It’s why we’re virtualization experts.
Virtualization is great for protecting your systems and data for so many reasons. Because it’s not just about the backup — it’s about the recovery. If your data backup is virtualized, it’s very quick and relatively easy to restore all of that information, especially if you’re using best-in-class ShadowProtect backup. This is why StorageCraft places so much emphasis on having a local backup — not just an off-site/cloud backup. Nine times out of ten, the disaster you will need to recover from will be a local disaster: a server crash, human error or power failure, for example. If you have a local ShadowProtect backup, recovery is a snap.
If you haven’t standardized on virtual machines yet and you’re thinking about how to do it, keep ShadowProtect in mind. It will backup all of your physical systems, simplify migration to new, virtual hardware and then backup all of those virtual servers. You’ll want to check out ShadowProtect Virtual and our new pricing for virtual servers in ShadowProtect for Managed Service Providers. When it comes to virtualization, we’ve been there, done that and we may even write the book.
StorageCraft Reaches Elite Status in VMware Technology Alliance Partner Program
DRAPER, Utah, U.S.A. – Jan. 26, 2012 — StorageCraft Technology Corporation, the provider of best-in-class backup, disaster recovery, system migration, data protection and security solutions for servers, desktops and laptops, today announced it has moved to the Elite level in VMware’s global Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program.
The VMware TAP program helps technology vendors integrate their products with VMware virtualization software and deliver timely, joint solutions to mutual customers.
StorageCraft’s move to the Elite level of the VMware TAP program will accelerate its delivery of solutions for the VMware environment and will further develop its already strong relationship with VMware.
StorageCraft® ShadowProtect Virtual™ delivers backup and disaster recovery solutions to VMware virtual environments by allowing users to backup anything in a Windows physical or virtual environment and recover it anywhere. Users can recover data from another type of hypervisor to a VMware virtual machine as well as to physical environments, including recovery to dissimilar hardware, with ShadowProtect Hardware Independent Restore technology.
“We’re happy to officially be part of VMware’s TAP program at the Elite level, as we’ve enjoyed a mutually productive working relationship for some time now. The additional tools, benefits and support of an Elite level membership and our association with VMware gives us a great advantage in continuing to deliver best-in-class virtual solutions for our users,” said Curt James, vice president of marketing and business development for StorageCraft.
StorageCraft places a high priority on creating products to meet the virtualization needs of its partners. It recently offered new pricing for virtual server pricing on ShadowProtect® for Managed Service Providers™. In addition, ShadowProtect Virtual is a finalist for Storage magazine’s Product of the Year in the Backup and Disaster Recovery Software and Services category for the second year in a row.
With more than 2,000 members worldwide, the VMware TAP program works with best-of-breed technology partners to provide them a comprehensive set of VMware technical and marketing services, support, tools and expertise to deliver enhanced value to joint customers.
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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Virtual Backup
Many SMBs are flirting with virtualization these days. It isn’t just for large enterprises any more. That’s because it can help you maximize storage or give you a way to keep that server running while you’re repairing your physical hardware. In any case, a lot of people are looking into the ways virtualized storage can be a lifesaver. Fortunately, as a ShadowProtect user, you won’t have to change your backup solution if you decide to make the switch to the virtual world. That’s because ShadowProtect not only backs up physical systems, it backs up virtual systems as well.
In addition, ShadowProtect has the added advantage of allowing you to migrate from physical environments to virtual ones, and from virtual to physical — or any combination of the two (P2P, P2V, V2V or V2P). The cool Hardware Independent Restore™ technology in ShadowProtect allows you to change your environment no matter what kind of hardware you’re switching to. So upgrade that server without fear.
Plus, you’ll want to check out the new virtualization tools in ShadowProtect 4.0. The newest version of ShadowProtect has two really cool new features. The first is VirtualBoot™, which lets you right-click on a ShadowProtect backup image file and boot it as a virtual machine, usually in about two minutes (no matter how large the server). Another feature is the new Virtual Converter in the Backup Image tool, which lets you convert a ShadowProtect backup image into a VM — either .VHD or .VMDK.
If you’re exploring how to make the most of virtual technology to maximize your storage, be sure to see how ShadowProtect will help you get all your data into the virtual world — and to continue to protect it once you’re there.
2010 Storage Trend – Moving from Tape to Disk
Every year the storage analysts try to predict what the big trends will be for the coming year. They base their analysis on polling data and other research. Many of them are specific and others are more general. Enterprise Strategy Group’s 2010 list has some trends that are right up our alley. Here is one highlight:
#1. The shift from tape to disk: the modernization of backup continues.
From our perspective, that’s something everyone should have done years ago. But there are a lot of businesses that are still using tape for all of their backup. If you’ve already made the switch, you know that tape has problems from start to finish. Not only is it slow in recording the backup, it’s slow in restoring from the backup — that is, if you’re even able to use the backup. Disk is cheaper, faster and very reliable. Plus you can verify your disk-based backup quickly and easily with many MD5 verification tools. In the event of a disaster, recovering from a disk-based backup will not cause you hours and hours of frustration.
If you decide to keep your tape backups, we have a betamax, some 8-track tapes and a phone answering machine we’d like to sell you, too.
Other trends highlighted in the ESG report include the changing role of virtualization, cloud-based backup and the changing attitude toward backing up enterprise desktops and laptops. Check out the entire ESG list for yourself and see if you’ll be facing any of these issues for the year.
StorageCraft ShadowProtect in PC World
StorageCraft ShadowProtect is mentioned in a success story in PC World about virtualizing blade servers. PC Troubleshooters in Rhode Island is using ShadowProtect Server as part of its backup and disaster recovery solution to protect the systems and data on the servers in their data center.
We created our own backup and disaster recovery system by deploying a network-attached storage device onsite and using StorageCraft ShadowProtect software to image servers on an hourly basis. Each image is encrypted and sent to two separate storage facilities in Maryland and Colorado.
Check out this case study and find out how you might be able to use StorageCraft ShadowProtect as part of your backup and disaster recovery offering, whether you’re protecting physical servers, virtual servers, or both.
Eliminating Backup Windows – for Physical and Virtual Servers
The e-mail ad touted a “brand new solution” that solves the problem that’s overwhelmed IT teams for years — completing backup jobs in the short amount of time available, the “backup window.” The ad said the company had found a way to incorporate imaging technology to eliminate lengthy backup jobs.
The only problem is, this isn’t new, as ShadowProtect users can attest. Whether you’re backing up physical systems or virtual systems, ShadowProtect takes point-in-time snapshots of the server’s operating system and data. Then, while your server remains online, ShadowProtect creates a backup image of everything in your server environment.
The scheduler in ShadowProtect lets you specify how frequently you run your backup. For example, you can set it up to run a full backup every evening, and take incremental backup images throughout the day — even as frequently as every 15 minutes.
So while the problem of shorter backup windows may be an old one, the solution isn’t necessarily new. And even if you’re planning to migrate to virtual systems — something you can also accomplish with ShadowProtect — you don’t need to change your backup system just because you’re moving into the virtual world. You can do protect both physical and virtual systems with ShadowProtect.
Disaster Recovery in a Virtual World
Virtualization can bring a lot of business benefits – lower cost and greater flexibility, in particular. But it can also pose some problems. In particular, how easy or difficult is it to protect virtualized systems and data?
That’s where the award-winning ShadowProtect line of disk-based backup and disaster recovery software can help. ShadowProtect Desktop, ShadowProtect Server, ShadowProtect Small Business Server and ShadowProtect IT Edition are all compatible with virtual systems – such as VMware or Microsoft Virtual Server.
Not only does ShadowProtect provide Hardware Independent Restore (H.I.R.), it can also convert physical machines to virtual machines (P2V), virtual to virtual (V2V) and virtual to physical.
If you’re trying to find out how to use ShadowProtect with your virtual machines, we have a lot of information in the StorageCraft Support Center. There you’ll find all kinds of tools to help you protect your virtual world. For example, we have a guide that will take you through the process of restoring a virtual machine. There are also articles that show you how to perform H.I.R. or how to use VMware Server or VMware Converter as disaster recovery.
To find out more, visit the StorageCraft Web site and type “virtual” into the search box.