backup

Nakivo Backup and Replication v10 released with support for vSphere 7

Nakivo Backup and Replication released last week version 10. I personally use Nakivo Backup and Replication in my lab environment because it can be installed on my NAS device. This saves me hardware resources of the backup VM (appliance or Windows/Linux) and the deployment is super fast.

In version 10 of Nakivo Backup and Replication the following new improvements are added:

  • VMware vSphere 7 support. vSphere 7 support for Nakivo Backup & Replication. This is the latest version of VMware vSphere when writing this blog post.
  • User Interface Enhancements. The user interface has a new facelift to improve the experience with the product.

  • Physical Machine Recovery to VMware (P2V). To protect mixed physical and virtual IT environments, Nakivo Backup & Replication offers the Physical to Virtual Machine Recovery feature.
  • Backup to Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage. You can create backup repositories in Wasabi buckets for backing up and storing virtual and physical machines.

  • Linux Workstation Backup. Perform app-aware, incremental backups of Linux workstations running Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop and 20.04 Desktop. Quickly recover entire workstations or restore individual files and objects directly from backups.

Other improvements are:

  • Application permissions for Microsoft 365 accounts have been updated. Make sure you make the necessary changes to prevent backup and recovery jobs from failure. Refer to Obtaining Microsoft 365 credentials (item 10) for details.
  • CentOS v7.0-7.6 support
  • Improvements for Backup to Amazon S3

The release notes can be found here: link and a free trial can be found here: link.

 

Review NAKIVO Backup & Replication – Multi-Tenancy, licensing and conclusion

In the last part of the NAKIVO Backup & Replication review I highlight the Multi-Tenancy option, licensing and the final conclusion.

Multi-Tenancy and branding

NAKIVO supports multi-tenancy to deliver Backup-as-a-Service (BAAS) and Disaster-Recovery as a Service (DRaas). The tenants are isolated from each other and cannot access other tenants. Each tenant can access their own environment through  a self-service portal and perform all data protection of recovery tasks.

For each tenant custom branding can be used.

A single copy of NAKIVO can create and manage up to 1000 tenants providing a single pane of glass. The multi-tenancy option is available in the Enterprise Essentials en Enterprise license.

Licensing

The following licensing options are available for NAKIVO Backup and Replication for VMware and Hyper-V.

Number of licenses available per  organization Support Price (€) per socket Description
Basic 4 1 year included 84 Basic backup
PRO Essentials From 2 to 6 1 year included 169 Basic backup including backup copy and Backup to Cloud services for small environments up to 6 socket licenses.
Enterprise Essentials From 2 to 6 1 year included 249 All the backup options are included such as Disaster Recovery and Multi-Tenancy (BAAS and DRaaS) for small environments up to 6 socket licenses..
Pro Unlimited 1 year included 329 Same as the Pro Essentials edition with unlimited licenses.
Enterprise Unlimited 1 year included Request price Same as the Enterprise Essentials edition with unlimited licenses.

More information about the editions, options and pricing can be found here, link.

Another licensing option is the NAKIVO Cloud Provider Edition for cloud providers who host multiple customers. With this edition you can buy a pool of licenses per Virtual Machine. All the license are pooled together and can be used over the tenants.

Final conclusion

In  the last months I did multiple blog posts about NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.5 and v8. I highlighted the following topics:

  • Review NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.5 released, link
  • Installation and basic configuration, link
  • Backup and Recovery, link
  • Replication, link
  • Multi-Tenancy, editions and licensing and the final conclusion (this post).

The installation, configuration and management of NAKIVO Backup & Replication is very simple. I really like the the Virtual Appliance option and the possibility to install NAKIVO B&R on a NAS device. This saves licensing and hardware costs. The management is done by web browser so no extra software is needed to install.

The backup, restore and replication jobs are wizard based. Within a couple of minutes the configuration is done. There a multiple ways to recover data such as individual files, objects such as Active Directory and SQL, complete VMs and recover VMs cross platform.

Replication of VMs can be done for Disaster Recovery. In version 8 a new feature is added called “Site Recovery”. With this new feature you build automated recovery workflows with one-click failover, failback, and datacenter migration. The recovery workflows can be tested non-disruptive to make sure you meet the RTOs.

For cloud providers who offers Backup-as-a-Service (BAAS) and Disaster-Recovery as a Service (DRaas) there is a multi-tenancy option with custom branding for each tenant. Per VM licensing is available for cloud providers.

And as final the licensing and pricing of NAKIVO is very competitive and attractive when comparing them to other data protection solutions.

In short my final conclusion about NAKIVO Backup and Replication: Simple, fast, lots of great features and competitive pricing.

Next week VMworld Europe 2018 in Barcelona will start. NAKIVO will show at VMworld some new enhancements that will be available in NAKIVO Backup & Replication v8.1.

More information about NAKIVO can be found here: link

Review NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.5 – Replication

In this part of the NAKIVO Backup & Replication review I highlight the replication feature. With the replication feature you can replicate VMs. The source VMs are copied, a VM replica is created of each and replicated to the target VMware environment (also known as the recovery site).

VM Replication protects for example against the following type of disasters:

  • Natural disasters  (earthquakes, floods, tornados etc.)
  • Data center  problems such as power losses, fire and water damage
  • Hardware problems such as host, network and storage failures
  • Human errors
  • VM failures caused by updates or patches, virus or manually removal

The replication feature can be used for business continuity as part of you’re disaster recovery plan. When a disaster occurs, the protected VM(s) can be quick failed over from the primary site to the recovery site.

When the primary site is restored the VM(s) can be failed back to the primary site.

Another use case it to use replication for migrating the VMs to a new VMware environment for example when moving from on-premises to a cloud provider.

Configuration

The configuration of the replication job can be done by using  a 7 step wizard:

1. VMs. Select the VM(s) that will be replicated.

2. Destination. Select the destination host(s) and datastores the VM(s) will be replicated to.

3. Networks. If the VM on the primary site has another network than on the recovery site you can make a mapping between them. In my test environment I have an stretched L2 network so the source and target network are the same.

4. Re-IP. With this option the replicated VMs will be mapped to a new IP address. In my test environment I have an stretched L2 network so the IP address will not change.

5. Schedule.Select the scheduling for the replication job. The VM replication will be executed at the schedules. So note that the VM(s) in primary site are not synchronous replicated.

6. Retention. Set the retention for the replicated VMs. Per VM you can have up to 30 recovery points.

7. Options. Set the options for the job.

Click on Finish & Run to start the first replication job. The VM will be replicated to the recovery site in a powered off state in the vSphere client.

Perform a VM Failover.

If a disaster occurs at the primary site or something happen with one or more protected VMs you can perform a failover from the primary to the recovery site. To perform a VM failover follow these steps using the following wizard:

In the recover menu select VM failover to replica.

1. Source. Select the VM and recovery point to use.

2. Networks. If the VM on the primary site has another network than on the recovery site you can make a mapping between them. In my test environment I have an stretched L2 network so the source and target network are the same.

3. Re-IP. With this option the replicated VMs will be mapped to a new IP address. In my test environment I have an stretched L2 network so the IP address will not change.

4. Options. In the options section enter the job name. I checked the “Power off source VMs” box to prevent IP conflicts.

Click on the “Finish & Run” button to start the recovery job. The VM in the primary site is powered off and the replica VM is powered on in the recovery site. In the vSphere client, the replica VM is running after the failover.

VM Failback.

After the disaster, the protected VMs are at the recovery site. When the infrastructure at the primary is restored you may want to return these VMs back. With the replication feature these VMs can be transferred back to the primary site. Transferring the VMs back involves performing some manual steps such as deleting the recovery job (with the keep recovered VMs option) and create a new replication job.

In a next release of NAKIVO Backup & Replication a new feature called “site recovery” will be introduced. Site recovery will enhance the replication feature with for example automated testing and workflow options. With these options you can test for example if the disaster recovery plan works as expected in a isolated environment.

Update: August 27, 2018. NAKIVO announced today version 8 with Site Recovery feature. This powerful new feature allows you to:

  • Build automated recovery workflows
  • Run one-click failover, failback, and datacenter migration
  • Perform non-disruptive recovery testing
    Make sure you meet your RTOs

More information about the Site Recovery feature can be found here link.

In the next NAKIVO Backup & Replication review I will highlight the editions, licensing and conclusion of my four reviews.