Welcome again to Vembu as partner for retouw.nl

After serving for a year already as partner for this site Vembu decided to renew their sponsorship for yet another year. In case you don’t know them yet here’s a short overview of the VMbackup software they make:

VMware Backup

Vembu VMBackup delivers reliable and consistent backups with recovery points that span months and years. Protect your business critical servers running on VMware vSphere environments with an intuitive UI that addresses complex use cases with simple configurations. Built to pursue efficiency in data protection cost-effectively, without compromising on delivering enterprise level functionalities.

VM Backup Video

Configuring VMware Backup

Host Level VMware Backup

Easily create a host-level backup of VMware VMs

  • Without installing any agent inside each VM
  • Near continuous data protection
  • Manage backups from a single console

>> Learn more about VMware Backup

VM Replication

Virtual Machines may crash, but business must go on. Ensure high availability of your VMs by:

  • Replicating VMs to another ESXi host
  • Instantly launching the replicated VMs in case of failure of production VM
  • Automatically map network and IP address to the replicated VMs

>> Learn more about VM Replication

VM Replication

Backup Integrity Check

Backup Verification

You can’t ensure business continuity just by backing up your VMs. You should be able to recover them. Vembu VMbackup automatically verifies the:

  • Bootability of your backed up VMs
  • Mountability of the backed up virtual disks
  • Integrity of the backup data

>> Learn more about Backup Verification

Hyper-V Backup

Creating a virtual machine by setting up a Hyper-V server is easy but creating a backup policy for the VMs is arduous. Vembu VMBackup makes it effortless with its simple and intuitive UI that can handle diverse scenarios. It provides efficient backups that addresses all your current problems and your future requirements. With verified, application-consistent and instantly recoverable backups, Vembu VMBackup acts as a cost-effective business continuity and disaster recovery solution for your Hyper-V environment.

VM Backup Video

Configuring Hyper-V Backup

Host Level Hyper-V Backup

Protect your Hyper-V environment without any complexities

  • Agentless backups
  • Supports VMs in Cluster Shared Volumes and Windows SMB share
  • Direct restore to same or different platform

>> Learn more about Hyper-V Backup

Changed Block Tracking (CBT)

Backing up your entire machine every time is not a smart way to use resources and storage

  • Track block level changes
  • Backup only the changed blocks
  • Save Storage

>> Learn more about Changed Block Tracking

Change Block Tracking

Application-aware Settings

Application-aware Settings

When an application backup is successful, it does not necessarily mean that the database is consistent. Upgrade your data protection by:

  • Ensuring application consistency
  • Automatically truncate the transaction logs

> Learn more

There’s also a free version for 3 vm’s

Free Edition

Vembu is also offering free NFR licenses for its Vembu BDR Suite of products exclusively for our Partners, VMware vExperts, MVPs and Certified IT professionals. Go here to find out more or if you are a blogger mail them at vembu-marketing@vembu.com

[Advertorial]Vembu v3.9.0 is almost here

Introduction

Last year I wrote a couple of posts about Vembu, somewhere in the next couple of weeks they are expecting to release version 3.9.0 of their Backup Suite. They have some very new features to be added with this version like Windows Event Viewer integration. This gives the administrator a way to check if backups have succeeded without having to logon to the backup server, besides that it also provides an easy way with almost any monitoring product to make an status for the backups.

For those of you who still require data to be written to tape Vembu will also add that function trough the Vembu console. Besides VMware ESXi backups you will be able to quick recover Hyper-V Machines and Disk Image backups as well. Another important addition is the encryption of backups with AES-256 bit encryption, just make sure to safeguard that key or you might not ne able to recover anything.

Overview of announced changes:

Tape Backup Support

Vembu extends its support to native tape backup through the Vembu BDR console. You can
utilise the best known 3-2- 1 backup strategy of having 3 copies of backup data in 2 different
media and 1 off-site location for an efficient DR plan. This secondary backup approach will help
you to archive the image based backups in both virtual and physical environments like VMware,
Hyper-V and Windows Servers and recover them in multiple formats like VHD, VMDK,
VHDX, VMDK-Flat and RAW.

Auto Authorization at Off-site DR

Enabling the auto authorization feature will allow only the authorized Vembu BDR servers to get
connected with Vembu OffsiteDR servers (Replication) using the registration key.

Quick VM Recovery on ESXi for Hyper-V and Disk Image Backups

Instant recovery of backed up data on VMware ESXi is now made available for both the Hyper-
V VMs and Windows Servers backup jobs for an effective Disaster Recovery. This recovery of
the virtual machines happens in a matter of seconds by booting the backed up machine directly
from the backup storage repository, from where all the files, folders and applications can be
accessed.

Windows Event Viewer Integration

All the events of the Vembu BDR, Off-siteDR & agents like information on critical, warnings
and major events are updated in the Event Viewer of Windows Servers when enabled for better
management.

Advanced Backup level encryption for all agents

Users will be able to configure AES-256 bit encryption for all their backup jobs of VMware,
Hyper-V, Disk Image through their customized passwords using corresponding password hints
as well.

OffsiteDR Server retentions using Vembu Network Backup

OffsiteDR retention policies is now available for the Network Backup plugins too, like the image
based backups of VMware, Hyper-V and Disk Image backups at the too.

Listing of files & Folders in aciTree structure

The listing of files and folders while configuring backups on a Network Backup plugin is now up
with the aciTree structure for easy and quick navigation.

Pre/Post backup scripts for all Network & Image Backup clients

This feature provides the ability to configure running custom actions before and after the
execution backup schedule. The custom actions may include running an application using some
script files.

AngularJS conversion of UI for Vembu OnlineBackups

The overall UI of Vembu OnlineBackup is improved for better performance like the current
Vembu BDR and Off-siteDR.

Update of consumed space on the Vembu Portal

Based on the display of the consumed space of Vembu Online Backup and SaaSBackup plugins,
the customer will be able to allocate and purchase further cloud storage post purchase and
upgrade.

 

Vembu part 2: Update to 3.8 and actually making backups

Intro

So last time I gave an introduction to Vembu version 3.7. Last week 3.8 was released so I will talk about the upgrade and actually running some backups in this post. My backups have been running for some weeks already (when the lab is powered on that is) so I’ll also try to recover some data from before the upgrade. The release notes for the 3.8 release are at the bottom of this post.

Upgrading

First download the update from Vembu and then install the update. Except for an uninstall or update option and maybe one or two uac questions it’s a matter of next next finish. After logging back on to the web console the first thing I noticed is a bit of a different color scheme that I like better then the old one. Is this something I care about in a backup product? No but I like it anyway.

Setting up backups

So after we enter the console it’s time to go to the backup menu > VMware vSphere (isn’t the new Vembu logo lovely?)

Click on add VMware vSphere Server, enter all required data and hit save

Vembu will add the vCenter server or ESXi host and bring you back to the list of servers. Now hit the backup button on the right of the server you want to create a schedule for.

Select the servers you want to backup and if needed exclude disks

The next page gives to option to use Application aware Settings. These are expensive words for VSS so if you have included Linux vm’s you might want to ignore failures for this or create a different backup job for them. If you want to truncate logs from this job that can also be doen from here. The VMware Guest Credentials are required for this to work.

The next page gives the option to create the actual schedule. What I like most is the ease of setting up an extra  regular Full backup schedule with it’s own retention rule.

The last page gives the option to set the retention policy. Basic counts in daily incrementals while under advanced a combination of weekly and monthly can be made.

.

The last tab let’s you review the settings before committing them.

Restoring

For restoring there’s a boatload of options available. It would be stupid and really boring to explain them all in here but if you have done some restores in the past their name will be self explanatory.

First you pick from what backup job to recover the data. Note that you also see the sql backups even though they are managed from the sql box itself.

One thing that shows Vembu is more SMB is the fact that no restores are possible if a backup is running.

So if there are no active jobs you can pick whatever recover poison you like. There’s a lot of options to use from here.

For this walktrough I will pick the File Level recovery since that probably will be the most used one. Now select the required point in time , virtual machine,vmdk and the file or folder to recover.

I was only able to select the local disks from the backup server to restore to.

The last page again lets you review what to restore and hit restore now for the obvious reason.

I also tried the Disk Image Mount and this mounted the disk from my file server in seconds to my backup server.

Reporting

This belongs under the improvements of v3.8 but reporting has improved quite a lot. Under Reports > Backup Status Report there is still the default view that only shows the status of the different jobs.

Onder VM Status Report though there is now a good usable list of all the vm’s and their own backup status, schedule and size.

And clicking the more button gives you an even better view of that vm with it’s history.

Conclusion

For me Vembu is a very useful backup product that just does what it has to do without any hassle. It backups my data and if I want to get anything back that also works without any problems. While it might not be an Enterprise product for SMB it does the trick and then some more with the plugins they have.

Version 3.8 changelog

New features
Disk Image Backup from BDR Server

Disk Image Backups can now be configured and managed via Vembu BDR Server. Relying on
proxy agents is no longer required, unless it’s a distributed deployment which require individual
proxy agent installation.

FLR from GUI (Backup & Replication)

File Level Recovery(FLR) is now available for both backup and replication jobs where user can
choose specific files and folders from VMware/Hyper-V/Disk Image backups and VMware
replication, to be restored in a quick fashion.

Seed load backup data to OffsiteDR

Storing copy of backup data for DR requirements is now an easy task to be accomplished by
seed loading backup server data to desired offsite data center. This save loads of time and
bandwidth from being consumed.

Auto Authorization

Enabling Auto authorization in Vembu BDR allows proxy agents to get registered to backup
server using unique registration key generated by respective BDR server.

Encryption Settings

Users can now provide additional security to their disk based backup jobs by assigning custom-
password to backup server, such that all their backup data will be encrypted and can be
restored/accessed only by providing the custom-password.

Storage Pooling

Storage Pools are used to aggregate the space available from different volumes and utilise
them as a storage for specific backups. The hybrid volume manager of Vembu BDR Server
supports scalable and extendable backup storage for different storage media such as Local
drives, NAS(NFS and CIFS) and SAN(iSCSI and FC). Vembu BDR provides storage pooling
option for both backup level and group level.

MSI Installer : For all Clients

Users will now get the client agents installer as .msi format also.The installer will check for the
following packages based on the OS types (32 bit or 64 bit) and it will install the following (if not
installed previously),

  • Visual C++ 2008 redistributable packages x86
  • Visual C++ 2008 redistributable packages x64
  • Visual C++ 2013 redistributable packages x64
  • Visual C++ 2015 redistributable packages x86
Enhancements in v3.8
Enable or Disable retention for VMBackup / ImageBackup

User can enable or disable retention policy for the backups based on their requirements.
Disabling retention allows user to maintain all the backups without any merging of the
incremental timestamps. This option is used when the backup size is low.

Disk level download option for VMware & Hyper-V plugins

Users can download backup data in multiple disk file formats such as: VHD, VMDK, VHDX,
VMDK-Flat and RAW.

Similarly, if user need to download individual disks in a virtual machine, he can perform disk
level download by selecting the disks.

From a group of virtual machines in a host backup, multiple disks can be downloaded with same
disk file format.

Disk Management Mount(Hyper-V)

This option lets you instantly attach backup data to disk management as a VHD/VHDX file and
proceed with the restore process. The VHD/VHDX file is created by virtually mounting the
backup data on the vembu virtual drive. Users can access backup data via disks attached on disk
management.

Once done with requirement, unmount backup data. This will resume backup job, so that
incrementals will run as scheduled.

List VMs in an alphabetical order

Virtual Machines that are present in the host will be listed in an alphabetical order based on the
ASCII table values, thereby making it simpler for the user to search and configure the backup. In
the Review Configuration page, the Virtual machines that are chosen for backup is listed in the
selected order.

Note: Virtual Machines will be listed in the following hierarchical order <special characters>,
<numeric characters>, <Uppercase letters>, <lowercase letters>.

Search option for VMs in backup config page & restore list page

This option allows user to search the Virtual machines that are available in the ESXi host. Also,
the user can search VMs/ host/cluster from a vCenter server. By specifying the required VM
name in the search option you can select the VMs that are to be backed up from a ESXi
host/vCenter Server.

VM level reports in OffsiteDR Server

This page lists all replicated jobs configured from backup server to the offsite server where you
can see a report option alongside every replicated job

New menu for consolidated VM level report in BackupServer & OffsiteDR
VM level report gives the user the centralized report page of all VMs that are configured for
backup. It allows user to view the detailed backup reports of virtual machines configured from
both ESXi or Hyper-V Host.

Full featured free edition

Post 30 days trial version, user can either opt to purchase the product or continue using the free
edition.
In Free edition user has two options to proceed with backup configurations : Full featured free
edition or Limited Edition.

Admin\Read Only Access privileges at both Backup Server and Group Level

 

Email Settings in Backup Agents
Email Report for OffsiteDR
Backup Verification Email Report (Backup Server &amp; OffsiteDR)
Backup Level Report in Backup Status Report (Backup Server)

Welcome to my first sponsor: Vembu

I am proud to announce the first sponsor of Retouw.nl: Vembu. Vembu is the creator of the Backup & DR suite with the same name. Besides that they also have a CRM suite in their portfolio. I have created a new partner page for them.

About Vembu

Vembu is a leading provider of a portfolio of software products and cloud services to small and medium businesses for more than a decade. Vembu’s vision is to make software and cloud services very affordable for the hundreds of thousands of small and medium businesses worldwide.

Vembu’s flagship offering is the BDR Suite of products meant for on-premise, offsite, cloud backup and disaster recovery across diverse IT environments including physical, virtual, applications and endpoints. Vembu CRM Suite consists of products that addresses the needs of all customer facing teams including support, sales, marketing & social media engagement.

Since 2002, Vembu’s industry-recognized data protection solutions have delivered tangible value to more than 60,000 businesses worldwide through a network of 4000+ partners (MSPs/VARs & Resellers).

The different products under Vembu BDR Suite are categorized on the basis of environments:

For Virtualized environments like VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V:

Vembu VMBackup, part of Vembu BDR Suite provides reliable, efficient, agentless VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V backups for small and medium businesses with enterprise level features at affordable pricing. With Round-the- clock Business Availability as its sole aim, Vembu VMBackup provides faster recovery options which ensures that the business continuity is not disrupted. With VM Replication for High Availability, Vembu CBT Driver for high performance incremental backups, VSS aware technology for application consistency, Automated Backup Verification, VembuHIVE File System, a File System of File Systems for efficient backup storage, Multiple migration options, Flexible & Configurable Retention Policies, Vembu VMBackup is tailor made for all Backup & DR requirements of a complete virtual Datacenter. Also, to empower small businesses to have business continuity, Vembu provides 50% discount on Vembu VMBackup for small businesses having up to 6 CPU-Sockets

For Windows IT environments:

Vembu ImageBackup, part of Vembu BDR Suite is a complete backup and disaster recovery solution for Windows IT environments. It provides an option to do entire system level backup or specific file level backup in Windows Servers and workstations. It also ensures RTO less than 15 minutes by delivering reliable recovery options like Bare Metal Recovery, Quick VM Recovery, Instant File Recovery, Partition level Recovery etc. Furthermore, Desktops/Laptops Backup is completely free.

For Applications, File Servers, Endpoints:

Vembu NetworkBackup, part of Vembu BDR Suite is designed for small medium businesses to protect business data across file servers, application servers, workstations and other endpoints. With NetworkBackup businesses can backup all their systems to a central location which is easier to manage.

Vembu OnlineBackup, part of Vembu BDR Suite provides File Server, MS Exchange, MS SQL, MS SharePoint & MS Outlook Backups directly to Vembu’s secure cloud using enterprise-grade AES 256-bit encryption with granular restores.

For SaaS applications like Microsoft Office365 and G Suite:

Vembu SaaSBackup, part of Vembu BDR Suite is designed for backing up the Mails, Drives, Calendar and Contacts of Office 365 and Google Apps. Vembu SaaSBackup’s core system will manage all backup and restore operations as per the user request. The backup data will be sent to the Vembu Cloud storage over secured network.

Free version

Vembu also offers a free version that has many great features. The paid version has even more very usable features that you can see in the comparison.