Backup software with DR capabilites

[CAWJames]

Afternoon all,

 

We are currently using DPM 2019 with a VM running modern storage in Primary at our main site which backs up all our VM's, and all our item level backups. We then have another VM at our DR site running as secondary backing up the VM's for the aforementioned disaster scenario(hopefully zombopcalypse ). Works well for the most, but we are conscious that if the primary has problems, it *should* fail over to the secondary and continue protection, and we don't want to be in the situation where this doesnt work and we find both servers without up to date replicas(it can happen, if for instance you change the password that DPM uses for its SQL database, it will stop both servers in their tracks with no warning). We also know it's not easy to do Primary/Primary setup, as we would have to synchronise watches to make sure backup windows didn't clash etc.

 

So, what other backup software out there has DR capabilities, but isn't dependant on a primary/secondary setup, but can take the same backup at roughly the same time? Basically 2 standalone backup servers doing the same job, or does the same thing we have now but better!

 

Thnaks

 

James

[DavidYoung]

We use Veeam which has built in replication and you can have copy jobs which make off-site copies of your backups automatically. You would only have one server as it is designed to scale across sites with proxies to move the data around in the most efficient manner (e.g. not traversing the WAN if not needed). You could host your Veeam backup server in your DR location to provide resiliency from a primary site failure. I think trying to protect against something like a password change on the SQL side isn't that important as it is very unlikely (we don't even have access to our Veeam SQL instance unless we specifically go in and give permissions on the server as the installer sets up the instance).

 

Veeam's not cheap but is very good and has got significantly better in the latest update with the ability to protect physical machines too.

 

We also use Altaro at one of our supported schools which is pretty good and cheaper and they've just added replication features.

[CAWJames]

Thanks for that, have a call in with Altaro for pricing, and just about to reach out to Veeam.

 

I think they use a reseller program, so any one have any recommendations for education biased resellers to talk to?

 

Thanks

 

James

[mikes]

Yeah we use Veeam too, ours isn't set up in the way I would like it though - ours is hosted on the same SAN as our normal data, and on the same Vhost cluster; ideally I'd rather have Veeam set up on a separate physical server because if we lose our SAN or Vhosts we would need to set up and install a new Veeam instance to do any recovery.

 

It has worked well for doing instant VM recovery when our printserver died though. within 5 minutes a backed up server is up and running

[PotNoodleTech]

Veeam here too - it's brilliant. Got a dedicated Veeam server with local storage for the backups and offload a backup copy job to a NAS in another building in the school too. Also copy job to USB HDDs once a term to go in the safe.

 

If you are all virtual then veeam is a godsend.

[CAWJames]

Thanks for all the input, I was all ready to pitch the Veeam pill to the higher ups, but then I saw the cost for 12 sockets, so I might have to fix DPM!

[DavidYoung]

Thanks for all the input, I was all ready to pitch the Veeam pill to the higher ups, but then I saw the cost for 12 sockets, so I might have to fix DPM!

 

How many hosts & sockets?

[PotNoodleTech]

Are you education? how many hosts? We originally bought a veeam education usable on 2 hosts and it was quite cheap once off purchase, I now only pay something like 250 a year for support contract. It's worked out cheap as chips for me - but I managed to consolidate my entire estate down to 2 dual socket hyper V hosts which keeps licencing costs down.

[CAWJames]

Currently 4 hyper-v, all dual socket, and 2 ESXi, both dual, 5 figure cost unfortunately even with edu discount

[PotNoodleTech]

Currently 4 hyper-v, all dual socket, and 2 ESXi, both dual, 5 figure cost unfortunately even with edu discount

 

Ouch lots of hosts. That is an outright purchase cost though? I would expect you to get 10 years of use out of the software. The support costs should be a shade over 1000 a year.

 

I bundled the purchase cost of the software in with the server refresh - i.e no point on buying £££ new servers if we aint got secure reliable backup for them.

 

Good luck!

[DavidYoung]

Currently 4 hyper-v, all dual socket, and 2 ESXi, both dual, 5 figure cost unfortunately even with edu discount

 

Have a look at Altaro: https://www.altaro.com/vm-backup/buynow.php. What I like is that they price by host not socket so you're making a saving straight-up there. Their retail pricing is on the website but with educational discount and going via a reseller it will be about 30% cheaper anyway.

 

We still use Veeam as we have the licenses but we have Altaro in a primary school we support and it does work well and is much more affordable.