Arkeia Agent for vStorage

Arkeia Software announced a version of its VMware vStorage agent featuring the ability to restore a single file or a directory from the backup of a complete Windows or Linux virtual machine performed through VMware vStorage API.

Granular Restore from Image Backups
The Arkeia Network Backup Agent for vSphere uses VMware’s vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP). Support for VMware’s Changed Block Tracking (CBT), for fast, incremental image backups, was delivered in June 2010. This upgrade to Arkeia’s Backup Agent for vSphere now allows authorized users to use Arkeia’s web user interface to select the file or directories to be restored and to save them either to the original virtual machine, to an alternate virtual machine, or to a physical server.

Unlike other vStorage solutions, Arkeia offers file-grain restore for both Windows and Linux virtual machines. Further, Arkeia supports both native file systems and file systems layered on a Linux logical volume manager (LVM). Administrators specify file or directory paths and the files or directories are restored in a single-pass. The upgraded agent is backwards-compatible with image-backups made with earlier versions of Arkeia’s backup agent for vStorage.

Enterprise-class – without paying a premium
DCIG’s 2011 Virtual Server Backup Software Buyer’s Guide ranked Arkeia Software 3rd among 24 vendors for data protection of virtual server environments. "Arkeia Network Backup possesses many of the same features that backup software solutions that are normally classified as ‘enterprise class,’" reports Jerome Wendt, DCIG analyst and author of the 2011 Buyer’s Guide. "This is notable in that Arkeia primarily targets mid-sized companies with its solution. So, mid-sized companies get much of the same functionality to protect their physical and virtual machines as larger organizations-without paying a premium."

"Arkeia’s new agent for vStorage lets us further improve the service levels that we offer our customers," reports Guido Dolci, CTO at Sfera Networks srl, a regional MSP in Italy. "Arkeia’s leverage of VMware’s Change Block Tracking already shortened backup windows with block-level incremental backup. Now, we can reduce time required for granular file restores on both Linux and Windows guest operating systems." Sfera Networks has protected customer data with Arkeia Network Backup since 1999.

Arkeia vStorage Agent Details
Arkeia’s vStorage agent offers comprehensive backup and recovery support for ESX(i) 3.5 and VMware vSphere 4.0/4.1 (including vCenter) platforms. Capabilities, all managed through Arkeia’s Web user interface, include:

• Block-grain incremental image-level backups using VMware Changed Block Tracking (CBT) for reduced storage needs and faster backups due to reduced network traffic
• vCenter integration for simplified management of backup and recovery operations for environments with multiple physical hosts
• vApp support to backup and restore groups of VMs working together, as well as granular restore on a per-VM basis
• Multiple transport methods allowing the Arkeia Agent to perform LAN-free backups via SCSI hot-add or over the virtual LAN for accelerated performance
• Raw Device Mapping (RDM) support for backups of remote block storage devices, including incremental backups using CBT when in virtual compatibility mode
• Differential backups, as well as full and incremental backups, for the flexibility to define an efficient backup process
• Flexible restores including hypervisor redirection, as well as options to choose datacenter/folder, cluster/host, resource pool, or datastore destinations to simplify the restore process
• File-grain and directory-grain restores from image backups of both Linux and Windows guest operating systems; a VMware hypervisor is not required for the restore

Availability and Pricing
This Arkeia vStorage Backup Agent is available. This agent is available as a software package installed on any VMware-supported Linux or Windows platforms, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Novell’s SuSE Enterprise Server and Windows Server 2003 and 2008. The agent is also available as a virtual appliance for deployment on any VMware ESX or ESXi hypervisor. Pricing starts at $1,000 per VMware vSphere server for large vCenter deployments. For Arkeia customers with current maintenance agreements, agent upgrades are provided at no charge. All products include one year of maintenance for free license updates/upgrades as well as access to Arkeia technical support.