Synectics Chooses Nakivo Backup & Replication

Nakivo, Inc. announced that Synectics plc has selected its Backup & Replication to protect their VMware environment.

Synectics designs, delivers, and manages integrated security and surveillance systems for various security environments worldwide. It is listed on the UK AIM market and has over 500 employees across three continents: North America, Europe, and Asia.

With two internal datacenters, Synectics’ virtual environment has approximately 30 ESXi hosts. VMware VMs host Exchange for the group and a number of business-critical applications using SQL Server backend databases. In addition, VMs hold the shared user data folders. VM backup and recovery are important, in order to ensure that all business-critical applications are operational at all times. In order to avoid data loss or downtime that can impact business processes, a VM backup solution that can deliver 24/7 availability is a must.

“Previously, we employed a combination of backing up to physical tape drives and electronic backups to HDDs in different locations for different applications and servers. The previous approach was difficult to manage and was not centralized. We needed a product that could provide VM backup and replication from a single portal, a VM backup solution that could provide reliable VM backup with a single pane for monitoring and alerts, while also offering VM replication, in order to enhance our DR capability,” says Amanpreet Singh, responsible for IT resilience, Synectics.

By choosing Nakivo as its VM backup solution, Synectics has improved the robustness of its backup solution and centralized VM backup and VM replication. With availability of Synology NAS installation, Synectics also has managed to create a performing VM backup appliance.

“We have two Synology RS2416RP+ servers, with approximately 48TB each, so we of course decided to utilize such installation option by combining both software and hardware. The whole installation and configuration was very well documented and the process was very straightforward to carry out. Integrating Nakivo Backup & Replication and a Synology NAS provides us with an additional security of VM backups,” says Singh.

Nakivo enables Synectics to backup VMs locally and to remote sites. “We perform VM backup every day and have improved VM backup performance with Nakivo Backup & Replication,” he added.

Screenshot verification complements VM backup by providing assurance for Synectics that data can be recovered from VMware backups.

“The screenshot verification feature provides us with evidence that VM backups have completed successfully, by sending reports that include screenshots of test-recovered VMs, thus verifying that all VM backups are good and VMs can be recovered,” says Singh.

Backup & Replication provides Synectics with the ability to replicate critical application servers to the secondary datacenter for DR purposes.

“The VM Replication feature allows us to replicate our key VMs from one location to another and then vice versa. Since we have quite a large amount of data, it takes approximately 6 hours to replicate key VMware VMs. With VM replication, we are protected against any catastrophic failures that might occur because we can near instantly bring the key VMs up at the remote site with minimal impact on the ongoing basis,” says Singh.

Backup & Replication installed on a Synology NAS provides Synectics with VM backups and VM replication between sites from a single portal. With VM backup, the company has managed to improve VM backup performance, in comparison to the backup to tape approach. VM replication provides a way of replicating servers to the remote site and, thanks to the screenshot verification, Synectics also benefits from an additional layer of visibility.

“Nakivo Backup & Replication has allowed us to centralize the VM backup process of the entire IT estate. The single management and monitoring web portal is a significant asset in managing the backup process for us. With Nakivo Backup & Replication, we have saved at least one full day per week on backup administration, in terms of controlling and ensuring that all VM backups have completed successfully, as well as the product removed the need for any local intervention at remote sites with regards to backup tape swapping or retention,” says Singh.