Top 5 SME AWS Cloud Backup Solutions

This report was recently written by DCIG, LLC.

Top 5 SME AWS Cloud Backup Solutions

AWS a Major Beneficiary of Public Cloud Adoption
The percentage of SMEs (250 – 5,000 employees) running their application workloads on public cloud platforms continues to grow.

Consider:
• 96% of organizations of all sizes already use at least one public cloud platform (1)
• Public cloud platforms will host more than 50% of all enterprise workloads and data by 2021 (2)
• 87% of companies experience business acceleration from their use of cloud services (3)

These statistics reflect what many anecdotally know to be true: SME adoption of public cloud platforms continues to grow unabated. Among these plat- forms, Amazon Web Services (AWS) represents one of this trend’s primary beneficiaries. AWS already owns nearly 50% of the public cloud IaaS market outdistancing its nearest competitor by more than 3:1. (4)

1. https://resources. exera.com/web/pdf/report-state-of-the-cloud-2020.pdf. Referenced 8/12/2020. Page 19.
2. https://resources. exera.com/web/pdf/report-state-of-the-cloud-2020.pdf. Referenced 8/12/2020. Page 10.
3. Cloud Adoption and Risk Report. Reference 8/28/2020. Page 3
4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2019/08/02/amazon-owns-nearly-half-of-the-public-cloud-infrastructure-market-worth-over-32-billion-
report/#377293c229e0. Referenced 8/12/2020.

SMEs select AWS over its competitors for many reasons. It offers over 100 platform services from basic compute, networking, and storage services to analytics, end user computing, and relational databases. It has data centers throughout the world. Taken together, these benefits make a compelling argument for SMEs to adopt and embrace AWS.

Backup Still a Requirement in the AWS Cloud
AWS offers many features SMEs want a public cloud platform to deliver including HA, redundancy, security, and many more. Despite the benefits AWS offers, SMEs must keep one principle in mind: they continue to retain responsibility for their data.
This puts the onus on SMEs to backup and recover their data. Should their data get corrupted, deleted, lost, or encrypted, they need a solution in place to protect it.

AWS does offer its own backup software which DCIG evaluated in its research for this report. However, it is a separate offering optimized for VM backup to which SMEs must subscribe. Many SMEs will have application and data with backup and recovery requirements beyond what AWS’ own backup software offers. This will necessitate they acquire a third-party solu- tion to meet their AWS backup and recovery needs.

Top 5 SME AWS Cloud Backup Solutions in Alphabetical Order

• Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP)
• Arpio
• Cobalt Iron Compass
• Druva CloudRanger
• IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Solutions evaluated:
1. Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP)
2. Arpio
3. Asigra Cloud Backup
4. AWS Backup
5. Cloud Daddy
6. Clumio Backup for AWS Native Services
7. Cobalt Iron Compass
8. Druva CloudRanger
9. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
10. Metallic
11. N2W Software Backup and Recovery
12. NAKIVO Backup and Replication
13. NovaStor NovaBackup
14. UlimitByte Cloud backup Service
15. Vembu Backup for AWS
16. Veritas Backup Exec

The State of SME AWS Cloud Backup Solutions
The solutions that perform backup and recovery in the AWS cloud got their start in one of three ways doing:
1. Physical machine backups
2. VM backups
3. Cloud-native backup.

9 of the 16 SME backup solutions evaluated got their start in physical and VM backup. SMEs deploy these backup solutions in the AWS cloud like they do in physical or virtual environments, with minor differences.

They obtain an appropriately sized Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) instance from AWS to host the backup software. They license, install, and maintain the backup solution themselves. They configure it to backup their applications hosted in the AWS cloud, often installing agents on the EC2 hosts. In many respects, they configure and manage this backup software once deployed in the AWS cloud like they do on-premises.

3 SME AWS cloud backup solutions do face one primary challenge going forward. Fewer SMEs want to manage backup software the same way they did in the past. Instead, they want to subscribe and pay for backup software like they do other services in the AWS cloud.

The other 7 solutions provide this new cloud- native subscription model that SMEs want. They got their start as cloud-native backup applications, operating either in the AWS cloud or another cloud.

They architected their backup software and made it available as a cloud-native service.

Delivered this way, these 7 solutions automatically scale up or down based on demand. The providers also handle all the backup soft- ware’s ongoing maintenance, such as fixes, patches, and upgrades. This frees SMEs to focus on using the backup software while removing the task of maintaining it.

The cloud-native backup solutions based in the AWS cloud often support backing up other cloud-native AWS applications. However, they tend to lack the breadth of features SMEs need to protect applications they lift-and-shift to the AWS cloud. As these cloud-native providers introduce features to better protect these applications, their solutions will become more attractive to SMEs.

Over the next few years, look for the gap between the 2 classes of products to begin to close. Expect current providers to make their soft- ware available as cloud-native SaaS offerings. Conversely, expect cloud-native providers to add more features to better protect applications that SMEs lift-and-shift to the cloud.

Distinguishing Features of SME AWS Cloud Backup Solutions
DCIG identified over 30 solutions in the marketplace that offer backup capabilities for the AWS cloud. Of these, it identified and classified 16 of them as meeting DCIG’s definition of an SME AWS backup solution.

Attributes that help distinguish these solutions from those targeted at large enterprises include support for the following:
1. Diversity of approaches to protecting applications and data in the AWS cloud. Their diversity in features and functionality perhaps best defines SME AWS cloud backup solutions. This diversity shows up almost immediately in how they protect applications and data in the AWS cloud. Cloud-native backup solutions do particularly well at protecting AWS cloud-native applications. Solutions that got started doing physical or VM backups tend to better protect applications that SMEs lift-and-shift to AWS.
2. Varying technical support levels. SMEs should not assume all these solutions provide the levels of technical support that large enterprise AWS cloud backup solutions offer. SMEs often expect same day if not 4-hour response times when requesting support. Only 75% of these solutions can deliver these response times. Only 62% of these solutions offer response times of 15 minutes or less. In contrast, all large enterprise AWS cloud backup solutions provide technical support response times of 15 minutes or less.
3. Broader support for AWS databases. SMEs building applications in the cloud will find these backup solutions offer more options to protect AWS databases. All SME AWS cloud backup solutions do not protect all AWS databases. However, these solutions offer more choices to protect AWS databases than large enterprise backup solutions. SMEs will find solutions that protect their data stored in Aurora, DocumentDB, DynamoDB, RedShift, and AWS RDS databases, among others.
4. Broad support for using and managing backup data on S3 storage. 75% of SME AWS cloud backup solutions already support using Amazon S3 as a backup storage target. Half of the solutions also support storing data in S3 targets in different AWS regions while 40% can manage S3 Glacier in the same AWS region. Many large enterprise AWS cloud backup solutions do support S3. However, as a group, they currently lag SME backup solutions in their abilities to manage S3’s various storage tiers.
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Next Gen SME AWS Cloud Backup Solution Features

Using backup software hosted in the AWS cloud affords new ways for SMEs to backup and recover their applications. SMEs should note they may only find these capabilities available on some of the solutions evaluated.

Providers remain in the early stages of optimizing their software to backup and recover applications and data hosted in AWS. As a result, the breadth and type of features they offer that leverage and capitalize on AWS’s available capabilities still vary. However, a few solutions already offer features that SMEs may find appealing and should consider uses.

These include:
1. Archive and retain backup data in Amazon S3. Using Amazon’s simple storage services (S3) for backup archives and long-term retention becomes more practical. AWS S3 storage resides in the same physical location as the applications so backups to S3 and recoveries from it may complete more quickly. Once they store backup data on S3, SMEs may take advantage of S3’s various features. These include tiering, versioning, and data immutability. Further, a few solutions offer the option to manage these more advanced S3 features through their management console.
2. Protect AWS RDS databases. Using Amazon’s relational database service (RDS), SMEs may subscribe to any of 6 different relational databases like other AWS services. However, the responsibility to manage, backup, and recover the data stored in these RDS databases still falls on SMEs. A few of these solutions backup and recover data stored in AWS RDS databases.
3. All-inclusive, subscription-based pricing. 7 of the solutions already model their pricing structure after AWS’s pay-as-you go model. While each one’s pricing structure varies, those that do offer it calculate their pricing based upon some mix of variables. SMEs should minimally expect to pay monthly based upon how much data they backup and how many VMs they protect. They may pay extra for services such as DR and premium levels of support.
4. Protect an entire AWS virtual private cloud (VPC). 3 SME solutions provide SMEs the flexibility to backup and recover all the components of an AWS VPC. The feature helps SMEs quickly recover a VPC in another AWS region for testing or to recover from a disaster.
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Similarities between the TOP 5 SME AWS Cloud Backup Solutions
The TOP 5 SME AWS cloud backup solution share the following traits in common that help distinguish them from the other SME solutions evaluated.

3 features to which SMEs should pay close attention include:
• Available in all compatible AWS regions. All 5 of these TOP 5 providers make their respective AWS cloud backup solution available in all compatible AWS regions. SMEs may find that some providers only make their SME AWS cloud backup solution in specific AWS regions. TOP 5 solutions largely address this concern. If an AWS region offers the appropriate infrastructure to support the solution, SMEs may deploy it in that region.
• May place backup data on S3 object stores in different AWS regions. SMEs may want to store backup data on S3 object stores in AWS regions other than where their applications reside. They may want to pursue this option for multiple reasons, to include cost savings, data redundancy, and facilitate recoveries. All TOP 5 solutions give SMEs the flexibility to implement this feature.
• Provide technical support in 4 hours or less. The responsiveness, levels, and types of technical support available from SME AWS cloud backup providers vary widely. All TOP 5 SME AWS cloud backup providers excel in this area. Each one can provide technical support in 4 hours or less.

All TOP 5 SME AWS cloud backup solutions also support the following traits:
• Encrypt data at-rest and in-flight
• Generate alerts on backup job errors and failures
• Perform cloud-to-cloud (C2C) recoveries
• Perform backups and recoveries of individual VMs at the VM image level
• Perform full and incremental backups
• Protect Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange, and SharePoint applications hosted in the AWS cloud
• Protect Windows file servers
• Protect SQL Server and Oracle databases hosted in the AWS cloud
• Protect the most recent Linux and Windows EC2 OS releases
• Schedule VM snapshots to occur as frequently as once an hour

Differences between the TOP 5 SME AWS Cloud Backup Solutions
The TOP 5 solutions differ in how they deliver their respective offering in the AWS cloud in at least the following 5 ways:
• Deploying the solution. SMEs will need to assess if they have a preference in how they want to deploy and host the cloud backup solution. Three TOP 5 solutions make their software available as a SaaS offering inside the AWS cloud. 3 make their software available as a SaaS offering that operates outside the AWS cloud. 3 support hosting their software on an AWS virtual appliance or machine. These options impact how quickly an SME can move from choosing a solution to using it in AWS.
• Protecting applications outside of the AWS cloud. SMEs may want to use the same solution to protect applications on-premises or SaaS-based cloud applications such as Microsoft Office 365. 3 solutions offer an option to protect applications on-premises while another 3 can protect SaaS-based cloud applications.
• Protecting AWS applications. Many SMEs adopt AWS to use features it offers to which they may not have access in their on-premises infrastructure. These AWS features may include Autoscaling, Cloudwatch, Elastic Load Balancing, and Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). As they use these features, they create settings in them that they may also want to backup. Only 2 of the TOP 5 solutions offer SMEs any options to backup these AWS applications.
• Protecting AWS and non-AWS databases. While they differ in capabilities, these TOP 5 solutions give SMEs multiple options to protect either AWS or non-AWS databases. 3 solutions protect AWS’ RDS databases while one can protect Aurora, DocumentDB, and DynamoDB, among others. 4 solutions protect the non-AWS database MongoDB while 3 offer protection for MariaDB, Cassandra, and CouchDB.
• Breadth of VM recovery options. SMEs wanting to use the backup software to recover VMs inside or outside of AWS will need to choose carefully. Only 3 TOP 5 solutions offer SMEs the option to perform virtual-to-virtual (V2V) recoveries. Further, only 1 solution can currently convert existing VMs to Amazon machine images (AMIs).

TOP 5 SME AWS Cloud Backup Solution Profiles
Each TOP 5 SME AWS cloud backup solution profile highlights at least 3 ways each one distinguishes itself. These differentiators represent some of the best methods that backup solutions offer to backup and recover data in the AWS cloud. Within each solution, SMEs will find distinctive features that may better meet their respective needs.

Arcserve UDP
It continues to demonstrate its ability to find the sweet spot for delivering a backup solution optimized for backing up and recovering SME environments. DCIG previously recognized Arcserve UDP as a TOP 5 provider of SME anti-ransomware backup solutions. In this latest report, DCIG awards Arcserve UDP a TOP 5 ranking as an SME AWS cloud backup solution.

It offers the following features that help differentiate it from other TOP 5 SME AWS cloud backup solutions:
• Cloud direct backup-as-a-service (BaaS). Arcserve UDP Cloud Hybrid provides SMEs already in or starting out in AWS a fast, economical means to implement backup. It contains the full breadth of UDP’s software features that SMEs may access at no cost. Once subscribed, SMEs deploy a UDP Cloud Direct agent on each VM. It backups data to the Arcserve cloud though it can keep a copy in AWS for faster recoveries. SMEs administer UDP Cloud Hybrid through a web GUI only paying for the terabytes they consume in the Arcserve cloud.
• A clear pathway to implement DRaaS. Using Arcserve’s Cloud Direct BaaS, SMEs may also subscribe to and implement Arcserve Cloud Direct DRaaS at any time. Using Cloud Direct DRaaS, SMEs may recover protected servers within a provisioned virtual datacenter within the Arcserve Cloud. They manage Arcserve BaaS and DRaaS through the same management interface. Subscribers pay for terabytes stored and the amount of RAM in gigabytes needed to recover VMs in the Arcserve Cloud.
• Delivers broad backup capabilities for hybrid environments. Many SMEs must continue to backup multiple applications and data types on-premises and in other public clouds. Arcserve UDP gives them this flexibility to use one solution to perform this task. It can backup applications and data in AWS as well as in Microsoft Azure and on-premises. It also supports protecting the heterogeneous environments found in SME environments. These application, data, and OS types include Linux, Windows, and Unix OSs, Microsoft applications, Office 365, and databases such as Oracle and PostgreSQL.

Arpio
Arpio offers a cloud-native backup solution purpose-built for AWS. Its architecture and features give SMEs insight and a foretaste of what cloud backup solutions will eventually offer. Arpio built its backup service to protect entire AWS environments and extend data protection to include the cloud infrastructure that surrounds it.

Differentiators that it offers for backing up and recovering applications running on AWS include:
• Provides geo-redundancy as-a-service. Arpio makes its service available to any applications that run on AWS. It automates AWS’s best practices for continuously cloning data to one or more alternate AWS regions. This keeps the data available in the event of a disaster or outage in the primary AWS region.
• Backups AWS infrastructure and data. Arpio identifies all the underlying configurations and settings of applications that an SME needs to perform a recovery. It then copies them to one or more alternate AWS regions that an SME selects. AWS IAM and network configurations, security policies, CloudWatch alarms, and critical application resources are among the items it copies.
• Creates a fully formed DR environment at minimal cost. Once an SME identifies the resources it needs to recover, Arpio starts capturing recovery points in the primary environment. It copies these recovery points from the primary site to the recovery AWS environment with data never leaving an SME’s account. Once it completes, it sets up AWS’ free resources in the recovery environment. Arpio does not set up any AWS resources that incur costs until an SME initiates a test or a recovery. In the interim, SMEs only pay for storage and transfer costs.
• Safe environment for testing recoveries. Arpio isolates the recovery testing environment from the production environment by creating a test sandbox. This sandbox blocks all incoming and outgoing network communications to prevent accidental access to production applications. SMEs may only grant applications running inside this test sandbox access to external resources using a white list.

Cobalt Iron Compass
Its availability as a SaaS solution makes it affordable, practical, and accessible to for SMEs. Also identified by DCIG as a TOP 5 enterprise AWS cloud backup solution, SMEs may access all its features through its all-inclusive licensing option.

Ways in which Cobalt Iron differentiates itself from other TOP 5 SME AWS cloud backup solutions include:
• Creating a cloud-like, SaaS backup experience across hybrid environments. Cobalt Iron offers SMEs the option to deploy Compass on physical, virtual, or cloud instances. These instance types interact with one another to function as a single, logical converged infrastructure across physical, virtual, and cloud. Architected this way, Compass’ Accelerator OS self-manages these instances to include performing ongoing software maintenance and updates. SMEs only need to focus on scheduling and managing backups.
• Analytics engine to improve backup and recovery. The company grants every Compass user access to its analytics engine. This software constantly evaluates how Compass backups perform across all SME environments, to include their backups in AWS. Using this information, it may then automatically act. These actions may include optimizing when backups run, resolving backup storage issues, and monitoring the infrastructure for the presence of ransomware.
• Supports backup across multiple public and private cloud. The firm differentiates itself from almost all other backup solution by offering backups in multiple public and private clouds. Others generally support at most 1 or 2 public clouds in addition to providing backup for on-premises applications. In addition to AWS, Cobalt Iron Compass also protect applications running in the Alibaba Cloud, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Since some SMEs may plan to deploy VMs in multiple clouds, they may use Compass to backup applications across all of them.

Druva CloudRanger
It provides a cloud-native backup solution purpose-built to protect applications and data hosted on AWS. SMEs subscribe to Druva CloudRanger in the AWS cloud as a SaaS offering with monthly and annual subscriptions available. Built as a backup service to run on AWS’ IaaS platform, CloudRanger leverages AWS’ many native capabilities for robust backup and recovery.

Ways that CloudRanger differentiates itself for delivering application and backup and recovery on AWS include:
• Extensive support for protecting AWS databases. SMEs creating applications native to AWS often run them on AWS databases such as Amazon Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, and others. As they do so, they must also identify backup software that can backup and recover them. CloudRanger provides the widest breadth of backup and recovery support of AWS databases of any SME solution DCIG evaluated.
• Optimizes storage of backup snapshot by using various Amazon S3 tiers. By default, most AWS cloud backup solution create snapshots of EC2 instances on AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS). Many also offer an option to move EC2 snapshots from EBS to S3 object storage. CloudRanger does the same. However, once CloudRanger moves these snapshots to S3, it can also optimize their placement across various S3 storage classes. The classes it supports include S3 Infrequently Accessed (IA), Glacier, and Glacier Deep Archive.
• Automates DR planning across multiple AWS regions. The flexibility to quickly recover applications and data represents a major reason many SMEs use the AWS cloud. Using CloudRanger, SMEs can set the stage to perform one-click disaster recoveries. It can create DR plans for Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS that span different AWS regions and accounts. It also extends its DR support to AWS GovCloud regions.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
IBM demonstrates its continuing ability to adapt its Spectrum Protect Plus to meet the new demands of AWS cloud backup. Available in the AWS marketplace, SMEs may deploy Spectrum Protect Plus as an AWS VM or on an AWS Bare Metal or EC2 instance. The company makes an AWS CloudFormation template available to accelerate and simplify its provisioning and con guration in the AWS cloud.

It offers the following features that help distinguish it from other TOP 5 offerings:
• A hybrid deployment option. SMEs adopting AWS may need to continue protecting applications on-premises in addition to those running in the AWS cloud. Using Spectrum Protect Plus, SMEs may first deploy its vSnap server in the AWS cloud. This serves as a backup target for VMs hosted in the AWS cloud. They may deploy vSnap server while continuing to run Spectrum Protect Plus on-premises.
• Protects logical application groupings of containers hosted in Kubernetes. In 2019, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation surveyed individuals in the software, technology, and professional services industries. It found 78% of them already use Kubernetes in production (5). When deployed on-premises, Spectrum Protect Plus protects persistent volumes in a Kubernetes environment. It can create SLA policies that govern snapshots, backups, replication, and data retention. As SMEs build new applications using containers, developers can use these labels to protect logical application groupings instead of individual volumes. They may also backup and recover logical persistent volumes associated with Kubernetes namespaces.
• Supports multiple object stores for cost-effective data retention and archiving. SMEs cannot always keep all their backup data in the AWS S3 storage cloud. Some need to bring this data back on-premises or store it in other clouds to satisfy application, archival, or compliance requirements. Using Spectrum Protect, they may copy data to other object stores, to include on-premises object stores. They can also use Spectrum Protect to further lower storage costs in Amazon S3 by placing data on S3 Glacier.

SME AWS Cloud Backup Solutions Inclusion Criteria
• Protect applications and data residing in the AWS cloud
• Meets backup and recovery requirements of small and midsize enterprises
• Solution is shipping and available by July 1, 2020
• Information available for DCIG to make an informed, defensible decision

(5) https://www.cncf.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CNCF_Survey_Report.pdf/ Referenced 7/28/2020.