Veeam Software, award-winning provider of systems management tools for VMware ESX Server environments, today announced general availability of Veeam Backup Version 2.0. Veeam Backup is unique in the market because it offers both backup and replication for virtual environments in a single product, as well as the fastest file-level restore. Version 2.0 includes significant added functionality, as well as a new optimized backup engine that allows for up to five times faster backup and replication performance than the 1.0 version.

“One of the things our customers appreciate about Veeam is our fast responsiveness to their requests,” said Ratmir Timashev, Veeam president and CEO. “Our strategy is to create 1.0 products that offer basic functionality and provide a framework for innovation. Then we solicit customer feedback, and very quickly create strong 2.0 versions based on this feedback. This is how we quickly catch up to – and then surpass – older products on the market.”

Major new features in Veeam Backup 2.0 include:

• Five times faster – Veeam Backup 2.0 has a new optimized backup engine, which allows for up to five times faster backup and replication performance than the previous version.
• Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) support – Veeam Backup 2.0 leverages VSS to ensure consistent backup and recovery of VSS-aware applications, including Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server.
• ESXi support – Now customers can back up ESXi servers using VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB). File-level recovery is fully supported for guests running on ESXi, and full image restore is supported to ESX 3.x servers. These images can then be VMotioned to ESXi as needed.
• Enhanced reporting and notification – Comprehensive real-time job statistics are available, including automated e-mail notification of backup job status, activity and performance details.
• Backup portability – Veeam Backup users can now easily import backups made using previous versions of the software, or backups that have been archived to tape.
• Support for third-party tape backup systems - Now users can specify a script to automatically run when the VMware backup is finished, initiating tape backups to begin.

“Blue Copper reviewed the market looking for a virtual infrastructure backup solution,” said Tom Soulsby, of Blue Copper Technology. “After trying most of the competitors, we tried Veeam Backup. We found it is very easy to use, and has been used to restore several of our VMs. It’s saved our bacon quite a few times. I especially like the simple way to restore files on the fly. We are looking forward to using the new version with VSS support.

Pricing and Availability
Veeam Backup 2.0 is available immediately, and pricing has not changed – North American pricing still begins at $499 USD per socket. More information, including free trial downloads, is available at http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-backup.html.