New add-on for NetJapan ActiveImage Protector offers instant server recovery in VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V.
Just in time for Word Backup Day, NetJapan Ltd today announced the
release of ImageBoot; an ultimate availability solution that boots your
NetJapan ActiveImage Protector backup images as a replacement server in
as little as two minutes. ImageBoot is a boon to IT technicians
everywhere as it allows them to get their customers businesses back up
and running immediately, while also removing the stress of having to
repair hardware as quickly as possible.
“Company down-time due to IT disaster is now a thing of the past; IT
administrators need simply use ImageBoot to boot a fully functional
machine directly from an ActiveImage Protector backup file, providing a
live server or workstation that can immediately be used to replace a
crashed server” said Richard Zinner, NetJapan’s European Technical
Director. “Another great advantage is that any and all changes made
while an ImageBoot virtual machine is running are saved as differential
backup files which you can later restore to the repaired or new
replacement hardware, ensuring zero data loss.”
ImageBoot is a multi-purpose tool, not only can it be used for instant
disaster recovery but ImageBoot machines can also be used to test
software changes and upgrades prior to actual deployment.
How ImageBoot Works
ImageBoot allows you to boot any ActiveImage Protector disk image
directly as a virtual machine in both VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V.
ImageBoot’s speed and reliability is owed to a proprietary virtual
storage controller, created by NetJapan, that allows ActiveImage
Protector disk images to be attached as actual drives in both VMware and
Hyper-V environments. A virtual machine is automatically created around
the attached drive, resulting in a virtual machine that is faster and
significantly more reliable when compared to other solutions on the
market that simply mount a disk image.
ImageBoot supports both the Desktop and Server versions of Microsoft
Hyper-V as well as VMware Workstation, VMware Player and VMware Player
Pro. Thanks to its exceptional performance characteristics, ImageBoot
machines can match the performance requirements of even large Hyper-V
environments.
ImageBoot’s Features
- Start an ImageBoot virtual machine from any ActiveImage Protector full, incremental or differential backup image.
- Eliminate lengthy downtime that results from physical to virtual conversions and normal restore processes.
- Supports VMware WorkStation, VMware Player, VMware Player Pro and Microsoft Hyper-V based Windows hypervisors.
- ImageBoot virtual machines behave the same as the original source machines.
- Supports UEFI and drives over 2TB in size.
- ImageBoot is offered as a free download from NetJapan’s website.
ImageBoot’s Additional Uses
- Perform mock disaster drills to verify recoverability.
- In Post-mortem Boot Analyses (PBA) to identify and isolate the point of failure using the backup image and incremental files.
- Temporarily run a replacement server while performing hardware migration or upgrades.
- Virtual migration testing.
- Testing system or application upgrades prior to deployment to a live environment.
- Verify the integrity of backup image files.