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Backing Up Multiple Hypervisors with Acronis Backup 12.5

Article Written by Jeff Grundy.

In this article, we're going to cover the following topics:

  • Why Hypervisors are Important to Business
  • Why You Should Back Up Your Hypervisors
  • Types of Hypervisors Supported by Acronis Backup 12.5
  • Backing Up and Restoring Hypervisors
  • Running a Virtual Machine from a Stored Backup

Introduction

There are many reasons why more companies are transitioning to the use of virtual machines versus traditional servers and workstations. Whether it is taking advantage of modern, ultra-powerful hardware, increased efficiency, cost savings, or any one of a host of other reasons, businesses of all sizes are discovering the power and benefits of virtualization.

In the earliest days of virtualization, choices for hypervisors were non-existent, as VMware was the only real option available. These days, though, there are many more options available, and some are even free to use. Major hypervisors commonly in use today include Microsoft's Hyper-V, XenServer from Citrix, Oracle VM Server, as well as Linux KVM and Red Hat Virtualization.

With so many free and paid options available, it is relatively common for businesses and enterprises to use multiple hypervisors depending on their virtualization requirements. In fact, according to an extensive study by Acronis, more than 50% of businesses and enterprises use two or more hypervisors in their virtualization environments.

Hypervisor Data Importance

With many hypervisors, creating and deploying a virtual machine is relatively quick and simple. Consequently, it is sometimes easy for administrators to overlook the work and time needed to manage and protect data created and collected on VMs. Unfortunately, protecting data stored in virtual environments is usually not nearly as straightforward as deploying the virtual machines, especially when working with multiple hypervisors and interfaces.

With many VM backup solutions, you may need to use multiple interfaces and tools to work with different hypervisors from various vendors. And in some cases, a backup solution may not be compatible with some hypervisors at all. When you need to create backups of multiple VMs within multiple hypervisors, these types of limitations can cause costly delays or put your business at risk of incomplete or failed data recoveries. Fortunately, Acronis Backup 12.5 can help simplify and streamline your VM and hypervisor backup efforts.

Acronis Simplifies VM Backups

Acronis Backup 12.5 enables you to create secure backups in your multi-hypervisor environment from within a single touch-friendly web-based console. Moreover, with Acronis Backup 12.5, you can view all your VMs and hosts within the same interface. Using the interface, you can schedule backups, perform integrity tests, and recover them as needed. With Acronis Backup 12.5, you can restore backups to a physical system, the cloud, or even to a different hypervisor. Best of all, Acronis Backup 12.5 is compatible with all popular hypervisor host platforms.

Acronis Supported Hypervisors

Acronis Backup 12.5 supports all major hypervisors, including:

  • VMware vSphere - Acronis Backup 12.5 allows you to simplify VMware data recovery and supports both VADP-compliant and non-compliant VMs. Additionally, Backup 12.5 supports agentless backup, VMs with guest-initiated iSCSI, and free ESXI agent-based backup. With this software, you can even backup the ESXi host, so that you do not need to reconfigure it during recovery. Finally, the application also supports VMware VM replication, WAN optimization, and SAN snapshots.
  • Microsoft Hyper-V - Acronis Backup 12.5 supports Hyper-V backup of VSS-compliant VMs with agentless backup and non-compliant VMs, such as iSCSI agent-based backups and pass-through disks. Backup 12.5 also enables you to backup Hyper-V hosts just as you would any other Windows machine.
  • Citrix XenServer - With Acronis Backup 12.5, you can quickly and easily create a XenServer backup of any VM with agent-based backup, as well as the XenCenter System.
  • Red Hat Virtualization - Acronis supports RHV backup of any virtual machine with agent-based backup, as well as the RHV Manager system.
  • Linux KVM - In addition to letting you quickly create a Linux KVM backup of a VM with agent-based backup, Acronis Backup 12.5 also enables you to back up the Linux host itself.
  • Oracle VM Server - Acronis Backup ensures complete Oracle VM data protection by enabling backups of any virtual machine with agent-based backup, as well as the Oracle VM Manager.

Acronis Single Interface Advantages

With Acronis Backup 12.5, you can view and manage all of your hypervisor hosts within a single interface. Additionally, you can create and apply backup policies and grouping to VMs in multiple hypervisors. Customizable dashboards also enable you to view the status of your multi-hypervisor environment at any time. This allows you to drill down to individual VMs, locate issues or problems, and then resolve them quickly.

Backing Up and Restoring a Hypervisor

Acronis Backup 12.5 lets you back up virtually any VM or host with just a few clicks and supports virtually any medium you can imagine: local disks, NAS, SAN, Cloud, and tape. Additionally, Backup 12.5 also supports variable block-size deduplication. Simply put, Acronis Backup 12.5 lets you protect your business with reliable images of your entire data infrastructure - on both physical and virtual machines.

World's Fastest Recovery

Acronis Backup 12.5 also offers you the world's fastest recovery using Acronis Universal Restore, which enables you to minimize downtime by restoring Windows or Linux systems quickly and efficiently to new or dissimilar hardware. With Acronis Universal Restore, you can restore quickly to bare-metal physical machines, virtual machines or to the cloud.

Running a VM from a Backup

With Acronis Backup 12.5 and Acronis Universal Restore, VM restorations that used to take hours now only take minutes in most cases. Nevertheless, there are times that certain applications are so crucial to your business that even a few minutes of downtime can result in catastrophic losses. So, in situations where seconds are critical, Acronis Instant Restore is there to help.

With Acronis Instant Restore, it is common for administrators to achieve recovery time objectives (RTOs) of less than 15 seconds. How is this possible? Acronis Instant Restore enables you to boot an existing Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware vSphere ESXI host directly from the backup storage. You can boot the host without moving any data, which results in near-instantaneous recovery and boot times.

Published Monday, June 19, 2017 8:04 AM by David Marshall
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