At the recent VMworld 2010 conference, Zmanda, a provider of open source based backup solutions and a VMware Technology Alliance Partner, said it has begun shipping enhancements to its VMware Backup Client for Amanda Enterprise (AE). In addition to running a full image-level backup of a live virtual machine (VM), users now have the ability to run faster and more efficient block-level differential backups of VMs. During recovery, the Zmanda's VMware backup client will automatically combine a full backup image with the relevant differential backup image.
Performance benefits are also achieved with the new VMware client, Zmanda says, because only those blocks that are being used by the virtual machine are backed up. The client skips the unused raw space on the virtual machine disks, which considerably reduces the size of backup images. This also makes the backup process faster by reducing the amount of data being transferred over the LAN.
Zmanda also says that VMware vSphere backup is now a built-in feature of the Zmanda Backup Appliance (ZBA). ZBA is a pre-loaded and licensed VM that is configured with Amanda Enterprise and can immediately back up all virtual machines running on the same hypervisor as the appliance. With its flat rate and all-inclusive pricing model, ZBA aims to provide a cost-effective alternative to licensing backup for each virtual machine in the environment.
"Zmanda's open source backup solutions deliver comprehensive data protection of VMware environments at a fraction of the cost and complexity of competitive offerings," says Chander Kant, chief executive officer for Zmanda. "Customers also have the peace of mind knowing that their backup data is stored in open formats and will be accessible regardless of specific technology in use."
The VMware Client for AE is available now and may be purchased and downloaded here. ZBA is also immediately available and may be purchased and downloaded here. For more details, go to the Zmanda website.