Recently I was approached by Vembu to review their product, this wasnt aware of the product but as I did my research I was pleasantly surprised. Vembu was founded a way back in 2002, first launching products that dealt with SQL migration, however after some time and some acquisitions they’ve pivoted to backup. Whats impressive is the shear number of products and supported platforms that Vembu BDR supports – Vembu can backup vSphere, Hyper-V, Physical Servers, Desktops, Exchange Items, SharePoint Items, SQL Items, Office365, Google Apps, etc. – and they can back that up on-site, off-site, or even to the cloud, be it a Vembu cloud or Amazon – all through a single console.
See my introduction page for more details http://18.130.155.133/2016/09/vembu-introduction/
My review will cover vSphere element only, it wouldnt be fair for me to review Hyper-V. In my lab I have a separate VM using a separate disk for backed up data. To download the software go to the following page and download the suite.
https://www.vembu.com/vembu-bdr-suite-download/
Once downloaded run the install.
Agree to the prerequisites.
Choose the install directory and storage for the backed up data.
Wait for the install to complete.
Once installed browse to the management webpage, the default credentials are admin/admin.
>https://FQDN:6061
Set the time zone.
Set a unique server name.
I found the installation very straight forward, with the DB and web services installed for me I only need to configure the environment.
Now run through the configuration tasks, I will only be showing the vSphere element.
I will point this to my vCenter.
Add credentials, im using my SSO admin account but you should use a service account.
Once connected I go to setting up a backup job. The backup wizard will connect to vCenter and list an inventory,
Once the VMs have been picked I then choose a schedule.
Now choose a retention.
Select Advanced to be able to set a GFS retention.
From here select to use application processing or not.
Review and complete.
I then run the job.
Once complete I can list all of the configured backup jobs.
I can now see this job under Recovery. From here I can restore any VMs I have backed up.
It is also possible to replicate VMs under the same console, this is configured under Replication.
Under Management I can do things like add storage, add offsite backups and update the software.
To configure offsite backups I must register with Vembu Portal.
To update the software I just need to upload the software package and update through the console.
You can also seed a backup from Management.
Conclusion
I have only only covered the VMware vSphere element but as you can see the product can do a lot more and all in one console, very powerful backup and replication suite. There quite a few products on the market that can do this job but very rarely are they this easy and all in one console without having to install multiple components.
The steps to complete a task whether it’s a backup or replication the wizard appears the same for the admin. The performance of the console was good and job operations worked well even in my lab.
For further infomation please contact Vembu for things like costs and licensing but if you want to try out the product then just register for a free trial at the below address.
https://www.vembu.com/vembu-bdr-suite-download/