Random Short Take #79

Welcome to Random Short Take #79. Where did October go? Let’s get random.

Random Short Take #9

Here are a few links to some random news items and other content that I found interesting. You might find it interesting too. Maybe.

 

 

Vembu BDR Suite 4.0 Is Coming

Disclaimer

Vembu are a site sponsor of PenguinPunk.net. They’ve asked me to look at their product and write about it. I’m in the early stages of evaluating the BDR Suite in the lab, but thought I’d pass on some information about their upcoming 4.0 release. As always, if you’re interested in these kind of solutions, I’d encourage you to do your own evaluation and get in touch with the vendor, as everyone’s situation and requirements are different. I can say from experience that the Vembu sales and support staff are very helpful and responsive, and should be able to help you with any queries. I recently did a brief article on getting started with BDR Suite 3.9.1 that you can download from here.

 

New Features

So what’s coming in 4.0?

Hyper-V Cluster Backup

Vembu will support backing up VMs in a Hyper-V cluster and, even if VMs configured for backup are moved from one host to another, the incremental backup will continue to happen without any interruption.

Shared VHDx Backup

Vembu now supports backup of the shared VHDx of Hyper-V.

CheckSum-based Incrementals

Vembu uses CBT for incremental backups. And for some CBT failure cases they will be using CheckSum for the incremental to happen without any interruption.

Credential Manager

No need to enter credentials every time, Vembu Credential Manager now allows you to manage the credentials of the host and the VMs running in it. This will be particularly handy if you’re doing a lot of application-aware backup job configuration.

 

Thoughts

I had a chance to speak with Vembu about the product’s functionality. There’s a lot to like in terms of breadth of features. I’m interested in seeing how 4.0 goes when it’s released and hope to do a few more articles on the product then. If you’re looking to evaluate the product, this evaluator’s guide is as good place as any to start. As an aside, Vembu are also offering 10% off their suite this Halloween (until November 2nd) – see here for more details.

For a fuller view of what’s coming in 4.0, you can read Vladan‘s coverage here.

Updated Articles Page

I recently had the opportunity to deploy a Vembu BDR 3.9.1 Update 1 appliance and thought I’d run through the basics of getting started. There’s a new document outlining the process on the articles page.

Random Short Take #7

Here are a few links to some random things that I think might be useful, to someone. Maybe.

OT – New Site Sponsor – Vembu

Please welcome Vembu Technologies as a sponsor of PenguinPunk.net. They are a data protection company that has been around for some time now with a comprehensive suite of products aimed at small to medium enterprises. You can read more about them here. I’m looking forward to taking their stuff for a spin in the lab in the next little while to see what they can really do.

The idea that I’m accepting sponsorship money for this blog doesn’t site well with some folks. But I’ve been maintaining this site for over ten years now, and sponsorship is one way I can keep getting to the big tech conferences and events that are so critical (I think) to understanding what’s happening in the industry. It doesn’t mean you’ll now be bombarded with advertorials from the companies that sponsor me. Any paid for content carries a disclaimer up front so we’re all clear about who’s paying for it and what it is. But running a blog as a hobby still costs money, and I’ve been reaching in to my own pocket a lot for some of this stuff. And while I’m shilling for the site, my rates are reasonable and the delivery model is simple. Feel free to get in contact via email / Twitter / whatever if it’s something you might like to do.