The moments after a virtual environment disaster, regardless of the nature of the disaster, are crucial. Whether a server was hacked or simply malfunctioned, progress comes to a halt when a virtual environment goes down. Old files are inaccessible and new ones cannot be saved. Depending on the nature of a company, sales may be lost or services interrupted. Either way, restoring the virtual environment as quickly as possible is essential to minimizing the damage caused by the disaster. This post, which is the second of a two-part series, will examine how Symantecs NetBackup performs immediately after a loss of data. (Part 1 in the series looked at how NetBackup performs before a disaster strikes).
Immediately Restore the Virtual Environment
With all the mobile technology available, users should be able to restore a virtual environment from any place with an internet connection. Symantecs NetBackup, which integrates with VMwares vSphere, lets users restore a virtual environment remotely. There is no need to wait while authorized personnel commute to work or worse return from a business trip to restore operations to normal. They can perform the recovery through the nearest secure internet connection with just four mouse clicks. Even though this may only make a difference of a few minutes in some cases, every moment is important when a companys infrastructure is down.
Creating a New Virtual Environment
Sometimes, restoring a virtual environment to its previous state after a disaster is not the wisest move. When a server is hacked, restoring everything immediately might compromise confidential data more than it already has been. Even when there is no risk to security, a disaster recovery might be the ideal time to remodel a virtual environment. During the restore process, NetBackup gives users the option of reconfiguring or relocating a virtual environment.
Focused Recovery Options
Often, only some data needs to be recovered. Restoring all data would potentially create unnecessary duplicates, and take a long time unnecessarily. With NetBackup Granular Restore Technology, users can precisely identify the files that need to be recovered. Even though the program makes a single backup, users can either restore the VM snapshot which contains the ESX of a virtual machine, all the files on a virtual machine or the Exchange / SQL databases.
Symantecs NetBackup is the leading virtual environment backup program, because it is easy to use before a disaster and provides quick recovery after one. Hopefully, a company never needs to experience first-hand how well the program performs, after a virtual environment fails. Nevertheless, it is nice to know there is an effective recovery plan that can be executed quickly, if needed.
