Full NAKIVO v7 install/configure demo video below is available, using my home lab's vSphere 6.5 environment! I haven't had a chance to test v7.3 yet, as it just came out today, and I haven't gotten my hands on the NFR version yet. The trial version is available now.
There have been new features and refinements happening regularly ever since NAKIVO started out in 2012, as their backup solutions for VMs gains maturity, yet retaining their signature ease-of-use kudos, including home virtualization lab enthusiasts like Florian Grehl and Vladen Seget. See also NAKIVO's post, What's New in v7.3.
All the details of today's v7.3 announcement are right in NAKIVO's press release, with a focus on performance enhancements this time around. Here are some of the highlights:
NAKIVO, Inc., a fast-growing software company that specializes in protecting VMware, Hyper-V, and AWS environments, announced today that it had released NAKIVO Backup & Replication v7.3. This latest version features a new type of backup repository with a special architecture optimized for deduplication appliances, such as NEC HYDRAstor, EMC Data Domain, HP StoreOnce, and Quantum DXi.
Deduplication appliances are designed to reduce the data size and operate best with sequential large block I/O from backup software. If the architecture of a backup repository is not optimized for deduplication appliances, VM backup may appear to be random I/O, which deduplication appliances are not designed to handle. This can greatly reduce the VM backup performance.
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The new backup repository complements the existing one, so customers now have a choice between the following options:
The regular backup repository, which is optimized for generic storage systems and performs forever-incremental VM backups along with global data deduplication and compression.
The backup repository optimized for deduplication appliances, which accelerates VM backups to speeds up to 53 times faster on deduplication appliances.
... RESOURCES
Trial Download: /resources/download/trial-download/
Success Stories: /customers/success-stories/
Datasheet for VMware: nakivo-vm-backup-datasheet.pdf
It appears this NFR request process now includes a bit of a waiting period before you can actually access the code, unfortunately. Not sure how long the wait is, and whether it depends upon the time-of-day that requests are made. But it's worth waiting for, since to my knowledge you can't convert the trial appliance to an NFR appliance.
You may have to use a valid "work" email address, which apparently includes Google G Suite email addresses with custom, non @gmail.com domains.
Are you an IT Pro? Click the image above to fill out the form for yourself.Not sure how long the wait for 1 year NFR download is, but you can get a Trial immediately, described below.
If you're not one of the listed IT Professionals, you can still get instant access to the various downloads by filling out the form here: nakivo.com/resources/download/trial-download
Now that you're past providing contact information, click 'Virtual Appliance' then 'Full Solution' for the easiest way to get going in a VMware vSphere environment.
The filename of the VMware appliance that you download will be called NAKIVO_Backup_Replication_VA_v7.3.0_Full_Solution_TRIAL.ova
or a later, 587 MB in size.
Most VMware users will choose the Virtual Appliance, Full Solution to get started quickly and easily
If you have a compatible Linux-based NAS listed on page 4 here, that install-directly-on-NAS procedure is different, see Synology and Western Digital articles. Note that competitor Veeam is Windows-only, so a NAS approach by Veeam is unlikely, since NASs are usually Linux.
Deploy the OVA, much like as illustrated in detail by NAKIVO here, but if you're on vCenter 6.5, you'll need to use vSphere Web Client (Adobe Flash) (as seen in my video), or vSphere Client (HTML5).
Power up the appliance, then point your browser to the appliance IP or name (starting with http, not https, so you then get redirected properly to the https version). For my lab, since I created a DNS reservation for the MAC address of the appliance before powering it on, it was: http://nakivo.lab.local
Now you're able to login that first time without credentials, and a simple wizard asks you some basic questions. Clicking next next next is OK, now you're ready to configure your first backup job.
When I first tested v7, it only took a few minutes to install the appliance, configure it, then create and run my first backup job. Easy!
Here's the impressively low pricing, edition comparison, and the datasheet, and some of the many details I think could be most interesting for my home lab use cases:
You can back up VMware virtual machines on schedule or ad hoc, both locally over LAN and offsite over (a slow) WAN. You can save up to 1,000 recovery points per VM and, using the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) retention scheme, rotate them on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. Learn more>>
VMware Backup Copy
Backup Copy jobs provide a simple and powerful way to create and maintain copies of your backups. Backup copies can be stored onsite, offsite, or in Amazon Cloud. Backup Copy jobs have their own schedule and recovery point retention policy, so you can easily set up your jobs to fit your needs. Learn more>>
VMware VM Replication
VMware VM replication creates and maintains an identical copy of the source virtual machine on a target host. You can replicate live VMs on schedule or ad hoc locally and offsite and simply power them on in case the source VM is lost or damaged. You can even save up to 30 recovery points per replica. Learn more>>
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Global Data Deduplication
NAKIVO Backup & Replication automatically deduplicates backed up data at the block level across entire backup repository, and saves only unique blocks of data. This dramatically reduces backup size. Learn more>>
Efficient Data Compression
After data deduplication, the product automatically compresses each block of data so it occupies even less storage space in a backup repository.
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Network Acceleration
Data compression and traffic reduction techniques enable the product to reduce network traffic by 50% on average, thus decreasing the network load and speeding up backup and replication times by 2X.
Multi-Threading
NAKIVO Backup & Replication can run dozens of backup, replication, and recovery jobs simultaneously, which speeds up data processing and shortens the time windows allocated to data protection.
Full Disclosure: "TinkerTry.com, LLC" is registered as a NAKIVO Bronze Partner, mostly to help get notified of latest news and code releases. I get no special early-access, anybody can sign up for the betas. All TinkerTry site advertising goes through middle-man BuySellAds. NAKIVO does know if you found their affiliate link from my site, which means the possibility of reseller commissions if you eventually upgrade to one of their paid offerings. Here's their pricing.
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.
After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.
