Backup is more and more important. That’s why there are several company’s proving great products for this.
Nakivo has their Backup & Replication tool for VMware (and Amazon but that will not be covered right now) and in this blogpost you find my experiences.
Nakivo backup & Replication (NBR from now..) comes in different distribution formats:
- VMware Virtual Appliance (OVF)
- NAS Package (Western Digital and Synology)
- Pre configured Amazon Machine Image
- Linux version
- and a Windows version
Installation
I’ve tried the Linux, Windows and the NAS version. All the versions offer the same functionality. I installed the OVF version in my VMware environment and found that the installation was very straightforward and was done in minutes. After logging on the first time just add your VMware server(s) or vCenter and off you go! Don’t forget to change the default password although!
The interface is very to the point. Just make a https connection to port 4443 and login with your credentials.
Ok let’s create a job :
Choose Create and select the VMware vSphere backup job.
Select the VM you wish to backup:
Select the repository you wish to save your backup file to. You can choose not to select all the virtual machine hard drives.
Schedule your job
You have the option to change some advanced options
Click Finish & Run and your first back-up is done!
Synology Package
I also installed the Synology Package on my NAS. Like as expected that was very ease. Just make sure all sources are trusted and install the package. After a few steps the package is installed and provides the same functionality as the (for example) Windows version. I tried the package on 2 different Synology models. A high end and entry level and it worked fine on both devices. I saw minor differences in performance. I think installing a product like this on a NAS provides great functionality. Many of my customers use a Synology NAS for their backup only. Now there is no Windows or Linux VM and hypervisor on location necessary.
Support
I had some technical questions (concering transport role) so I went to the Nakivo homepage. After a short chat session I was helped by a technical support engineer which friendly helped me. It seems that their support is quite adequate. I shall continuing test this product and shall share my support experiences.
Send Nakivo Feedback, Get $20 Gift Card
Nakivo loves to know what you think about their product. Get $20 Amazon gift card for performing the following tasks:
- Install NAKIVO Backup & Replication and discover your infrastructure.
- Use the product, such as create and run at least one backup job.
- Send the support bundle to support@nakivo.com by December 30, 2016.
- Provide your feedback by filling out a short survey.
Pricing
Nakivo comes in 4 different versions : Pro Essentials ($199), Enterprise Essentials($299), Pro ($399) and Enterprise ($599). I think their pricing is very competitive. Check out more information about pricing here.
Wishlist and improvements
After testing Nakivo Backup & Replication (and some of the other vendors and their products) I think Nakivo is a very interesting product. Altough their is some room for improvement concerning the GUI (interface). (For example you are able to add 2 jobs with the same name/description and that can be confusing) I also would like to see the following :
- Support for other NAS vendors (for example Qnap)
- Support for Azure
- Deploy Transport role/VM within the user interface
- Update/upgrade within the GUI
Conclusion
I think Nakivo provides a very interesting product which lots of interesting functionality. I especially like the Synology NAS appliance because it makes the life of the system administrator easier. Also their pricing is very competitive. Their is room for improvement (as always) but the product seems very stabile. In my next review about nakivo I’m going to test the transport role, multi tenancy, self-service, Exchange log truncation, self service and their API interface. Lot’s to come! When you have experience with Nakivo also, please leave a reply.