In the intricate realm of modern IT infrastructure, where data has become the cornerstone of efficiency and flexibility, ensuring the safety and availability of your workloads has never been more critical. Vembu unveils the latest iteration of the virtual machine backup software with BDRSuite v7.0.0 Release Candidate (RC), a comprehensive solution poised to elevate the way you manage, secure, and recover your virtual environments.

As technology hurtles forward, businesses and individuals alike rely on virtualization, cloud services and Cloud Native platforms to streamline operations, optimize resources, and adapt to ever-changing demands. Yet, amid this transformative landscape, the risk of data loss remains a constant specter.

This pre-release build marks an important step toward the upcoming major release v7.0.0. The RC build enhances our BDRSuite capabilities and is tailored for users seeking backup solutions in KVM, Azure, and AWS environments.

BDRSuite v7.0.0 Release candidate is now ready for download and live on the official website - Download BDRSuite v7.0.0 RC

Note that This release candidate is intended for fresh installations only. It is not compatible with existing installations and should not be installed on top of them.

BDRSuite v7.0.0 RC is a Windows or Linux installer and you can use it unrestricted for free during a 30 days trial period.

KVM Backup and Recovery

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a Linux based hypervisor that has always been highly popular in the Open-Source Community. BDRSuite now offers agentless backup for KVM virtual machines through seamless integration with KVM Hypervisor. It also includes changed block tracking, automated scheduling, flexible recovery options, and wide backup storage target compatibility.

  • Seamless Integration with KVM: BDRSuite seamlessly integrates with the KVM hypervisor, leveraging its native capabilities for efficient backup and restore operations.
  • Agentless VM Backup: BDRSuite offers agentless image backup for KVM virtual machines. BDRSuite interacts directly with the KVM hypervisor, eliminating the need for additional agents.
  • CBT based Incremental Backups: BDRSuite performs incremental backups, capturing only the changes made since the last backup (Changed Block Tracking). This significantly reduces backup times and storage requirements.
  • Flexible Storage Options: BDRSuite supports wide range of storage options, allowing you to store your backed up data in local disk, NAS, SAN, S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud, Wasabi, etc.
  • Automated Backups: You can schedule regular backups with BDRSuite to ensure that your VMs are consistently protected. BDRSuite offers flexible scheduling options, including every 15 mins, hourly, daily, weekly, & more.
  • Instant Boot VM: You can instantly restore the entire KVM VM from backup in less than 15 mins on any hypervisor – KVM, Hyper-V, VMware and ensure business continuity.
  • File Recovery: BDRSuite provides the option to mount the backup disk and instantly recover individual files or folders using the Disk Mount option.
  • Download VMs & Disks: BDRSuite supports downloading the backed up VMs/Disks into different virtual formats such as RAW, VHD, VHDX, VMDK, & Flat-VMDK which can be used for full VM recovery or VM migration.
  • Secure Data Protection: BDRSuite offers encryption options for backup data, ensuring data encryption during transit and storage.
  • Data Retention: Store backups in storage targets as long as you need with flexible retention policies, complying with regulatory requirements.
  • Centralized Management: BDRSuite offers centralized management console that allows you to easily configure backups, monitor backup status, and manage recovery across multiple KVM hypervisors.

Supported Versions: QEMU 4.2.0 & above, Libvirt 6.0.0 & above

Azure Backup and Recovery

BDRSuite offers agentless backup for Azure virtual machines using Azure Native APIs. It also includes incremental backups, automated scheduling, flexible recovery options, and wide backup storage target compatibility.

BDRSuite v7.0.0 RC support 2 modes when it comes to Azure Backup and Recovery:

  • Agentless Backup using Azure Native APIs: It leverages Azure’s native APIs and snapshots to create copies of Azure virtual machines. This method offers flexibility and scalability by allowing you to store backup data in either local or cloud storage. It supports application-aware backups, restore granularity (Entire VM, File recovery…), Retention for snapshots and backup data. It also offers multiple backup destinations such as local disk, NAS, SAN or cloud storage (Azure blob, S3, Google Cloud, Wasabi…).
  • Automated Snapshots within Azure Cloud: Automated snapshots also let you backup Azure virtual machines (VMs) with quick VM recovery or Volume recovery in case of data loss or system failure. You get Automated & scheduled snapshots, Application-aware processing with pre/post scripts. Storage is a bit more restricted with storage of snapshots within the same region and you can restore entire Azure VM or only specific Volumes.

A number of features will be of interest to organizations leveraging Microsoft Azure as their Cloud Provider with supports for both Managed & Unmanaged Disks, Full & Incremental Backups, download of VMs & Disks or even Cross Subscription Restore.

AWS Backup and Recovery

Obviously there is no mentioning Azure without also covering its Amazon counterpart with AWS Backup and Recovery. In the previous versions, configuring and scheduling automated snapshots of EC2 instances was already supported for backups. However, this release brings the added capability of configuring backups to be stored locally or in the cloud, alongside support for multiple recovery options.

Note that you can backup up to 10 EC2 Instances for Free Forever !

BDRSuite v7.0.0 follows the same pattern as Azure with 2 ways of leveraging the feature:

  • Agentless Backup using AWS APIs: Native AWS APIs and snapshots allow BDRSuite to create copies of EC2 Instances for backup and offers flexibility to store backup data in either local or cloud storage. It comes with Agentless Backup for EC2 with application-aware support, Flexible Restore Options for either entire instances or file recovery, retention for snapshots and backup data, storage of backups on local disk, NAS, SAN or cloud storage (S3, Azure blob, Google Cloud, Wasabi…).
  • Automated Snapshots: Automated snapshots open the door to backup AWS EC2 and store it within the same region. Automated and scheduled snapshots allow quick EC2 Instance recovery or Volume recovery in case of data loss or system failure. It also offers application-aware processing with pre/post scripts and restore as entire EC2 Instance or only specific Volumes

The features of this integration are countless as it includes flexible Recovery for EC2 Instances, customizable AWS Backup Configuration, Full & Incremental Backups, Download VMs & Disks, configurable retention, Reporting and Notifications among a lot of other things.

Installing BDRSuite v7.0.0 RC

As mentioned previously, this release candidate is intended for fresh installations only so it is not compatible with existing installations and should not be installed on top of them! Download BDRSuite v7.0.0 RC and install it on a new dedicated machine (recommended method) or uninstall the existing BDRSuite instance if there is one.

Wrap up

BDRSuite offers a reliable and efficient way to backup and protect various virtual machines (KVM, cloud, vSphere, Hyper-V…) and their data. It ensures that your VMs are backed up regularly, allows for flexible recovery options, and helps you meet your business’s recovery objectives (RTO & RPO).

Stay tuned for further announcements and updates as Vembu is working towards the complete Main Release BDRSuite v7.0.0, which will include even more features and improvements.