Data Recovery Digest

Amidst a highly publicized announcement that included the unveiling of ProtectPoint software and more, the development team at EMC also lifted the curtain on another useful tool: RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines. Featuring support for ESXi servers as well as EMC's own VMAX, VNX and VPLEX storage devices, the new software is easily integrated into your existing network structure.

Key Features of RecoverPoint

According to the EMC website, there are numerous features of RecoverPoint that are beneficial to their customer base. Not only does it help organizations reach established recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO), but it also ensures full compliance with the stringent standards of today.
Versatile point-in-time recovery utilizes multiple restore points, thereby letting users choose to backup their files to a date and time that falls before the date of data corruption. In effect, this acts as a digital video recorder, or DVR, as it is able to provide near-instantaneous access to data from any restore point.

Continuous replication offered by RecoverPoint utilizes two forms of replication; bidirectional synchronous and asynchronous, to aide in data recovery. Paired with a vast reduction in bandwidth and network usage, enterprises will be able to minimize the amount of replicated data throughout their networks.

Streamlined and simplified testing capabilities let users analyze and verify their disaster recovery protocol without interrupting the replication process, while RecoverPoint's three-site topology, also known as MetroPoint topology, facilitates accessibility, disaster recovery and long-term data protection through guaranteed datacenter accessibility and disaster recovery planning that is designed to withstand two full site failures. In all, MetroPoint encompasses VPLEX Metro with Oracle RAC, VPLEX Metro with SAP HA and VPLEX Metro with Microsoft Hyper-V Live Migration.

Data protection is provided through the use of a Consistency Group, which maintains system dependencies throughout the entire recovery process. These Consistency Groups are exactly what give vAdministrators the ability to restore data to any available point in time while still maintaining file and system consistency.

Tim Bramble, director of product management with Canada-based CloudLink and a user of RecoverPoint, explained how the software has already benefitted his organization. He was quoted as saying: “It addresses regulatory and data privacy concerns that are preventing organizations from deploying in the public cloud."

Finally, RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines features built-in automation functionality for vAdministrators who prefer a hands-off approach. Coming in the form of an external plug-in, RecoverPoint's integrated automation capabilities allow for both local and remote management of data sites, disaster recovery testing and actual data recovery, all through a user-friendly, web-based GUI.

Costs

EMC has already announced plans to distribute RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines for free for usage in non-production instances, which will begin in early October 2014. While they have yet to release specific pricing points regarding production instances, they have publicized their per-virtual machine licensing plan as well as their minimum order requirement of 15 separate licenses per customer order.

To find out more information about EMC, RecoverPoint or any of their other services, visit EMC's website at www.emc.com. Here you'll find technical specs, partnership information, licensed product resellers, educational resources, technical support and even personalized price quotes.