Hi all
I've been looking at VM backup options recently for vSphere. After messing around with our current solution (Commvault) it turns out that they are still using the old VCB framework according to this article:
http://www.backupcentral.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=259&Itemid=47
Things like mounting the restore to the proxy server first before restoring back to the SAN volume and no Linux file level restore are dealbreakers, so Commvault can't be considered a serious contender in this market segment at this stage.
It looks like the choice is therefore between Veaam Backup and PHD esXpress. Could current customers/vendors comment on the two solutions? The environment comprises of 12 sockets and growing towards 200 VMs (ranging from 10GB - 150GB). For example, if you could comment on:
1) Value for money. Which tends to be more cost efficient?
2) Backup and restore efficiency
3) Functionality/reporting/management tools
4) Consistency of restores
5) Any single points of failures or caveats/gotchas that should be taken into consideration?
6) Does the solution feel that it is of 'enterprise' or 'production' quality?
Basically some real life experience using the tool in a production environment would be great. The target is a hardware dedupe datadomain appliance so the dedupe function would be done in hardware.