Veeam Integrates Its Data Protection With NetApp's SnapShot Tech

Veeam, a Baar, Switzerland-based developer of leading data protection technology for virtualized environments and a longtime VMware partner, on Monday said the upcoming version of its application will feature tight integration with storage vendor NetApp.

Veeam Backup and Replication Version 8, scheduled to be released this summer, will add support for NetApp's Snapshot, SnapMirror and SnapVault capabilities, said Doug Hazelman, vice president of product strategy for Veeam.

The move is a continuation of Veeam's strategy for bringing the capabilities of its Veeam Backup and Replication software application to storage hardware vendors, Hazelman said.

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That started with Veeam Backup and Replication version 7, which last year shipped with support for Hewlett-Packard's 3PAR line. Others are expected in the future, he said.

Under the new agreement with NetApp, Veeam will use NetApp's APIs to enable granular backup and recovery using NetApp's snapshot capabilities, Hazelman said.

"NetApp is well known for its Snapshot technologies, including SnapMirror for mirroring snapshots and SnapVault for archiving them," he said.

The Veeam Explorer for Storage Snapshots technology looks at snapshots from a backup and recovery perspective, Hazelman said.

"Customers may take snapshots every 15 minutes," he said. "With Veeam Backup and Replication version 8, customers can download a free edition, install it, then do granular recovery from a snapshot, including files, emails, SharePoint, Active Directory and full virtual machine recovery."

Veeam eases the use of snapshots for quick recovery, Hazelman said.

"For backups, customers have been using hypervisor backup of virtual machines," he said. "It might take an hour to back up a virtual machine, tell the hypervisor to do a snapshot of a virtual machine and manage the backup. Our technology takes backups from storage-based snapshots to provide quick recovery of virtual machines."

Integrating Veeam's data protection technology with NetApp's snapshots is a big deal for ePlus, the Herndon, Va..-based solution provider that is a top-tier NetApp partner and the No. 1 partners of NetApp's FlexPod reference architecture, said ePlus CTO Mark Melvin.

"This will give us the integrated capabilities with a single console to restore files or SharePoint or other items," Melvin said. "Veeam cleans up virtual machines to make restores quicker."

ePlus has been using Veeam with a lot of its other storage vendors, and has found integrating a technology like Veeam with a storage vendor's offerings makes it easier to work with, Melvin said.

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"We get tighter control and cleaner processes," he said. "And we know that, as NetApp and Veeam come out with new releases, they'll be in sync and will do the testing to make sure there are no issues."

Hazelman said the new relationship with NetApp was focused on the technology, and did not include any reseller arrangements, which means Veeam Backup and Replication will continue to be sold through Veeam's solution providers. Veeam currently has roughly 23,000 solution providers, but he did not know how many of them also partner with NetApp.

Hazelman also declined to provide specifics about other expected features of Veeam Backup and Replication Version 8. However, he did say the company is expanding the technology with additional features for its MSP partners.

PUBLISHED APRIL 7, 2014