DCIG is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the inaugural 2022-23 DCIG TOP 5 Small Enterprise VMware vSphere Backup Solutions report. This report unveils the TOP 5 small enterprise backup solutions that organizations should consider for protecting their applications, data, and workloads hosted on VMware vSphere.
VMware vSphere Leads in Enterprise Server Virtualization
Analyst reports that track server virtualization software indicate this market will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. One recent report puts the total value of the overall server virtualization market at nearly $10B by 2026.
The increasing value of the server virtualization market stems from the benefits small enterprises realize when adopting it. Server virtualization in general, and VMware vSphere specifically, transform how small enterprises may manage their physical infrastructure. Used to host multiple applications on a single physical machine, vSphere simultaneously lowers costs while increasing operational efficiency.
Small enterprises have more server virtualization offerings than ever from which to choose. Even with all these choices, VMware vSphere maintains its lead as the server virtualization platform of choice.
VMware also makes multiple software tools available to complement vSphere to assist small enterprises in deploying and managing it. Of VMware’s available software tools, small enterprises may deploy vCenter Server to centralize management of their vSphere virtual machines (VMs).
vCenter Server and other software tools from VMware position small enterprises to create stable, high performing virtual infrastructures. However, they must still protect the applications, data, and workloads they host on their VMware vSphere VMs. This necessitates they acquire backup software specifically tuned for this task.
Distinguishing Features of Small Enterprise VMware vSphere Backup Solutions
Distinguishing Features of Small Enterprise VMware vSphere Backup Solutions Attributes that help distinguish small enterprise backup solutions from those that target midsize and large enterprises include:
- Optimized for the backup and recovery of vSphere environments with up to 1,000 VMs. Some of the solutions covered can back up vSphere environments with more than 1,000 VMs. However, DCIG finds these solutions and their feature sets most appropriate for vSphere environments with 50 to 1,000 VMs.
- Focus on protection of Microsoft Windows guest operating systems (OSes). Small enterprises largely host their applications, data, and workloads on Microsoft Windows platforms. All these backup solutions protect recent versions of Microsoft Windows Server (2012, 2016, & 2019) as well as Microsoft Windows 10.
- Integrate with and create application-consistent backups for leading Microsoft applications. Nearly 90 percent of these solutions integrate with and can create application consistent backups of the Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server.
- Support for replication. More small enterprises want to copy and store backup data to another on-premises location or off-site for disaster recovery (DR) purposes. Of these solutions, nearly 90 percent support replication of backup data.
- Provide multiple restore options for VM file data and images. Using almost any of these solutions, small enterprises may perform multiple types of restores. Nearly 90 percent support granular file and folder restores. About 80 percent support VM image restores to the same vSphere host, a different vSphere host, or restoring the VM with a different name.
- Same-day and online support. About 80 percent of these solutions provide small enterprises with access to support the same day they initiate a call. The same percentage also provide an online knowledgebase they may use to freely research issues they may encounter.
Small Enterprise VMware vSphere Backup Solutions
DCIG identified over 30 solutions suitable for protecting applications, data, and workloads on VMware vSphere. Of these, eighteen met DCIG’s definition of a small enterprise VMware vSphere backup solution. The general categories under which the features evaluated for these solutions fell included:
- Backup administration
- Backup capabilities
- Configuration, licensing, and pricing
- Recovery and restore
- Service and support
Based on these criteria, DCIG awarded the following small enterprise VMware vSphere backup solutions a TOP 5 ranking (in alphabetical order):
- Altaro VM Backup
- Arcserve ShadowXafe and OneXafe Solo Solution
- Metallic, a Commvault Venture
- Quest Software Rapid Recovery
- Zerto Data Protection
Report Availability
The full 2022-23 DCIG TOP 5 Small Enterprise VMware vSphere Backup Solutions report is available for download immediately at the link(s) below. The full report contains additional details such as:
- A listing of all eighteen solutions evaluated
- An overview of common features across all small enterprise VMware vSphere backup solutions
- A list of attributes that all TOP 5 small enterprise VMware vSphere backup solutions share
- An examination on some of the differences between the TOP 5 solutions
- A profile of each TOP 5 solution that highlights the ways it distinguishes itself from the other TOP 5 solutions
The full 2022-23 DCIG TOP 5 Small Enterprise VMware vSphere Backup Solutions report may be downloaded by following the link below:
- DCIG Website: Link to Full TOP 5 Report
Confidentiality and Copyright
Other than excerpts from this report published in this announcement, the contents of the 2022-23 DCIG TOP 5 Small Enterprise VMware vSphere Backup Solutions report are copyrighted and may not be republished without permission. Individuals may access the full report at no cost by following one of the above links.
DCIG will release more TOP 5 reports in the weeks, months, and years to come. Please sign up for the weekly DCIG Newsletter to receive notice of their availability.