DCIG is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the inaugural 2022-23 DCIG TOP 5 Microsoft Hyper-V Backup Solutions report. This report unveils the TOP 5 backup solutions that organizations should consider for protecting their applications, data, and workloads hosted on Microsoft Hyper-V.
Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V: A Primary Server Virtualization Platform
Analyst reports that track the server virtualization software market expect it to continue to grow. While forecasted growth rates vary, analysts generally puts its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) at 5-6 percent. These same analyst reports also identify Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V as one of the primary server virtualization platforms used by enterprises.
Server virtualization in general and Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V specifically have transformed how enterprises manage their physical server infrastructure. Able to host multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine, Hyper-V 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.
Microsoft also makes multiple software tools available to assist enterprises in deploying and managing Hyper-V. For example, enterprises may use Microsoft Windows PowerShell and Hyper-V Manager to centralize and automate Hyper-V management. Many also use Microsoft’s Failover Clustering and Hyper-V Replica. These provide high availability (HA) and VM replication and disaster recovery (DR), respectively.
These and other tools from Microsoft and its partner community position enterprises to create stable, highly performing virtual infrastructures. However, enterprises must still protect the applications, data, and workloads hosted by these Microsoft Hyper-V VMs. To do so, enterprises may put in place backup software specifically tuned for this task.
Definition of a Microsoft Hyper-V Backup Solution
DCIG identified about 30 offerings suitable for protecting applications, data, and workloads hosted on Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V. Of these, twelve met DCIG’s definition of a Microsoft Hyper-V backup solution. In this report, DCIG specifically only included offerings with two or more deployment options. Each solution may be deployed in at least two of the following three ways:
- Preconfigured physical or virtual backup appliance
- Licensed software on a physical or virtual machine, residing on-premises or in the cloud
- Cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) accessed via a subscription
A backup offering’s supported deployment options often represent the first feature that organizations consider as they make a buying decision. More organizations want to acquire offerings that match their IT operations. Their IT operations may fall into one or more of the following general categories:
- Cloud-based. All IT operations get hosted in a general-purpose cloud, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP.) Hosted in the cloud, organizations often subscribe to many of the cloud services, to include compute, networking, and storage, among others. They also expect to obtain backup as a cloud service, or as a backup-as-a-service (BaaS).
- On-premises. These organizations host their hardware and software on-premises. In this instance, they want to obtain a backup offering that also operates on-premises.
- Hybrid. More organizations host applications, data, and workloads both in the cloud and on-premises. They then want a backup offering that gives them multiple deployment options. This gives them the flexibility to select the most appropriate option for each environment.
- Remote and branch offices (ROBO. ROBOs come in many sizes with various staffing levels, number of applications, and amount of data in each location. Organizations will need a backup offering with multiple deployment options to align with the needs of each office.
Microsoft Hyper-V Backup Solutions
The general categories under which the features evaluated for these Microsoft Hyper-V backup 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 Microsoft Hyper-V backup solution providers a TOP 5 ranking (in alphabetical order):
- Arcserve
- Atempo
- Commvault
- Unitrends
- Veritas
Report Availability
The full 2022-23 DCIG TOP 5 Microsoft Hyper-V Backup Solutions report is available for download immediately at the link below. The full report contains additional details such as:
- A listing of all twelve solutions evaluated
- An overview of common features across all Microsoft Hyper-V backup solutions
- A list of attributes that all TOP 5 Microsoft Hyper-V 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 Microsoft Hyper-V 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 Microsoft Hyper-V 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.