NAKIVO Enables VM Disaster Recovery for a Software Provider while Giving IT 3 Days Back per Month
Business Challenge
All business-critical servers at ABAS France are virtualized. VMware VMs run telephony, asterisk, VPN, remote desktop, file, and other servers. Most of the VMs, though, run lots of abas ERP servers, both ones used for internal development and testing, as well as those dedicated for ABAS France customers.
Previously, backups were created manually for each VM by launching a manual OVA export from the VMware vSphere Client, then moving the OVA file to an external drive to store it. This approach was cumbersome and extremely time-consuming. The main disadvantages were the need to stop the VMs to do the backup, and the long time it took to finish the backups. This had to change.
"We needed to ensure full-time availability of our internal servers and have capacity to provide our services 24/7 without data loss in case of a disaster," says Stéphane Coulon, Senior ERP Consultant at ABAS France. Stéphane is also in charge of all internal IT infrastructure at ABAS France.
Stéphane has started researching available backup solutions for VMware environments. His goal was to set up an automated VM backup both locally and offsite, while also maintaining VM replicas of mission-critical VMs, which would enable near-instant disaster recovery for their VMs.
Solution
NAKIVO Backup & Replication is built for virtualization and certified by VMware. As an all-in-one solution, the product provides the ability to back up live VMware VMs both locally and offsite, as well as create and maintain VM replicas - identical copies of source VMs. Notably, VM replicas created by the product are regular VMware VMs, which are visible in the vSphere Client and can be powered on at any time even without NAKIVO Backup & Replication.
"With NAKIVO Backup & Replication I need far less time to ensure that we have a backup for every VM. We can also automatically store some VM backups offsite, and replicate the most critical VMs for disaster recovery" says Stéphane. "I receive a report after each backup and replication, and a daily report for all jobs. So it takes just a quick look to know that everything is OK."
NAKIVO Backup & Replication also provides a set of granular recovery capabilities. VM files and application objects can be instantly viewed and recovered right in the product interface. The data is read directly from compressed and deduplicated VM backups, without recovering the full VM. All features work out of the box and do not require installing agents or creating a special type of a backup.
Results
"Using NAKIVO Backup & Replication we make local backups for all our VM daily, as well as backups of the most important VMs offsite on the weekly basis," says Stéphane. "We also maintain VM replicas for some of the VMs for disaster recovery purposes." In case of a disaster, mission-critical VMs can be powered on enabling near-instant disaster recovery.
"I can estimate that we gained up to 3 work days per month by using NAKIVO Backup & Replication. And we could add the inestimable time and money saved in case disaster strikes, as we can now restore our services in just a few clicks, allowing every employee to work normally."
Company Profile
abas is a global group of locally-operated companies that sell and support the ABAS ERP software suite. The company has 35 years of experience delivering flexible ERP solutions for mid-sized businesses aspiring to be leaders in their industries. Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, the company employs more than 1,000 experts at 65 sites located in 29 countries around the world.
abas ERP is trusted around the world. Sometimes called "the best ERP system you've never heard of" they stay out of the spotlight, but they're a company full of people who are passionate about helping mid-sized businesses grow into industry leaders. abas does this by focusing their resources on R&D and product quality, and seeking to understand and respond to the unique needs and processes of customers.
More than 3,500 companies use abas ERP to run their businesses, 350 of which have been using the software for more than 15 years. ABAS is also very proud that they have a 92 percent customer loyalty rate.
ABAS France is the abas ERP software partner serving customers across France. ABAS France works with business to bring their corporate process to best practices with unmatched productivity and efficiency. ABAS France brings a combination of next generation technology, industry expertise, structured methodology, and collaboration to create a unique process, which reduces risk and optimizes the business process. For more information, visit abas-erp.com.