NAKIVO Helps an IT Services Company Recover VMware VMs in Minutes
Business Challenge
Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, exTerra Services s.r.o. deals with services and supplies in the field of information technology. The company was established as a technology-oriented supplier, providing system support, outsourcing, delivery of technology and security solutions, and training programs for IT professionals to upgrade their skills. exTerra Services also provides various server virtualization and related technologies solutions to multiple customers.
Most of the critical infrastructure and business applications at exTerra Services are virtualized, while their VMware virtual machines run Windows and Linux servers, Microsoft SQL Server, Sharepoint, IBM Domino, and PostgreSQL. Being an IT services company, exTerra Services needs their IT infrastructure to be online 24/7, thus the company’s many clients can receive quality customer service. If for any reason, critical data and business applications were to become unavailable, the company would not be able to provide their services in full to their customers. Not only would the customers might be impacted, but employees might lose access to CRM systems, or accounting might be offline. Therefore, in order to ensure 24/7 uptime, the company needs VM backup as an integral part of their IT infrastructure.
“Previously, we used scripting in the ESXi hypervisor and other third-party software for file backup and recovery. Unfortunately, with this software, it was not possible to recover entire VMs, but only files. Basically, depending on the type of server, full VM recovery had to be done manually, and usually took hours. Moreover, the product was too complicated to use. As we started to look for a real VM backup solution, we not only wanted the ability to recover entire VMs, but also needed ease of deployment and maintenance, reliable performance, and a favorable price as well,” says Petr Šantrůček, Managing Director and Company Owner.
Solution
exTerra Services discovered the perfect VM backup solution in NAKIVO Backup & Replication, as the software offers fast VM backup, reliable VM recovery for VMware vSphere, and global data deduplication for efficient storage space utilization. exTerra Services not only selected NAKIVO Backup & Replication to protect their own virtual environment, but also recommended the product as an alternative solution for many of their customers. “In our view, NAKIVO Backup & Replication was the winner when we compared several VM backup solutions. The product is extremely easy to use and manage, as well as also offers flexible deployment options that can suit a variety of requirements. We particularly liked the Linux installation option,” says Petr.
“Our customers require a cost-effective VM backup solution that can be deployed and managed with minimal effort, while also providing all the features necessary to back up their virtual environments. At the same time, we, as an IT services company, must offer our customers the most comprehensive solution at the best price. NAKIVO Backup & Replication is definitely the perfect solution for us and our customers,” says Petr.
With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, VM backup is performed on a daily basis at exTerra Services. “We do not back up our entire infrastructure, but for example, a full VM backup of 19 virtual hosts takes approximately eight hours to complete. The subsequent backup is, of course, much faster, since only incremental changes are transferred. Due to NAKIVO Backup & Replication’s simplicity, backing up and managing our VMs has never been easier,” says Petr. With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, exTerra’s VM backups require 70% less storage space than before. Due to the global data deduplication feature, exTerra Services can now store more VM backups.
With their previous backup software, VM recovery usually took several hours to accomplish. With the instant VM recovery feature that NAKIVO Backup & Replication provides, full VMs can now be recovered near instantly. “I like the simplicity and control that the instant VM recovery feature provides. By clicking a couple of buttons, VMs can be booted in minutes. For us, it is also important that the VM backup from which the VM is booted does not get deleted or modified,” says Petr.
Results
NAKIVO Backup & Replication provides exTerra Services with reliable VM backup and full VM recovery, as well as storage space savings. With instant VM recovery, the company can now recover entire VMware VMs near-instantly, in contrast to their previous backup software. With global data deduplication, exTerra Services also saved 70% in storage space, thus the company can now store more VM backups. “Easy instant VM recovery is, of course, a life saver for us, as we no longer need to spend hours on recovery. NAKIVO Backup & Replication saves time that was previously spent on backup administration. Now, we can devote that time on other IT-related tasks and on taking care of our customers. With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, we are spending less than half the time on backup administration that we were with the previous software,” says Petr.
About exTerra Services
Founded in 2010, exTerra Services is an IT services company that consists of an experienced team of professionals with deep knowledge and expertise in information and communication technology. exTerra Services provides professional services from implementation and design of IT systems to support services. They also specialize in virtualization, data protection, and Microsoft servers. The company’s basic philosophy is a human approach combined with quality service and understanding of their customers’ needs. For more information, please visit www.exterra-services.cz.