Research Centre at the University of Maryland Backs Up VMware VMs in Under 1 Hour with NAKIVO

Business Challenge

Established in 2001, The Centre for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling (CSCAMM) at the University of Maryland aims at fostering excellence in Applied Mathematics. The main mission of CSCAMM is to support and stimulate the research activities using Applied Mathematics as the main analysis, simulation, and computational tools. To help build a thriving community, CSCAMM supports interdisciplinary research through a strong visitor’s program, regular organization of international events, and contributes to graduate education in the partnership with the AMSC program.

“Since the main mission of CSCAMM is research, we have accumulated a vast amount of information over the years. Our environment is a mix of Windows and Linux, our VMware VMs run Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory, web servers, as well as store user files,” says Andrew Arensburger, IT Manager at CSCAMM, the University of Maryland.

For CSCAMM, VM backup is the basis of successful daily operations because faculty, staff, students, and visitors require 24x7 access to research materials, workshops, and courses located on the website. “Steady and fast VM backups are the core component of our data protection strategy. For us, losing accumulated research data, as well as personal details about faculty, staff, and students is highly undesirable,” says Andrew.

Solution

“I joined CSCAMM at the University of Maryland four months ago and inherited NAKIVO Backup & Replication from my predecessor, so my main goal was to get to know the product as fast as possible. NAKIVO Backup & Replication is deployed on a standalone machine that is separate from our production hosts. The main advantage is that it is independent and backs up itself along with other VMware VMs. In case we lose the physical machine, we will still have the backup, so we can install a new version of NAKIVO Backup & Replication and then get everything from that backup in minutes,” says Andrew.

Andrew’s first impression of NAKIVO Backup & Replication was that the software does its job well. “NAKIVO Backup & Replication is simple and intuitive, it took me a little time to learn how to use it, and I didn’t have to read manuals. NAKIVO Backup & Replication integrates well with VMware and has a user-friendly web interface that is easy to manage,” says Andrew.

At CSCAMM, NAKIVO Backup & Replication performs VM backups once a day. “It takes under one hour to back up our entire infrastructure, so VM backup is quite fast. All backup jobs are incremental and this approach significantly reduces backup time and network load,” says Andrew. With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, VM backups can be created on demand or on schedule and can be stored onsite, offsite, as well as in a cloud.

“I have tested instant file recovery and recovered a couple of files in less than a minute! In a potential disaster situation, this feature would save us days of work,” says Andrew. “Another useful feature is Backup Copy, which allows replicating backups to a secondary repository that can be located onsite, offsite, or in a cloud. With two copies of backups, I could have extra security and peace of mind, in case of a disaster.”

Results

NAKIVO Backup & Replication protects a VMware environment at CSCAMM every day. "The entire infrastructure is backed up in under one hour. If a potential disaster strikes, we would have the ability to instantly restore files and applications from the VMs in minutes, rather than go through a complete VM restoration procedure," says Andrew. "NAKIVO Backup & Replication is a steady product that does its job without constant monitoring and controlling. Basically, NAKIVO Backup & Replication provides me a peace of mind," says Andrew.

Company Profile

The Centre for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling (CSCAMM) is a mathematics institute that was created in 2001 by the University of Maryland, College Park (UMd), as a major impact project which aimed to address the challenges offered by scientific developments. CSCAMM encourages cross-fertilization of research activity that lies at the interface between different scientific fields utilizing scientific computation and mathematical modeling. The primary goal is to foster research and educational activities that highlight novel computational algorithms and mathematical modelling and their interplay with physical science, biological science, and engineering. CSCAMM involves UMd scientists together with world renowned scholars for whom computation is an essential part of their research program. In addition, CSCAMM maintains an active visitors program and helps organize workshops and conferences in mathematics and its applications. For more information, visit www.cscamm.umd.edu.