With VMware vSphere 5.1, VMware is releasing a new backup and recovery solution for virtual machines called vSphere Data Protection (VDP). This solution is fully integrated with VMware vCenter Server and provides agentless, disk-based backup of virtual machines to deduplicated storage.
Benefits of VDP include the following:
- It ensures fast, efficient protection for virtual machines even if they are powered off.
- It uses patented deduplication technology across all backup jobs, significantly reducing disk space consumption.
- VMware vSphere APIs – Data Protection (VADP) and Changed Block Training (CBT) are utilized to reduce load on the vSphere host and minimize backup windows requirements.
- It performs full virtual machine and File-Level Restore (FLR) without installing an agent in every virtual machine.
- Installation and configuration is simplified using an appliance form factor.
- Management is performed utilizing the VMware vSphere Web Client.
- The VDP appliance and its backups are protected using a checkpoint and rollback mechanism.
- Windows and Linux files can easily be restored by the end user without a Web browser.
This paper presents an overview of the architecture, deployment, configuration, and management of VDP.
