EDIT: According to some Veeam people, Veeam replication is supported on ESXi. I guess the issue is only on the vRanger end. Also just because something is 1st party doesn’t mean it is better. I appreciate the feedback and it was a little naive of me to just assume that vSphere 5 replication would be incredible at release.
I took a second look at what I wrote about software replication a while ago.
Is 3rd party replication long for this world? ESXi is still not supported for replication on vRanger and apparently ESXi replication is only supported as a source for Veeam replication (Not sure as I don’t use it currently). Maybe this will change soon, but all the big moves to de-emphasize ESX by VMware is throwing any reliance on vRanger/Veeam replication into question.
vRanger Replication’s future: http://communities.quest.com/message/12287
A quick google for vSphere 5 turns “Host-based replication in vSphere 5”. That’s the trouble with developing a product that works on top of another vendor’s product. If your idea is good enough, they’ll just take it.
At least in the case of Microsoft, they’ll take your idea and implement it so poorly that it only competes on price. Working with the vanilla MS remote desktop left a lot to be desired compared to XenApp and View.
Hi Greg:
ESXi hosts are supported as a source and target hypervisor platform for Veeam Backup & Replication v5. We recommend the target site have the Veeam Backup & Replication server (pull from source site rather than push to target site).
If you have any questions – don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
Rick Vanover – Veeam Software. rick.vanover@veeam.com
http://www.veeam.com/blog
Veeam Backup & Replication supports ESXi as as both replication source AND target since 2009.
I would argue with the main point you are making here though. Fortunately, it is not as simple as “they just take it” in the software world… even if you “take” the idea, you still have to deal with the fact that those established products have been around for nearly 5 years, and have 10x more features than the newly released product.
Just to prove my point, take a look at VMware Data Recovery, which has been around for a couple of years now. I recall many blog posts about it 2 years ago, which were very identical to this post above. “Sky is falling on backup vendors, the end is near”. But in reality, did it affect anything? Not really, even though VDR is essentially “free”, people are still buying 3rd party solutions… because VDR’s lack of features is too significant. They are approaching v2 now, with new major features like “email notifications”… says it all, doesn’t it?
HBR is going to be just another story repeat. Good features quickly become “expected”, software without them has little chances. And those 5 years of features to catch up with will always remain 5 years. Plus, note that unlike VDR, HBR is not free, but a part of expensive product offering aimed at Enterprise customers, where as the solutions you have mentioned have mostly SMB play.
Wow. Some great replies. I have to agree 100% with the state of VDR. I guess I’ll have to revise my post in light of your comments. Thank you.
Greg,
I understand you don’t use (haven’t tried) Veeam Backup & Replication yet. Veeam has supported ESXi as a target since 2009, here’s a link to an article: http://www.virtualizationteam.com/veeam/veeam-backup-replication/veeam-backup-replication-4-1-with-full-support-for-replication-to-esxi-hosts.html
You can also find useful information on the Veeam Blog: http://www.veeam.com/blog/?s=ESXi
Thanks,
Doug Hazelman
Sr. Director, Product Strategy
Veeam Software
Good grief. I’m guessing either google alerts or #veeam brought you all here. Just so you fine gentlemen know, the bad info I was using came from “http://www.itcomparison.com/DR/VizioncorevsVeeam/VizioncorevsVeeam.htm” but if you picked up my no traffic site, then chances are you are familiar with the number 4 result from the google search “veeam vranger”. Note to Self: Way to increase discussion, post untrue untested information about Veeam.
Good one Greg 🙂 definitely be sure to tweet this with #veeam hash tag, and we will be coming upon you hehe
Vranger 5.2 also fully supports ESXi as both a source and target for esxi replication.