Disaster Recovery Consulting for
Small and Midsize Company Computer Networks: Altaro VM Backup Consultants
Altaro VM Backup Solutions: Hyper-V and VMware Virtual Server Backup
Altaro VM Backup is designed to provide small and mid-size businesses with a reliable and affordable solution for backing up and restoring Hyper-V and VMware-based virtual machines (VMs). Altaro VM Backup can be used for local, offsite, multi-site, and cloud-based environments and also supports cost-effective cloud backup to a Microsoft Azure Block Blob storage account. Top features include industry-leading Augmented Inline Deduplication to reduce backup storage requirements, Continuous Data Protection (CDP) with backup intervals as low as five minutes for reducing your exposure to data loss, military-grade encryption, granular restore options for entire virtual machines or for individual files and emails, extensive support for Windows Server Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) and VMware vCenter, and the ability to leverage Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) technology to back up live virtual machines without downtime.
Progent is a certified Altaro partner and can provide a broad range of services to help you plan, deploy, optimize and troubleshoot a backup/restore solution based on the Altaro VM Backup platform. Progent also offers ProSight Data Protection Services managed backup to provide end-to-end monitoring and management of your backup ecosystem. Progent's Hyper-V consultants and VMware experts can help you design and manage virtual machine deployments that utilize on-premises or offsite VMs or that use a hybrid architecture that incorporates both local and cloud-based resources. In addition, Progent offers business continuity/disaster recovery (BCDR) planning consulting to help smaller organizations prepare for potentially catastrophic threats to business-critical data such as ransomware, human error, hardware failure and natural disasters.
Key Features of Altaro VM Backup
Altaro VM Backup is designed to handle the backup/restore requirements of most small businesses and combines simplicity of operation with a rich feature set that includes capabilities typically found only in enterprise-grade platforms. Altaro protects the most widely used versions of Hyper-V and VMware and supports popular backup media:
| Supported Hyper-V OS | Supported VMware OS | Supported Media |
|
Windows Server 2016 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2008 R2 |
VMware vCenter V(5.0, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0 & 6.5) VMware vSphere V(5.0, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0 & 6.5) VMware ESXi V(5.0, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0 & 6.5) (Free ESXi not supported) |
USB External Drives eSata External Drives USB Flash Drives Network Shares NAS devices PC Internal Hard Drives RDX Cartridges Altaro Offsite Server |
Altaro VM Backup includes powerful features in three crucial areas of data protection: backup/replication, restoration/disaster recovery, plus management and reporting.
Backup and Replication
Altaro VM Backup offers fast, efficient, and secure backup for data protection and archiving plus offsite replication for disaster recovery. Major backup and replication features include:
- Augmented Inline Deduplication: Inline variable block size deduplication sends only changed data to the backup device or site, conserving bandwidth, reducing storage requirements, and improving performance.
- Continuous Data Protection (CDP): Rather than run daily backups, you can reduce backup intervals to as short as five minutes to lower your Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
- Concurrency: You can back up multiple virtual machines simultaneously, which makes it possible to conduct backup operations during shorter off-hour time windows when more bandwidth is available and network performance is less critical.
- Live/Hot Backup: Integration with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service allows you to back up virtual machines without incurring downtime.
- Cluster Shared Volumes & VMware vCenter: The ability to back up virtual machines running in a Hyper-V Failover Cluster (with or without cluster shared volumes) or in a VMware vCenter environment supports larger deployments.
- Offsite Replication: To facilitate disaster recovery, you can set up the Altaro Offsite Server tool on an external server for storing a copy of your backups at a different location.
- Flexible Scheduling and Retention Policies: You can set different backup schedules and retention policies for individual VMs.
Backup scheduling and retention options for Altaro are easy to configure, review and update - Application Consistent Backups: Altaro VM Backup can use Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and all VSS Writers running inside the protected VM when making a backup. Applications like Microsoft SQL and Exchange will be aware the backup has happened and automatically run the relevant maintenance tasks such as truncating transaction logs.
- Military-Grade Encryption: Prior to saving your data to a backup device, you have the option of encrypting it using 256-Bit AES Encryption.
- Virtual Disk Exclude: You can select which Virtual Disks to include or exclude in your VM backups.
- Grandfather-Father-Son Archiving (GFS): In addition to your continuous and daily backups, you can set up a special backup schedule to create and archive a new backup version every week, month and year.
- Cloud Backup to Azure: Altaro supports backup to an Azure Block Blob storage account, which is the most affordable storage option available on the Azure cloud.
Restore and Disaster Recovery
Altaro VM Backup includes a rich set of tools for point-in-time granular recovery of VMs and files that have been periodically backed up and need to be restored for any reason. In a disaster recovery scenario, Altaro has tools for quickly restoring an entire site from the latest replicated version stored offsite.
- Restore as Clone: You can restore a VM backup to a new location with a new name, allowing the cloned VM to run side by side with the original VM. This avoids the need to overwrite live VMs.
- Restore to Different Host: You can restore a VM backup to a different host. The VM will be restored to a new location on the new host and will be given a new name.
- Boot from Backup: You can instantly boot any VM version directly from the backup location either for verification purposes or to achieve a significant reduction in RTO (Recovery Time Objectives) in a disaster recovery scenario.
- File Level Restore: You can quickly restore individual files and folders from any VM backup.
- Microsoft Exchange Item Level Restore: You can restore individual emails from within the Exchange Mailbox database.
Altaro VM Backup allows you to restore individual emails from an Exchange Mailbox - Restore Different Versions: You can restore from multiple points in time rather than being limited to the latest backup
- Sandbox Restores and Verification: This features lets you schedule or manually launch test drills to confirm the integrity of your backup data. You can verify backup folders without attaching the VM to your Hyper-V or VMware Host, or you can run a complete test restore to a clone and ensure that the restored VM can boot.
- Backup Health Monitor: Backup storage integrity can be monitored proactively and repaired automatically as part of the next backup process.
The web-based Cloud Management Console (CMC) centralizes management, monitoring and reporting for Altaro VM Backup deployments. The CMC provides a single online portal for tasks such as initiating backups, setting up on-premises and offsite backup locations, configuring encryption keys, and restoring VMs. The CMC also saves time by allowing you to set custom templates with schedules, retention policies and advanced settings and assign them to multiple VMs across different hosts. In addition, you can use the CMC to monitor backup activity in real time, view historic reports on operations and errors, and configure the CMC to send email alerts for completed or failed tasks and other useful information.
How Progent Can Help You Benefit from Altaro VM Backup
Progent's Microsoft-certified Windows Server Hyper-V consultants and VMware-certified vSphere and vCenter consultants can help you plan, deploy and manage a backup/restore solution based on Altaro VM Backup. Progent's Exchange consultants can help you integrate Altaro VM Backup with your Exchange environment, and Progent's Azure hybrid cloud consulting specialists can show you how to use your Azure Block Blob storage account with Altaro to protect your VM backups. Progent's Business Continuity consultants can show you how Altaro VM Backup's replication features and offsite backup capability can help safeguard your mission-critical data and enable you to resume your core services quickly in case of a catastrophic event. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants can assess the security profile of your backup solution and can help you deploy the latest tools and follow industry best practices for operating safely in the modern threat landscape.
Other Non-stop Technologies Supported by Progent's Consultants
Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-certified consulting experts can assist your company to create a cost-effective, non-stop information network that resolves major challenges encompassing a broad array of infrastructure technologies and operations such as:
Disaster Recovery Planning
Progent's disaster recovery professionals can show you how to design a workplace recovery strategy so you can restore IT functionality in the event of an information system catastrophe. Progent can assist you to develop a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that incorporates periodic disaster recovery assessments and drills. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-certified engineers can also show you how to build an affordable, non-stop system architecture that addresses reliability issues involving a wide range of network technologies and procedures. For details, go to Workplace Recovery Expertise.
Fully Managed Cloud Backup: ProSight Data Protection Services
ProSight Data Protection Services from Progent provide small and mid-sized businesses a low cost end-to-end solution for reliable backup/disaster recovery. For a fixed monthly cost, ProSight Data Protection Services automates and monitors your backup processes and allows fast recovery of vital data, applications and virtual machines that have become unavailable or corrupted as a result of component failures, software glitches, natural disasters, human mistakes, or malicious attacks such as ransomware. ProSight Data Protection Services can help you protect, recover and restore files, folders, applications, system images, as well as Hyper-V and VMware virtual machine images. Critical data can be backed up on the cloud, to a local storage device, or to both. Progent's cloud backup consultants can deliver world-class support to set up ProSight Data Protection Services to be compliant with regulatory requirements like HIPAA, FIRPA, and PCI and, whenever needed, can help you to restore your business-critical data. Read more about ProSight Data Protection Services Managed Backup.
Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery
Progent's Windows Server 2016 disaster recovery/business continuity consultants can assist you to plan and deploy a DR solution built around Microsoft's cloud-tested Failover Clustering tools including Cluster Operating System Rolling Upgrade for non-intrusive migration to Windows Server 2016, Storage Replica for crash-consistent Recovery Point Objective (RPO), Storage Spaces Direct for enterprise-class storage clusters using industry-standard hardware, Virtual Machine Load Balancing for improving the speed and resilience of Failover Clusters while minimizing capital investment and operational expenses, and Cloud Witness for easy, affordable creation of a failover cluster quorum arbitration point. To learn more, see Windows Server 2016 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Help.
Microsoft Server 2012 Failover Clustering
Windows Server 2008 R2 brought enterprise-class fault tolerance and recoverability to Microsoft's failover clustering solution. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 adds to this technology and delivers important improvements that offer increased extensibility, better storage uptime for server applications, streamlined administration, faster automatic failover, and additional options for architecting failover clusters. For more information, go to Windows Server 2012 Clustering Integration.
VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Disaster Recovery Solutions
VMware's Site Recovery Manager is an extension to VMware vCenter that lets you specify, automate and test a repeatable runbook for recovering applications and services quickly following an outage. Site Recovery Manager supports centrally managed and automated disaster recovery, application mobility, and non-intrusive site migration, failback and re-protect. SRM also allows non-disruptive testing for site recovery, upgrades and fixes and can produce reports to confirm full service recovery, validate Service Level Agreements and prove disaster recovery compliance. Progent can provide the support of a VCDX certified VMware SRM consulting expert to help your organization to design, configure, test and administer a disaster recovery solution powered by VMware Site Recovery Manager.
NetApp MetroCluster High Availability and Disaster Recovery Technology
NetApp MetroCluster is a high-availability and disaster recovery platform that uses array-based storage clustering along with continual replication to provide fast, zero data loss disaster recovery between sites located as far as 300km apart. Progent offers access to a NetApp MetroCluster expert who can help you to plan, deploy, administer, update, test and repair a disaster recovery solution based on NetApp MetroCluster. Progent can assist you to choose a topology for your MetroCluster environment that aligns with your functional requirements and IT budget. Progent can make sure you follow leading practices for installing your MetroCluster solution by providing help with procedures like assigning disk pools, arranging aggregate and plexes layout, provisioning NetApp FlexVol volumes, setting up NetApp Snapshot, provisioning switches, designing a tiebreaker mechanism, setting up a configuration replication network, and testing your disaster recovery solution to show compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.
High Availability Load Balancing
Progent offers high availability load balancing support that addresses network load balancing, load balanced programs, network backbone routing, and content delivery products such as Cisco Content Engine. Fault tolerant load balancing solutions for which Progent offers consulting services include Windows 2003 and 2008 Server Network Load Balancing Manager, Citrix Metaframe and Presentation Server, Cisco Content Services Switch, Cisco Content Engine and Cisco CDN Software, and F5 Networks 3-DNS. For more information, go to Fault Tolerant Load Balancing.
Non-stop Data Centers
Progent's Data Center consultants can help you select high availability data centers that meet the particular needs of your business. Fault tolerant off-site data centers are particularly appealing to small and mid-size businesses due to of their low cost and simplified logistics compared to taking a do-it-yourself strategy. Trying to create an in-house data center with even a minimum level of fault tolerance is financially prohibitive for most small businesses. Progent can show you how to get all the advantages of non-stop colocation facilities by providing a full range of engineering and support services. To learn more, visit Non-stop Colocation Expertise.
Non-stop Interoffice Networking
Progent’s branch office connectivity engineers can help businesses create fault tolerant branch office connections through fully redundant networks featuring transparent failover. Progent’s Cisco-certified CCIE engineers can plan and deploy ultra-reliable Inter-office networks based on non-stop EIGRP routers or fault tolerant OSPF configurations of Cisco routers. Progent can demonstrate how multi-path connectivity and transparent fail-over offers affordable 24x7 interoffice connectivity. For more information, visit Failsafe Inter-office Networking.
24x7 Internet Access
Progent's Cisco-certified IT experts can show you how to design an economical, fault tolerant Internet configuration solution that can achieve non-stop Internet connectivity via a broad range of high availability Internet access solutions including high availability BGP, transparent fail-over, and multiple ISPs. Progent can provide CCIE consultants to show you how to utilize the most up-to-date techniques for 24x7 Internet access to create an affordable, fully redundant Internet network with automatic failover and other capabilities to create zero-downtime Internet access. To learn more, see 24x7 Internet Connectivity Solutions.
Backup and Recovery Technology Consulting Experts
Progent can provide affordable remote support from IT engineers skilled in a wide array of products and services that deliver solutions for protecting Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops plus laptops and smartphones. Progent offers consulting support for leading data protection platforms including Acronis Backup and Recovery, Backup Exec, BackupAssist Software, CrashPlan, Double-Take Software, MozyPro, Retrospect, Time Machine, VMware Data Recovery (VDR), and Oracle Solaris FLARs. Progent can assist you to implement, enhance, or troubleshoot backup/restore systems for a variety of topologies such as local, remote, cloud-based, or hybrid. For more information, go to Backup and Restore Solutions Consulting Services.
System Center Data Protection Manager Data Recovery Consulting and Support Services
Progent's expert Microsoft SCDPM engineers can assist your company to create an effective disaster recovery strategy, design an affordable fault-tolerante IT architecture, deploy a Microsoft SCDPM-powered backup and recovery solution, comprehensively test your system, train your IT staff or local service providers how to maintain System Center Data Protection Manager, or provide extensive information technology support outsourcing including remote hosting of SCDPM servers in Progent's world-class data center. To learn more, go to System Center Data Protection Manager Expertise.
Barracuda Backup On-premises and Cloud Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Barracuda Backup is an affordable, subscription backup/restore platform for small and mid-size organizations. A Barracuda Backup solution can include a custom-designed physical appliance manufactured by Barracuda or a virtual appliance with similar features but which utilizes your existing storage infrastructure. Barracuda Backup safeguards critical business data produced locally, at one or multiple remote locations, or in the cloud. For disaster protection, you can replicate data to the Barracuda Cloud, to Amazon Web Services (AWS), or to any site with a physical or virtual Barracuda Backup appliance. Progent is a Barracuda partner and Progent's Barracuda Backup consultants offer a broad range of consulting services to help you to design, integrate, operate and repair a backup and disaster recovery system built on Barracuda Backup. For more information, go to Barracuda Backup and disaster recovery consulting.
Consulting Services Double-Take Software for Backup and Recovery
Double-Take Software publishes a family of products intended to provide small and midsize businesses a range of affordable solutions for replicating and recovering business-critical applications such as Exchange Server, SQL, Blackberry, and Microsoft SharePoint. Progent’s disaster recovery planning consultants have extensive backgrounds incorporating Double-Take Software products into small business IT networks to create a high state of fault tolerance and disaster recovery readiness at an affordable cost. To learn more, go to Consulting Services Double-Take Solutions for Backup.
CRISC-Certified IT Risk Management
The CRISC certification program was initiated by ISACA to verify a consultant's skills to design, implement, and maintain IS controls to reduce risk. Progent can provide the expertise of a CRISC-certified engineer to assist you to develop and carry out a business continuity or disaster recovery plan based on industry best practices promoted by CRISC and geared to match your company's risk tolerance, business goals, and IT budget. To find out more, see CRISC-Certified network risk mitigation experts.
Why Choose Progent for Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning Solutions?
Because Progent is a Microsoft Certified Partner and provides specialized application consulting for a broad range of business software programs, Progent can assist customers to find complete IT solutions that maximize the productivity of your information system. As a Registered Partner with Cisco, Progent can provide the services of certified consultants and specialists with expertise in designing, configuring and troubleshooting infrastructure environments based on Cisco technology. The breadth of Progent's technical experience and Progent's appreciation for the needs of small and midsize companies make Progent a great partner for creating and running a cost-effective, fault-tolerant information system.
How You Can Contact Progent's Engineers for Business Continuity Solutions Support
If you wish to get in touch with Progent about professional help for business continuity planning, phone
An index of content::
Integration Support Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Upgrade Planning
Configuration Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Migration
Progent can help your business in any and all phases of your migration to Exchange Server 2016 such as planning high availability infrastructure for an on-premises, cloud-based or hybrid environment; server and CAL licensing requirements for Exchange and Windows Server 2012 R2+; migrating mailboxes; Windows Hyper-V design; specifying mass storage requirements for your virtual machines, databases and log files; configuring hardware load balancing for high-availability client access services; designing, configuring and validating Exchange Servers and Windows Servers and Database Availability Groups (DAGs); integration with SharePoint Server or SharePoint Online; updating your firewall; creating SSL certs; providing client remediation with Office desktop or Office 365; and setting up Outlook on the web.
Postini Support and Help
Antispam Support
E-Mail Guard is Progent's economical anti-spam and anti-virus managed service that gives small businesses world-class protection from spam, viruses, directory harvesting, and other varieties of email-borne assaults on IT networks. E-Mail Guard is built on Postini's perimeter management technology, a full library of web-managed anti-spam and anti-virus services that stop email assaults before they can breech the company firewall. Perimeter Manager also allows administrators monitor and manage their email systems, irrespective of server vendor, hardware technology, or geographic location.
24/7 Technology Professional ProSight Private Cloud Services
24-7 Private Cloud Hosting for Virtual Data Centers Specialist
Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting outsourcing provides complete hosting of a small or mid-size company's servers in a solution that gives the maximum level of dependability and expandability and is also simple to transfer to any data center. ProSight Virtual Hosting and management services are built on mature virtualization technologies that allow small companies with mixed- platform IT systems to economize dramatically on the costs of capital investments, infrastructure support, and network administration while achieving world-class fault tolerance and an unprecedented level of vendor flexibility.
Signature-based Virus Protection Network Consulting
ProSight Phishing Defense Consultant Services
ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) is an endpoint protection (EPP) service that utilizes cutting edge behavior-based machine learning technology to defend endpoints and physical and virtual servers against new malware assaults like ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely evade traditional signature-matching anti-virus tools. ProSight ASM safeguards local and cloud resources and offers a unified platform to automate the complete malware attack lifecycle including blocking, detection, mitigation, cleanup, and post-attack forensics. Top capabilities include single-click rollback using Windows VSS and real-time system-wide immunization against new attacks.
24/7 Microsoft Desktop Networking Firms
24/7/365 Microsoft Mac and Linux Desktop Setup Service
Progent can deliver a wide array of cost-effective consulting and support services to assist your business to deploy, integrate, repair, and administer desktop PCs and notebooks based on Windows, macOS and OS X, or various versions of Linux. Progent can provide onsite or remote help for single computers or laptops or help your business to plan and implement a large-scale rollout of new or updated operating system software and applications. Progent can also supply consultants and technicians to assist you to plan for and complete a site move or merger organized to cause the least possible interruption to your business.
Immediate Live Communications Server 2007 Professionals
Onsite Technical Support Microsoft LCS Server Instant Messaging
MS Communications Server delivers IM and Real Presence in a scalable, world-class solution offering advanced protection, transparent integration with other Microsoft software, an expandable, standards-based development platform, and support for regulatory mandates such as HIPAA, SOX, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley. Your organization can benefit from lower costs and improved business efficiencies, enhanced worker productivity, and better intellectual property protection with this simple-to-manage, highly available IM platform. Successful implementations of Office Communications Server require extensive planning and consideration before installation. Progent's Microsoft-authorized consultants can deliver the skill necessary to deliver all the advantages of Microsoft Office Communications Server throughout your whole organization.
24x7 Call Center Remote Consulting
Network Support Help Desk Technical Consultant
The Contact Center support model used by Progent's Technical Response Center offers small organizations an dependable alternative to dependence on independent service individuals by offering broad technical knowledge accessible to multiple support teams, optional 24x7 access to emergency help, escalation capability to top-level engineers for handling the most complex problems, support consistency and reliability, prompt follow through enforced by veteran IT service administrators, a variety of easy-to-use techniques for requesting service tasks, plus excellent process visibility enabled by ticket updates and available via a web-based portal.
wireless IP phones and Meraki APs Technical Consultant
Cisco Certified Computer Consulting wireless IP phone configuration
Progent's Wi-Fi IP phone configuration experts can provide online and onsite assistance to help you create and administer a Cisco Wi-Fi IP phone deployment by delivering services that range from troubleshooting the set up of a wireless IP phone or AP to providing comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing for modernizing the wireless infrastructure of an entire campus.
SonicWall PRO Network Intrusion Penetration Testing
SonicWall TZ500 Firewall Firewall Support
Progent's certified SonicWall firewall experts can help you integrate, manage, and troubleshoot SonicWall firewall devices including the current SonicWall TZ, NSa and NSsp Series of appliances and the legacy SonicWall PRO 1260 Secure Switch devices. Progent's CISM and GIAC-certified cybersecurity experts can help you incorporate SonicWall security gateways into an end-to-end security solution and build security into your corporate processes.
64-bit Computing Services
64-bit Processing Specialist
Progent’s Microsoft-expert engineers can help your organization to enhance your application servers and/or desktops from 32 to 64 bits. Progent can assist your company to calculate the risks and benefits of upgrading to 64-bit computing, plan an affordable migration process that minimizes business disruptions, and offer economical, expert online help to aid your organization to configure 64-bit software and application software on your current hardware.
Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Support and Setup
Windows Server 2008 DirectAccess Computer Consultant
Windows Server 2008 represents an important advance in making information systems more secure and available, simpler to virtualize and administer, faster, and able to provide a better platform for web publishing. Progent can help your business benefit fully from the enhancements incorporated into Microsoft Windows Server 2008 by delivering Microsoft-certified consulting, support, education, staffing, network monitoring, and security services.
Remote Network Monitoring Specialists
Small Business Managed IT services Consultants
Progent's ProSight portfolio of managed IT services are intended to offer organizations who have minimal in-house IT support teams with affordable help from enterprise-class management tools and consulting expertise. Benefits of Progent's ProSight catalog of managed services include fixed network maintenance expenses, automation of routine administrative processes, continual absorption of new technology, smooth migration from older technology to current solutions, improved alignment of computer technology with strategic objectives, guidance from veteran IT consultants, and freeing up management to concentrate on business issues rather than ever-changing computer technology.
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Evaluation Online Troubleshooting
Windows 8 Consult
Microsoft Windows 8.1 is designed to run on computers from smartphones and tablets to engineering workstations. A wealth of new and improved features, such as its touchscreen support and iconic tile GUI, offer a wide range of benefits for organizations who understand how to put them to work. Progent's Microsoft-certified experts can help bring your business up to speed with Microsoft Windows 8.1 and show you how to derive significant competitive value from the operating system's many new and enhanced technologies.
Fortinet 1100 Series Firewalls Support and Help
Technology Consulting Services Fortinet 400 Series Firewalls
Fortinet FortiGate next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) are leaders in delivering top throughput for SSL inspection. Progent's Fortinet firewall experts can assist you to configure your Fortinet security appliances to safeguard your digital resources at the enterprise edge, within the data center core, at branch locations, and in the cloud.
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