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Veeam to add CDP, plus Google cloud as a target
Backup giant set to add continuous data protection for the most critical workloads, plus Google cloud as a target – all on the back of a storming quarter during the pandemic
Veeam is to add continuous data protection (CDP), Google Cloud Platform as a backup target and instant recovery for databases and NAS storage. These additions are all set for version 11 of its Availability Suite, which should launch early in 2021 (version 10 came out early this year).
The company told Computer Weekly of these plans not long after it announced consistently profitable quarters before and during the pandemic. It also highlighted notable sales performance in its Microsoft 365 backup product and the likelihood that it had benefited from the rise in remote working and use of the cloud.
Veeam plans to add CDP using the VMware vSphere APIs for I/O filtering (known as VAIO). These APIs allow third-party providers to develop functionality based on taking I/O during its path between compute and the virtual disk storage.
CDP is based on the snapshots that underpin Veeam and most other backup products, but in theory can record changes every time a change is made to the unit of storage in question. Where normally snapshots would run at intervals of once an hour, for example, with some performance overhead at those times, CDP creates extra I/O every time something occurs.
For Veeam, that can be as often as once a second, according to customer preferences. CDP theoretically allows for roll-back to any point in time, but it also means a performance hit for more of the time compared with snapshots.
“That means this will make sense for some workloads, such as those that need RPOs and RTOs of seconds,” said CTO Danny Allan. “Typically, these will be highly transactional databases, for example the newer ones such as NoSQL that lack transactional log protection.”
Meanwhile, Veeam also plans to add Google Cloud Platform as a target for its Veeam Cloud Tier service. Veeam currently supports AWS and Microsoft Azure S3 and Blob storage, as well as so-called “cold” storage options in those clouds, such as AWS Glacier and Azure Archive Tier. Such cold storage will also be available in its Google Cloud offerings.
Veeam will also add Instant Recovery capability for databases and NAS systems. These are, presumably, founded on the snapshots that underpin Veeam backups and will, like existing Instant Recovery capability, allow for rapid recovery and running of databases/NAS in a way that is not apparent to users and applications.
Read more on data protection
- Storage 101: Snapshots vs backup. We go over the basics of snapshots. They are a quick and accessible way of protecting data, but they are not a substitute for backup. So how do you combine the two?
- What’s the problem with NAS backup? NAS backup has always been problematic, but what exactly are the issues with NDMP, and what are backup suppliers doing to make a decades-old storage staple easier to protect?
Revealing these planned additions follows hot on the heels of Veeam announcing profitable quarters into the pandemic period. In fact, the company announced the biggest second quarter in its 14-year history, with revenue increasing by 20% year on year for the second quarter of 2020.
Veeam also reported its largest-ever quarter for sales of its fastest-growing product, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365, with an 89% year-on-year increase.
“During the pandemic, customers haven’t been going into workplaces and shifting tapes from shelf to shelf,” said Allan. “But they have been shifting workloads to the cloud and we’ve been well-positioned to take advantage of that.”
Allan said he though Veeam is very resilient compared with storage and backup companies that are dependent on hardware. “We’re 100% software-defined and data protection is something that is just not going away,” he added.
