N-able introduces Standby Image feature to boost VMware ESXi disaster recovery
N-able, a global software company specialising in IT services and solutions, has made an announcement that promises to bolster disaster recovery options for its clients. The company has expanded the disaster recovery flexibility of its Cove Data Protection offering by introducing the Standby Image feature to VMware ESXi. This development also includes support for Hyper-V and Microsoft Azure, which aims to provide Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and IT professionals with a more efficient and cost-effective Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) solution.
The Standby Image feature is designed to cater to the evolving needs of businesses by automatically creating, storing, and maintaining an up-to-date copy of protected data and system state. This copy is stored in a bootable virtual machine format with every backup. The ability to store these images in environments such as Hyper-V, Microsoft Azure, and now VMware ESXi, ensures that businesses can achieve high levels of business continuity without incurring significant administrative and financial burdens.
In the current digital landscape, disaster recovery scenarios are not one-size-fits-all. Traditional methods of recovering from natural and physical disasters need to be complemented by more robust cyber resilience strategies to address increasing ransomware threats. Cove Data Protection stands out as a highly effective tool to combat both traditional and cyber-related disasters. Its architecture is particularly geared towards ransomware resilience, isolating both the application and primary backup storage from local network access to avoid malware contamination.
Stefan Voss, Vice President of Product Management at N-able, highlighted the evolving nature of disaster recovery needs. He emphasised the unnecessary expenses often associated with outdated appliance-based backup solutions. "Cove helps our partners be ready for faster recovery in any type of emergency, without incurring unnecessary expenses," Voss noted. He further explained that the latest update allows users to create bootable virtual machines after each backup in their chosen recovery environments, including the newly added ESXi, making Cove a versatile and economical option for DRaaS.
Cove Data Protection employs several levels of innovation to bolster cyber resilience and ransomware readiness. These include isolating backup storage by default, automated recovery testing, and storing immutable copies in the N-able private cloud. These enhancements ensure that businesses can quickly restart operations in a recovery location while the primary systems are being restored and proper steps are taken to deal with ransomware, preserving the incident for forensic and cyber-insurance purposes.
The expansion of the Standby Image feature to VMware ESXi reflects N-able's commitment to delivering on its Ecoverse vision, which aims to integrate seamlessly with the existing ecosystems their users rely on. This update is expected to further strengthen N-able’s market position by providing its clients with adaptable, cost-effective, and advanced disaster recovery and cyber resilience solutions.
This announcement follows N-able's broader strategy to equip IT services providers with powerful tools that enhance their capabilities to monitor, manage, and secure systems, data, and networks. N-able continues to develop resources to simplify the increasingly complex IT ecosystems and help its partners navigate evolving IT requirements effectively.
