Quantum announced today that they are OEMing esXpress software (from PHD Virtual) to better support VMware VM backups (see press release) . This software schedules VMware snapshots of VMs and can then transfer the VM snapshot (backup) data directly to a Quantum DXI storage device.
One free “Professional” esXpress license will ship with each DXI appliance which allows for up to 4-esXpress virtual backup appliance (VBA) virtual machines to run in a single VMware physical server. An “Enterprise” license can be purchased for $1850 which allows for up to 16-esXpress VBA virtual machines to run on a single VMware physical server. More Professional licenses can be purchased for $950 each. The free Professional license also comes with free installation services from Quantum.
Additional esXpress VBAs can be used to support more backup data throughput from a single physical server. The VBA backup activity is a scheduled process and as such, when completed the VBA can be “powered” down to save VMware server resources. Also as VBAs are just VMs they fully support VMware Vmotion, DRS, and HA capabilities that are available from VMware. However using any of these facilities to move a VBA to another physical server may require additional licensing.
The esXpress software eliminates the need for a separate VCB (VMware Consolidated Backup) proxy server and provides a direct interface to support Quantum DXI deduplicated storage for VM backups. This should simplify backup processing for VMware VMs using DXI archive storage.
Quantum also announced today a new key manager, the Scalar Key Manager for Quantum LTO tape encryption which has an integrated GUI with Quantum’s tape automation products. This allows a tape automation manager a single user interface to support tape automation and tape security/encryption. A single point of management should simplify the use of Quantum LTO tape encryption.
