Online backup and recovery vendor EVault Inc. has introduced new versions of many of its products, all stressing higher performance and greater scalability.
The newest version of InfoStage, EVaults flagship software, allows users to add storage on the fly and then automatically and transparently load-balance it. Version 5 also offers parallel restore—the ability to perform multiple, simultaneous restores from the same storage vault.
In addition, Version 5 includes advanced backup agents for Microsoft Corp.s Exchange and SQL Server and for Oracle Corp. backup and recovery products. The agents offer improved delta-block backup performance by using optimized algorithms. They also allow for finer-granularity backups, such as the ability to back up individual mailboxes and one-pass restores, officials at the Emeryville, Calif., company said.
Other new features in InfoStage 5 include an integrated vault backup agent, which enables backup data stored on the vault to be migrated to disk, tape or a second off-site storage vault; expanded platform support for Novell Inc.s SuSE Linux and IBMs iSeries V5R3; and enhanced iSeries backups that feature a second hot-backup method via EVaults database-trigger technology.
Support for iSeries V5R3, IBMs AS/400-based operating system, is particularly interesting because many vendors choose to ignore it, said Dianne McAdam, an analyst at Data Mobility Group LLC, of Nashua, N.H. iSeries V5R3, which tends to be used in manufacturing and insurance environments, isnt a rapidly growing market, but its a great place to offer support, McAdam said.
“It manages its storage very differently from other operating systems—as a glob of storage instead of using LUNs [logical unit numbers] or volumes—so a lot of vendors dont want to touch it because they have to do special things to back it up or replicate it,” she said. “But its a steady market, and its a real differentiator for EVault.”
Along with the InfoStage announcement, the company rolled out EVault Reports and EVault Desktop. EVault Reports, a Web-based tool used with EVault Protect, allows managed-services customers to view storage use, backup status and other information across all computers subscribing to the service. EVault Desktop is an agent that lets users define the files to be backed up or restored from the desktop without IT intervention. Also announced were EVault ProMail Exchange, a managed service designed for environments using Exchange, and a new version of the companys EVault Protect managed service.
Karen D. Schwartz is an eWEEK.com writer.