Some of the features that might be of important to you as a Managed Service Provider are listed below

• Disk Imaging and Bare Metal Restore on all Windows Servers and Workstations
• P2V capability where you can convert a physical machine to either an VMware or Hyper-V file
• Support for backing up virtual machines (VMware and Hyper-V)
• Centralized monitoring and management of clients and backup servers
• Integration with leading PSA and RMM platforms like Connectwise, Autotask etc..
• and lot’s more…

As a Managed Hosting Provider, you might be interested in knowing what’s cooking in here for you

• Granular integration with cPanel and WHMCS
• Ability to backup multiple domains / databases / files / settings hosted through cPanel
• Single click restore of domains either through StoreGrid web console or cPanel console
• Ability for billing and provisioning through WHMCS
• Extensive support for backing up Linux and FreeBSD environments
• and lots more…

For more information, please contact storegrid-partner@vembu.com or call us at 1-432-558-0055

The above post was written by Lenin Srinivasan of Vembu Technologies. Vembu Technologies is a backup software vendor whose product, StoreGrid, powers the online backup services of a large number of service providers across the globe. Besides remote backup, StoreGrid is also used for on premise backups of workstations and servers at various companies & universities.

Vembu Pro Online Backup Service allows Value Added Resellers and Managed Service Providers to offer online backup service to their customers without worrying about storage or hardware infrastructure.

Vembu Home is the only FREE consumer backup solution for free local backups and optional Amazon Cloud backups. Get your FREE COPY now

The folks at Interop sent us a special promo code through which you can get FREE EXPO PASS or 25% off on the conference pass. If you would like to get one, email us at storegrid-partner AT vembu DOT com

BTW, did you know ! Vembu Technologies is also recognized as finalist for Best of Interop 2011. InformationWeek Analytics and Interop Las Vegas 2011 Recognize Vembu Technologies for Market Leading Innovation. The Best of Interop Judging Committee, comprised of InformationWeek Analytics editors and analysts, reviewed over 100 entries and selected finalists based on the products with the most significant technical impact that are helping to move business technology forward.

See you there at the event and let us all share our experiences.

The above post was written by Lenin Srinivasan of Vembu Technologies. Vembu Technologies is a backup software vendor whose product, StoreGrid, powers the online backup services of a large number of service providers across the globe. Besides remote backup, StoreGrid is also used for on premise backups of workstations and servers at various companies & universities.

Vembu Pro Online Backup Service allows Value Added Resellers and Managed Service Providers to offer online backup service to their customers without worrying about storage or hardware infrastructure.

Vembu Home is the only FREE consumer backup solution for free local backups and optional Amazon Cloud backups. Get your FREE COPY now

Synthetic Full Backup for Exchange Server Backup

One of the challenges for Service Providers in delivering Offsite Backups for Exchange Servers, has been running full backups from the customer’s site to their offsite data center on regular basis, say once a month. Without these regular full backups, the number of incremental log files in the backup data would continuously grow, making restore all that much more time consuming. Very large Exchange Server data and limited network bandwidth are the common constrains that service providers have to work within. They normally overcome these by seeding the full backups using external drives through StoreGrid data export/import capabilities or by setting up an on-site StoreGrid backup server which is then replicated (either by Replication Server seeding or directly to replication server) to an offsite StoreGrid replication server.

With the release of StoreGrid v3.5, StoreGrid now supports Synthetic Full Backups where during an additional full backup, only the changed data with respect to the previous full backup alone is sent to the backup server, instead of sending the entire Exchange Server data again. The logs are purged into the Exchange Server during a Synthetic Full Backup just like regular full backups. During the restore, the full backup, the Synthetic Full Backups and  the incremental log files backed up after the last Synthetic Full Backup are retrieved to restore the Exchange Server data.
For more details on Synthetic Full Backup on Exchange Server Backup, please refer this help document.

Synthetic Full Backup for File Backup

Service Providers managing large file backups for their customers sometimes run into scenario where the version files become huge (when files are frequently changed and the incremental backups are run for a long period of time), making the overall incremental backups larger and longer to complete. StoreGrid v3.5 extends Synthetic Full Backup feature to file backups as well, where if the size of a version file exceeds a certain percentage (can be set by user, default is 80%) of the file’s initial full backup, then StoreGrid v3.5 client will automatically run a Synthetic Full Backup of the file during the subsequent incremental backup. During Synthetic Full Backup of a file, only the changed blocks of the file with respect to the previous Full Backup (a Synthetic Full Backup) is backed up. The version files created after the Synthetic Full Backup will be small as it will be with respect to the last Synthetic Full Backup and not the initial full backup.

The details of Synthetic Full Backup for files can be found here.

Mail Level Restore

Often users by mistake delete emails that they later wish they had not. Service Providers trying to restore the deleted emails would prefer to restore minimal backup data and not the entire Exchange Server to retrieve the specific emails. StoreGrid v3.5 SP1 client now provides extensive search and filtering capabilities to enable Service Providers to select and restore specific emails into the Exchange Server from the restored mailbox data. The emails can be searched by From, To addresses, Subject, Date etc.

Like for example,  just the Sent Mails from 8am to 11am on a particular day from John’s mailbox alone could be restored back into the Exchange Server.

For more details on Mail Level Restore, please refer this help document.

Disk Image Backup and Bare Metal Restore with P2V (Beta)

Some of our partners have been running third party applications to take image backup of disk and backup that data using StoreGrid to an offsite backup server.  Such third party applications tend to be expensive and managing multiple solutions is often cumbersome to say the least. Partners have been therefore requesting us to provide Disk image and Bare Metal Restore capabilities natively within StoreGrid and that is exactly what we have done.

We launched a beta version of StoreGrid Disk Imaging and Bare Metal Restore (BMR) and P2V Backups (Physical to Virtual Conversion). It works on all Windows 2003 & above Servers and Windows XP & above desktops. It supports backing up the entire image of a disk or specific partitions. It also supports converting the Windows image into VMDK (VMware) or VHD (Windows Hyper-V) virtual image. In the event of the server disaster, partners can restore the machine on a virtual environment at their data center and provide business continuity for their customers.

More details of BMR and P2V capabilities within StoreGrid can be found in the following help documents:

http://www.storegrid.net/help/31/sp/PageHelp/bmr-backup-configuration.html
http://www.storegrid.net/help/31/sp/PageHelp/bmr-restore-configuration.html
http://www.storegrid.net/help/31/sp/PageHelp/bmr-recovery-through-cd.html

This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have lots more interesting features coming on the way like VMware Backup, Oracle and PostgreSQL Database Backup, support for SNMP, local+remote SQL and Exchange Server backup etc.  If you are a prospective partner who have been frustrated with some legacy backup software, we would encourage you to take advantage of our ‘competitive upgrade offer’ and equip your backup arsenal with latest features available with StoreGrid.

Contact us at storegrid-partner AT vembu DOT com to know more about our competitive upgrade offer.

The above post was written by Lenin Srinivasan of Vembu Technologies. Vembu Technologies is a backup software vendor whose product, StoreGrid, powers the online backup services of a large number of service providers across the globe. Besides remote backup, StoreGrid is also used for on premise backups of workstations and servers at various companies & universities.

Vembu Pro Online Backup Service allows Value Added Resellers and Managed Service Providers to offer online backup service to their customers without worrying about storage or hardware infrastructure.

Vembu Home is the only FREE consumer backup solution for free local backups and optional Amazon Cloud backups. Get your FREE COPY now

With the release of StoreGrid v3.1 SP1, StoreGrid now supports Exchange Server 2010 database backup and restore. The v3.1 SP1 patch should be installed on both the backup server (and replication server) and in the client machines running StoreGrid v3.1. Remember this patch installs only on top of StoreGrid v3.1 installations.

Exchange 2010 Backup Restore

VSS based backup of Exchange 2010

Unlike Exchange Server 2000, 2003, 2007 where StoreGrid uses Exchange Server’s ESE API (Extensible Storage Engine) for backing up live Exchange databases, in Exchange 2010 StoreGrid uses VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Services) based APIs. StoreGrid invokes the “Microsoft Exchange Writer” (comes with the Exchange 2010 Server) which provides the backup of the live Exchange databases in a consistent state.

During the Exchange 2010 Server backup, the VSS is used to create a snapshot of the database and log files pertaining to the databases configured for backup and those files are then saved locally in a temporary location. Once all the relevant files are saved in the dump location, StoreGrid will report to the VSS that the backup is complete and the VSS will then purge the log files. StoreGrid will then backup the dumped files to the backup server and will delete these files from the temporary location.

Efficient as always..

Though the way Exchange provides its backup data may be different in Exchange 2010 server, but to StoreGrid users, Exchange 2010 Server backup and restore will work exactly the way Exchange 2000, 2003 and 2007 backup and restore work. The process continues to be slick and efficient as always:

1. Only incremental changed data is dumped during the incremental backup and not the entire Exchange database

2. Even within the incremental data that is dumped, StoreGrid backs up only the changed blocks by running StoreGrid’s Intelli-Delta on the incremental log files

3. Backup data files are deleted from the dump location once the backup is completed.

What is next in StoreGrid for Exchange Server Backups

We continue to make enhancements to Exchange Server Backups since we know that it is one of the most important service offerings for our MSP partners. Here are some the enhancements that is in near roadmap

1. Mail Level Restore – Specific emails from can be restored and attached into the Exchange Server.

2. Synthetic Exchange full backups – During additional full backups only the incremental backup data with respect to the previous full backup is sent to the backup server. Large Exchange Server data can be first seeded from the Exchange Server machine to backup server using StoreGrid’s seeding (export/import) feature and then later all additional full backups can be Synthethic Full Backups.

3. ‘Copy Only’ local backup – StoreGrid client can be configured to do regular weekly or monthly full ‘Copy Only’ backup of the entire Exchange Server, while it continues to run its incremental/differential backups to the offsite backup server. The ‘Copy Only’ backup will not set the archive bit on the Exchange Server, therefore letting the offsite backup to continue running its incrementals.

4. Incremental/Differential Exchange backups both locally and to remote backup server – We have also started working on providing the ability for the StoreGrid client to backup both locally and to a remote backup server in the same backup schedule.

Want to learn more about Exchange Server Backups and Restore using StoreGrid?

Please refer the following URLs:

http://www.storegrid.com/online-backup/sp-help/PageHelp/exchange-backup-configuration.html

http://www.storegrid.com/online-backup/sp-help/PageHelp/exchange-server-restore-configuration.html

http://www.storegrid.com/online-backup/sp-help/PageHelp/exchange-recovery-database-restore.html

http://www.storegrid.com/online-backup/sp-help/PageHelp/exchange-mailbox-rights.html

http://www.storegrid.com/online-backup/sp-help/PageHelp/exchange-mailbox-backup-configuration.html

http://www.storegrid.com/online-backup/sp-help/PageHelp/exchange-mailbox-restore-configuration.html

The above post was written by Arul Prabhu of Vembu Technologies. Vembu Technologies is a backup software vendor whose product, StoreGrid, powers the online backup services of a large number of service providers across the globe. Besides remote backup, StoreGrid is also used for on premise backups of workstations and servers at various companies & universities.

Vembu Home is the only FREE consumer backup solution for free local backups and optional Amazon Cloud backups. Get your FREE COPY now.

This special doodle was created in the honor of PAC-MAN’s 30th Birthday, where you can refresh some of your old 8-bit memories and play PAC-MAN in the Google’s first ever playable doodle. You can start playing the game by clicking the ‘Insert Coin’ button on the home page of the Google or wait for few seconds for the game to start automatically. One more item to note here, Google has managed to remove the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ button, where one of our old prophecy came true, atleast for the next 48 hours.

The PAC-MAN game has not done really bad either – it has kept up with the latest technologies. Since it initially made its appearance as an arcade game, it has made its appearance in PC, XBOX, PSP, and iPhone and now in the Google logo. This leaves me to expect a multi-player Cloud based PAC-MAN game for the PAC-MAN’s 31st Birthday. With Cloud Computing, I can visualize these cloud based retro games in the near future.

For Managed Service Providers, who would like to play PAC-MAN on the Google logo, enter the code ‘Online Backup Software’ on the Google Search box and then press the ‘Insert Coin’ button, aloha! your game is on!

Hurry up! This is only for the next 48 hours, then the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ button will come back and put you out of luck!

Google's new doodle PAC MAN

The above post was written by Lenin Srinivasan of Vembu Technologies. Vembu Technologies is a backup software vendor whose product, StoreGrid, powers the online backup services of a large number of service providers across the globe. Besides remote backup, StoreGrid is also used for on premise backups of workstations and servers at various companies & universities.

Vembu Home is the only FREE consumer backup solution for free local backups and optional Amazon Cloud backups. Get your FREE COPY now.

If you’re short on time, here’s a summary:

You can now store your (backed up) data in your own Cloud or clustered storage using Caringo CAStor. With the help of CAStor you can convert any in house x86 hardware to a clustered storage device. Storage clusters can be built on blades, towers, PCs and servers.

The integration of Vembu and Caringo technology delivers a robust online backup solution for service providers and distributed organizations looking at data protection for remote office locations.

You’ll be seeing a lot more of this – StoreGrid supporting leading cloud platforms. We launched our Amazon ready solution recently, and will be announcing another couple of partnerships very soon; watch this space!

Meanwhile, here’s a brief video that explains some more about the “StoreGrid+Caringo” solution…

[youtube bIhC3_R84w4]

The above post was written by Lenin Srinivasan of Vembu Technologies. Vembu Technologies is a backup software vendor whose product, StoreGrid, powers the online backup services of a large number of service providers across the globe. Besides remote backup, StoreGrid is also used for on premise backups of workstations and servers at various companies & universities