Quadric Software

CBT for XenServer – Only with Alike!

The First & Only Backup Solution with CBT for XenServer

Recently, we’ve noticed a lot buzz on XenServer forums about CBT for XenServer. Whether you’re wondering if any backup solutions include CBT for Xen, or asking if and when Citrix will provide the API for XS CBT, we have a surprise for you. You can get CBT for XenServer with Alike today!

Well, maybe not so much a surprise since we have offered CBT for Xen for over a year. With the release of Alike 4.5, Alike became the first backup solution to offer CBT for XenServer. Yep, that’s right. Alike is the first and only backup solution with Changed Block Tracking for XenServer. So why are we blogging about it again a year later? A few reasons…

1. To remind our current users that Alike’s CBT for XenServer is a unique feature guaranteed to reduce backup windows, saving time, energy, and money.
2. To introduce ourselves to folks who haven’t heard about Alike or our solution’s support for XenServer CBT (Psst, we also offer CBT for Hyper-V).
3. Lastly, to take the opportunity to expand a little on how changed block tracking works and how it differs from regular incremental backups.

What Makes Alike’s CBT for XenServer So Unique?

Did we mention we are the only backup solution that offers CBT for XenServer? Okay, we know, but we want to make sure everyone heard us. That’s not the only reason Alike’s CBT stands out to our customers. Everyone knows that CBT for XenServer or Hyper-V has many benefits. The big ones include:

CBT Saves Time

• CBT greatly reduces your backup windows and gives you time to schedule more frequent backups, ultimately helping you meet your RPO goals.

CBT Saves Energy

• Alike’s CBT jobs use far less I/O, which means less stress and energy used on your virtual environment, and, more importantly, less stress on you.

CBT Saves Money

• Because Alike’s CBT jobs are extremely efficient, you can use the extra storage for other valuable resources instead of buying more space.

In addition to these core benefits, Alike offers some unique features, such as replication with Alike DR to provide site-level protection. Not only can you use CBT for backups in Alike, but you can also use CBT for replication jobs. Learn more about the benefits of Alike’s replication.

One of Alike’s best features is its industry-leading global deduplication, which offers compression ratios up to 98%. Because Alike deduplicates the data no matter what backup method you use, Alike can save on I/O and bandwidth. Not to mention saving you a significant amount of storage space, ultimately saving you money.

Now that we’ve explained the benefits of using Alike’s CBT for XenServer, we’ll explain how it works.

Changed Block Tracking in Alike

When Alike performs an Enhanced backup with CBT, it only reads the blocks with changed data instead of scanning the entire VM. By only reading the deduplicated, changed data blocks, Alike will back up the VM in a fraction of the time it takes to run a backup without CBT. Watch our video to see just how fast.

To give you a concrete example of a backup using CBT, let’s say you had a VM with 100GB of data. Alike will first read the entire 100GB’s during the initial backup. It then globally deduplicates that data reducing the size of the actual backup to 40GB to save on storage space.

Now let’s say only 4GB of data changes since the initial backup (changed data in green). During the subsequent backup job, Alike will only read the 4GB of changed data instead of having to scan the entire VM again, and this is where CBT can save a lot of time during backup jobs.

Keep in mind CBT reduces the time it takes to complete subsequent backups. The initial backups function the same, so the initials will take the same amount of time that they would without using CBT. For replication, however, the initials will take longer, but the subsequent replication jobs are at least twice as fast, and in many cases much faster!

XenServer Pioneers

Perhaps the main reason for this post is to demonstrate our dedication to the XenServer platform. We have always been committed to developing unique technology to ensure that XenServer users could protect their environment as efficiently as possible.

Alike was the first XenServer backup solution to gain Citrix Ready Certification, and it remains the leading backup and recovery solution for Citrix XenServer. We are proud of our XenServer legacy at Quadric Software, and we invite you to try our solution with a 30-day free trial.

Request a trial key today to see exactly what Alike’s CBT for XenServer can do for you!