As Virtual Machines (VMs) are becoming more common in modern computing systems It’s critical to have suitable systems and configurations to manage and monitor your virtual machines. If a virtual machine or a group of virtual machines fails, you could lose a majority of your data and functionality.
Virtual machines assist real machines in numerous ways. VMs can run different operating systems, whether for testing or to install software that isn’t compatible with the one you’re currently using. There is a huge demand for virtual machine backup software going on in the market, with that said everyone is in search of the best ones.
Here is our list of the best Virtual Machine Backup Software:
- Veeam Backup and Replication This product provides infinite storage with its Scale-out Backup Repository and Veeam Cloud Tier. It features typical Veeam Explorers built-in so that you may restore individual items from the backup. It provides application-item recovery and eDiscovery such as SharePoint, Exchange, Active Directory, and Microsoft SQL explorers.
- Altaro VM Backup It offers simple backup schedules. Create a plan for when you want to start taking backups and drag and drop your virtual machines into each one. Using sophisticated compression on your VMware VM backups may save disc space and improve performance.
- SolarWinds Virtualization Manager Before you perform a backup, SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) can help ensure that your virtual machines are configured appropriately, according to the manufacturer’s specifications.
- Vembu Backup and Disaster Recovery The VembuHIVE, Vembu’s filesystem, includes compression, version control, encryption, and error correction for efficient storage management. The free edition can back up an infinite number of virtual machines and real servers, making it suited for both production and testing scenarios.
- NAKIVO Backup & Replication The Free Edition of NAKIVO Backup & Replication allows you to migrate and copy virtual machines (VMs) between hosts or storage devices, even on separate hosts, managed by different vCenter servers, or not linked.
- Uranium Backup Pro Virtual Uranium Backup is a fantastic cloud data backup software for Windows. With Uranium, customers and organizations get a user-friendly, cost-effective, and highly reliable cloud-based backup solution. It’s a Windows-based solution that runs on Windows XP and later versions of Windows.
- Vinchin Backup & Recovery Vinchin Backup & Recovery uses effective data compression to significantly reduce the size of your backups, allowing you to save storage space.
Why do I need the Best Virtual Machine Backup Software?
Smaller businesses that don’t need more advanced features found in backup software may be able to use free services. Large enterprises that require incremental backup, offsite replication, and access controls should choose enterprise or professional backup software.
Some of these solutions require additional tools to cover all bases, which entails paying for more products and maintaining more equipment. Another approach is to utilize a single, ready-to-use VM backup software tool.
1. Veeam Backup and Replication
Veeam Backup and Replication (VBR) uses VMware’s APIs to provide enhanced scalability, company-wide replication, and file-level restoration across various operating systems. Since VBR does not require any additional software, it is less expensive than comparable enterprise recovery systems.
Guest file system indexing, one-click file restore, recovery verification, and multiple hypervisors are all included in Veeam’s solution. Veeam Backup Free Edition is a FREE utility for ad-hoc VM backup, restoration, and management.
The Scale-out Backup Repository and Veeam Cloud Tier of this tool provide infinite storage. If the cloud is a part of your data storage plan, you can also integrate restoration with AWS and Microsoft Azure. Lastly, you can automate and test your backup processes to ensure that key apps are protected. You can restore in an entire VM state or more granularly for further control.
Pros:
- Hyper V allows you to export virtual machines without any downtime
- It has a lot of file management features
- VMware vCloud Director support
- Supports Microsoft Azure Direct Restore
Cons:
- Better suited for smaller organizations
Veeam Backup, the market leader in virtualization backup, now offers a free virtual machine backup solution named “Veeam Backup Free Edition” for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines.
2. Altaro VM Backup
ALTARO is a rapidly expanding provider of user-friendly backup solutions for small and mid-market organizations. Altaro VM Backup – Free Edition lets you back up two virtual machines per VMware host for free (forever) on an infinite number of hosts using the easiest-to-use VMware backup solution. Make backing up and restoring your VMware virtual machines painless and straightforward.
Previously, Altaro’s backup and restore software only supported Hyper-V, but it now supports VMware Hypervisor. The straightforward interface with cloud storage providers like Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3, and Wasabi makes data retrieval quick and simple. The Augmented Inline Deduplication approach minimizes storage requirements and backup times, allowing backups to be finished quickly. To ensure that all recoveries are current, backups can be programmed to run daily, five-minute, or even continuously.
Pros:
- Backup support for Linux virtual machines
- Create a clone and rename it for easy access and preparation of your live VM replacement
- Microsoft’s Hyper-V VSS Writer is used to make “hot” backups
Cons:
- Not the best option for enterprise environments
It also monitors backup health; if any blocks are corrupted, Altaro VM Backup can repair them when the backup is next performed.
3. SolarWinds Virtualization Manager
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager monitors and remediates Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware, VSphere, and other virtualization environments. It resolves current concerns and aids in the prevention of future problems. We can see which datastores have significant IOPS latency using virtual performance measurements. We can identify and reclaim resources to assist in the production of VM Sprawl and reclaim CPU, memory, and disc space. Hosts experiencing problems or requiring corrective action might be placed in maintenance mode for a set time.
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager (VMAN) can help ensure that your virtual machines are configured appropriately. Since VMs can be tailored and designed to meet specific demands, configuration settings are vital. The more optimized the configuration, the better the VM will work within its resources and capabilities. Before you back up, VMAN can assist help you optimize your settings
The “Virtual DNA” feature allows you to see historical changes to your configuration over time, allowing you to easily fix issues from previous changes. Before starting your backup, you may examine a contextual dependency map to see the relationships between servers and objects and dependencies between VMs, application groups, storage containers, and hosts. This allows a clear understanding of what you’re backing up and how your backups impact the rest of your network.
Pros:
- It is possible to minimize performance implications by correlating events
- It’s not too difficult to use, and it’s simple to put into practice
- It generates alerts and runs scripts following the defined rules
Cons:
- Can take time to fully explore the entire platform
This application makes monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimization of an organization’s virtual environment simple, and many larger companies are using it to meet their business needs and improve their bottom line. Monitoring VMware events and correlating them to performance implications can help speed up the resolution of an issue. Start a 30-day free trial.
4. Vembu BDR Suite
Vembu Backup & Disaster Recovery (BDR) comes with several tools that simplify backing up your virtual machines. To begin, you can plan VM backups and replications to happen at specific times (e.g., every 15 minutes, once a day, or on particular days). You can also quickly recover virtual machines, mount discs and restore files, and restore backed-up data, which helps you keep your business running smoothly and save downtime.
Vembu Backup also offers a “Vembu BDR Suite Free Edition” version of backup software that provides unlimited backup and recovery for both virtual and physical settings. Vembu BDR Suite presents a free edition of the software best suited for all types of businesses who wish to experience the simple and comprehensive backup and recovery solution. It features agentless backups for virtual environments, multiple recovery options, an in-house file system for efficient storage management, and secure data transmission.
Pros:
- The free version has no significant limitations and can back up the whole picture
- VembuHIVE, Vembu’s proprietary file system, includes compression, version control, and encryption
- There is no limit to the number of virtual machines and physical servers that can be backed up
Cons:
- The interface could use improvement
Vembu BDR Suite is compatible with various platforms, including VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Windows, Linux, and Mac. Due to the trend toward hybrid deployments, Vembu BDR Suite offers a variety of deployment choices, including remote, cloud, on-premise, and hybrid cloud. Access the 30-day free trial.
5. Nakivo Backup and Replication
NAKIVO creates a quick, dependable, and economical data protection solution for VMware, Hyper-V, and cloud settings. Over 10,000 businesses use NAKIVO Backup & Replication to safeguard and restore their data more efficiently and affordably, and over 140 hostings are managed. Cloud service providers use NAKIVO’s software to provide VM BaaS and DRaaS to their customers. You can improve VMware backup performance, improve backup reliability, speed up recovery, and save time and money using Nakivo Backup and Replication.
In June 2020, Nakivo released the beta for version 10 of its backup software. vSphere 7, VMware’s server virtualization platform, is now supported in this most recent version. Full P2V Recovery is also provided, creating virtual clones of actual PCs. The Wasabi cloud storage technology, cost-effective and adaptable, can supply backups and copies of workstations, Oracle databases, and Amazon EC2 instances. The new Linux Workstation Backup utility can quickly recover workstations and restore information and objects from backups.
Pros:
- NAKIVO Backup & Replication Free Edition is designed to recover your virtual machines quickly
- The Free Edition of NAKIVO Backup & Replication allows you to migrate and copy virtual machines
- The Free Edition comes with a 10-machine license
Cons:
- Could benefit from 2FA support
It can deliver backups and copies of workstations, Oracle databases, and Amazon EC2 instances via the Wasabi cloud storage platform, which is economical and flexible.
6. Uranium Backup Pro Virtual
Uranium Backup Pro Virtual can backup computers on both Hyper-V and VMware hosts, and it can perform an infinite number of backups. VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines can be backed up, replicated, and restored. Uranium Backup Pro Virtual also offers a “Replica” capability that allows for quick recovery of VMs from backup in a disaster. It also works with cloud backup services like Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox.
Uranium is the most powerful data recovery software because it is a commanding, simple-to-use, and low-cost backup program that has been sold in over 100 countries and translated into 13 languages. Users may perform backups and control operations surrounding Uranium using a unique and straightforward interface developed by NanoSystems. This system supports cloud storage (Windows Azure), tape drives, NAS, RDX, external HDs, and various other storage devices. Uranium’s plethora of features contributes to data security with its tried-and-true solutions.
Pros:
- Uranium can back up your system discs and recover them in the event of a disaster
- Hot backups of MySQL, MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server, and Exchange servers are possible with Uranium
- Uranium is a powerful tape backup solution. It works with any tape drive
Cons:
- Better suited for environments using tape backups
You can back up to any machine on your network and create images of files that Uranium can restore. The application allows you to perform incremental backups and thin provisioning backups. The quantity of disc space used is reduced, and the copying procedure is sped up.
7. Vinchin Backup & Recovery
Vinchin Backup & Recovery, Vinchin’s self-developed next-generation VM backup solution, supports the world’s most popular virtual environments, including VMware, XenServer/XCP-ng, Hyper-V, RHV/oVirt, OpenStack, Sangfor HCI, Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager, and Huawei FusionCompute (Xen Based). It protects essential company data from human error, viruses, attacks, hardware failures, natural disasters, and wars, among other things. It now supports Chinese, English, German, Czech, and other languages.
Partition, Local Disk, Logical Volume, Fiber Channel, iSCSI, NFS, and CIFS storage types are all supported as backup repositories. Moreover, you can quickly restore an entire VM by simply clicking the selected restore point.
Pros:
- It’s a virtuous software that aids in VM backup activities and performs admirably
- Vinchin is the type of software you’d expect from a cutting-edge firm
- One of the most excellent features is the well-designed web portal, which makes work management simple
Cons:
- Would like to see more support for other backup environments
It offers free backup for VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines for the rest of their lives. A single web-based console with simple task setups and centralized management. It has automated incremental VM backups on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis without an agent.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is it possible to back up a virtual machine? Virtual machine backup is a data protection solution for virtual machines that work similarly to traditional backup solutions for physical servers. A full backup of all data in a virtual machine, an incremental backup, or a differential backup can be done with virtual machine backup software.
- What is VMware backup, and how does it work? Copying data on a virtual machine (VM) in a VMware environment to prevent data loss is known as VMware backup. For storage and backup administrators, VMware backup, and virtual server backup, in general, can be difficult without proper software. Backups of VMs can be done with standard backup software.
- What is the best method for backing up a virtual machine? To make a backup of the virtual machine, in most environments you can follow these steps:
- Make sure your virtual machine is switched off (some software support live incremental backups).
- Navigate to the virtual machine folder.
- Right-click the virtual machine folder and select Copy from the menu that appears.
- Go to the location where you want the backup to be saved, right-click anywhere in the folder, and select Paste.
Final thoughts
If you plan to use the software in a large business environment, always get the enterprise or professional version, as free tools or basic capabilities may not be enough to manage complex VM configurations.
Software like SolarWinds Virtualization Manager can help you clean up your virtual instances, speeding up your backups. This package monitors VMWare vSphere servers across several sites and Hyper-V and Nutanix AHV instances. This on-premises product allows you to monitor and manage systems. I hope this article helped you learn about the TOP 7 best Virtual Machine Backup Software.
Do you use virtual machine backup software in your business? Let us know what software you use in the comments below.
