Nakivo for Proxmox is released

Nakivo Backup & Replication offers a comprehensive data protection solution for Proxmox VE environments. It provides reliable, fast, and flexible backup and recovery options to ensure business continuity and resilience against data loss and ransomware attacks.

This news is great for many existing and new customers. Let me explain.

The acquisition of VMware by Broadcom, completed on November 22, 2023, has been a significant event in the tech industry, with a deal valued at approximately $61 billion. This acquisition has brought about substantial changes to VMware’s business model and product offerings, which have raised concerns among customers and industry observers.

One of the most notable changes following the acquisition is the overhaul of VMware’s pricing structure. Broadcom has shifted VMware from perpetual licensing to a subscription-based model. This transition has been met with unease by customers, who are now facing the reality of recurring costs instead of a one-time purchase. The move to subscription models is a growing trend in the software industry, but it can be challenging for customers who have budgeted for perpetual licenses and now must adjust to ongoing expenses.

The pricing changes have also included significant fee increases, which have been described as “brutal” by some customers and industry groups. These increases have led to regulatory scrutiny and calls for intervention by European cloud groups. The impact on customers is twofold: not only are they facing higher costs, but there is also a concern that the quality of service and innovation may suffer as Broadcom focuses on maximizing profitability. Many customers are migrating to other solutions, some already have. Backup is very important, so a good backup solution must be available for the platform you are migrating over.

Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment) is increasingly being recognized as a viable alternative to VMware, especially for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and home lab enthusiasts. Here are some reasons why Proxmox VE stands out:

Open-Source Nature: Proxmox VE is an open-source platform, which means it’s free to use and modify. This contrasts with VMware’s proprietary solutions, which can be costly. The open-source nature of Proxmox VE allows for greater flexibility and customization, enabling users to tailor the system to their needs specific needs.

Cost-Effectiveness: Proxmox VE offers a compelling cost advantage over VMware. While VMware’s pricing can be prohibitive for smaller operations, Proxmox VE provides a free unlimited version and competitively priced support subscriptions, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.

Comprehensive Feature Set: Despite being open-source, Proxmox VE doesn’t skimp on features. It includes many of the core functionalities found in VMware, such as centralized management, clustering, high availability, live migrations of VMs, and load balancing1. Additionally, Proxmox VE supports both KVM and LXC, providing flexibility in virtualization options.

Performance and Scalability: Proxmox VE is known for its performance and scalability. It supports most x86 hardware and offers a single dashboard for managing hosts, clusters, VMs, and containers. The platform has evolved to include enterprise features like high-availability clusters and live VM migration between hosts.

Storage Solutions: Proxmox VE supports a variety of storage systems, including local volume management, ZFS, and Ceph. This gives users the ability to implement robust, software-defined storage solutions that can scale with their needs.

Community and Support: The Proxmox community is active and supportive, providing a wealth of knowledge and resources. For those requiring professional support, Proxmox Server Solutions offers paid licenses that unlock access to enterprise software updates and premium support.

Ease of Use: Proxmox VE boasts an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that simplifies the management of virtual servers. This ease of use is particularly appealing to organizations that may not have specialized IT staff dedicated to virtualization.

Key Features of NAKIVO Backup & Replication for Proxmox VE

NAKIVO has emerged as an excellent solution that has expanded its support to include Proxmox, fulfilling the anticipation of numerous enterprise organizations for a robust backup solution. This development now paves the way for these companies to transition to Proxmox with confidence.

• Image-based, application-aware backups of Proxmox VM data, applications and operating system.
• Great restore options: Send backup copies to remote sites, public clouds, other S3-compatible platforms and tape.
• Agent-Based Backup and Recovery: NAKIVO allows for agent-based backups of Proxmox VM data, treating VMs as physical machines. This approach ensures image-based, application-aware backups that capture the entire VM data, applications, and operating system.
• Flexible Recovery Options: Fully restore VM data to an identical VM on the same hypervisor using bare metal recovery. The solution supports full VM data recovery to an identical VM on the same hypervisor or bare metal recovery. Recover individual files and application objects to their original location or to a custom location.
• Multiple Backup Targets: Users can send backup copies to various destinations, including remote sites, public clouds, other S3-compatible platforms, and tape. This flexibility aids in achieving efficient backup tiering and offsite data protection.
• Ransomware Protection: NAKIVO provides the ability to store immutable backups in local Linux-based storage or public clouds, protecting backup data from ransomware infections. It also includes features to scan backup data for signs of malware before recovery.
• Performance and Efficiency: The solution is designed to increase VM backup speed through incremental backup with Change Block Tracking (CBT), LAN-free data transfer, and network acceleration. It also reduces backup size with global deduplication, variable compression, and exclusion of unused blocks.
• Disaster Recovery: NAKIVO offers real-time replication for VMware, built-in replication from backups, and disaster recovery automation and orchestration. It also allows for non-disruptive recovery testing with Site Recovery.
• Deployment Flexibility: The software can be installed on Windows, Linux, NAS, or deployed as a pre-configured VMware/Nutanix virtual appliance or as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI).
• Guaranteed Recovery: It includes instant backup and replica verification with screenshots of test-recovered VMs, ensuring the reliability of the recovery process.
• Subscription and Licensing: NAKIVO offers both subscription and perpetual licenses, with five editions to fit various budgets and requirements. This allows users to choose the most cost-effective option for their needs.
• Data Consistency: Incremental, image-based, and application-aware backups ensure that data is consistent and recoverable after a disaster.
• Anti-Ransomware Measures: Backup immutability and advanced security measures like role-based access control, two-factor authentication, and data encryption provide robust protection against ransomware and unauthorized access.
• Cost-Effectiveness: NAKIVO’s solution is recognized for being affordable, with customers reporting significant savings in both time and money spent on managing backup jobs.
• High Customer Satisfaction: The solution has received high ratings on review platforms, with customers praising its fast backups, successful job completion rates, and ease of setup and management.

Conclusion

NAKIVO Backup & Replication for Proxmox VE stands out as a top-rated, fast, and affordable solution for enterprise data protection. It offers a wide range of advanced features that cater to the needs of Proxmox VE users, ensuring that their virtual workloads are protected across mixed hypervisor environments. With its focus on reliability, performance, and ease of use, NAKIVO Backup & Replication is an excellent choice for businesses looking to secure their Proxmox VE infrastructure.