BackupAssist

BackupAssist
Developer(s) Cortex IT Labs
Initial release 2002
Stable release v8.4.0 latest release date - 17 March 2015
Operating system Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2/2012/2008/2008 R2/2003; Microsoft Small Business Server 2011/2008/2003; Microsoft Windows 8/7/Vista/XP
Type Windows Server Backup software
License Commercial proprietary
Website http://www.backupassist.com

BackupAssist is a Windows Server Backup and Disaster Recovery application. Built and marketed to the small to medium business markets, it provides protection for Microsoft Windows Server, Windows Small Business Server, Hyper-V, Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server.[1]

BackupAssist is a software product that allows the backup of Microsoft Windows servers, and is designed to integrate and enhance the existing backup tools present in the Windows operating system (such as Wbadmin, Rsync, Ntbackup, ZIP (file format) and exmerge).

Major Releases [2]

History

BackupAssist started as a small project designed to help a system administrator use NTBackup on Windows NT and 2000. Due to the many shortcomings with certain features of NTBackup (scheduling, media rotation and monitoring), the purpose of BackupAssist was to provide users software that could back up their servers as per their requirements.[3]

When BackupAssist was initially released in 2002, a basic website was created to help support the software. Over the next few years, extra features were implemented that allowed users to choose from a variety of backup destinations such as tape drives, NAS, REV drives, external hard drives and CD/DVDs.[4][5] Add-ons for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server mailboxes were introduced in 2006.

By 2007, a totally rewritten version of the software was released with a new architecture based around "Backup Engine Independence".

In February 2008, a solution for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 was released, featuring drive imaging capabilities.

When version 5 was released in October 2008, BackupAssist enabled people to create copies of their data on their Local Area Network (LAN) and on the Internet. With multiple copies of data stored in different locations, users of BackupAssist have a better chance when recovering from computer, Office, Network and Regional disaster. For example: 1) File Replication Engine with VSS Snapshots mirrors a second copy of their working folders from their server to anywhere on their LAN. Only a fraction of the space is required at the new location because BackupAssist uses the Single Instance Store. 2) For people who are interested to keep a copy of their data on the Internet, use BackupAssist for Rsync.

For system administrators managing a dozen or more servers, use the Centralized Monitoring Console to reduce backup management to less than an hour a week. Receive all backup results in one email, monitor results from anywhere around the world, drill down to investigate individual failed backups and analyze monthly backup statistics (success, failures, data growth,etc.). The Centralized Monitoring Console is "Cloud" hosted solution that processes all the backup reports and produces meaningful data for better management.

Also in February 2009, BackupAssist released a solution for Exchange Server 2007 backups on Windows Server 2008. This solution overcomes the limitation in the Windows Server Backup application (wbadmin) on Windows Server 2008 that does not allow for live streaming backups of Exchange Server 2007.[6]

Architecture

The concept of "Backup Engine Independence" is a key differentiating factor between BackupAssist and other similar products. By designing BackupAssist to be able to interface with any backend engine, it is possible to add extra capabilities to BackupAssist easily.[3] This is done by interfacing with existing, well known, popular engines – such as the Microsoft Block Level Backup engine (drive imaging) on Windows Server 2008, Rsync, Ntbackup, ZIP (file format), Exmerge and Stsadm.

Reception

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Solutions - BackupAssist". Tucows. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  2. ↑ "BackupAssist version history page". BackupAssist. Retrieved 15 May 2005.
  3. 1 2 "BackupAssist Blog". BackupAssist. Retrieved 15 May 2005.
  4. ↑ "Hardware Compatibility List". BackupAssist. Retrieved 2005-05-15.
  5. ↑ "PC Pro UK review". PC Pro. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  6. ↑ "Windows IT Pro Review of Exchange 2007 backup capability". Windows IT Pro. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
  7. ↑ "4.5/5 Star Review for BackupAssist". Download.com. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "10 / 10 awarded to BackupAssist". toptenreviews.com. Retrieved 3 January 2015.

External links

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