The VMware Ready Data Protection Program is a partner-focused initiative to integrate and simplify comprehensive data protection of VMware vSphere 4 environments with appropriate partner products. The program is designed to help customers reduce complexity and accelerate implementation of comprehensive data protection of VMware environments and provide better functionality, choice and reduced IT expenses for partner data protection products.
Through the Data Protection program, VMware provides partners with best practices and full access to the full set of vStorage APIs for Data Protection – the enabling framework for developing integrated solutions for centralized virtual machine backup. Customers using these integrated products can perform rapid backup without disrupting applications or the end user experience. VMware also continues to support existing implementations of the previous generation of its data protection framework, VMware Consolidated Backup.
As part of the program, VMware designates partner products that provide for essential data protection processes such as backup and restore with the VMware Ready logo This means that these solutions adhere to stringent integration guidelines and pass a technical validation. Partner products using the VMware Ready logo provide optimized levels of integration, functionality, or performance. VMware Ready Data Protection solutions will also be featured with the VMware Ready logo in the VMware Partner Product Catalog.
Why VMware Ready Data Protection Products Are Better
VMware Ready Data Protection products deliver unique features that cannot be matched by other products. These include:
Improved Manageability
With VMware Ready Data Protection backup products, customers can eliminate the complexity of managing backup agents in every virtual machine by taking advantage of the vStorage APIs for Data Protection. These APIs enable backup of virtual machines on multiple vSphere hosts from a centralized backup server or virtual machine, without requiring agents in each virtual machine backup target or vSphere host.
The vStorage APIs for Data Protection integrate directly with leading backup tools in order to enable customers to easily leverage backup tools and processes in their environment for protection of all running virtual machines.
Reduced Backup Window Constraints
VMware Ready backup products allow backups to be executed without loading vSphere hosts with the processing of backup tasks. VMware Ready backup products can backup and restore virtual machine data from a central backup server or virtual machine without requiring backup processing inside each virtual machine on the vSphere host. This allows backup processing to be offloaded from ESX servers and reduces costs by allowing each vSphere host to run more virtual machines.
Qualifying VMware Ready Data Protection Products
The VMware Ready Data Protection program is designed for products that provide data protection for virtualized environments. This includes:
- Backup and restore of virtual machines
- Backup and restore of specific virtual machine data
- Backup and restore of applications running in virtual machines
- Virtual machine replication
- Physical to virtual or virtual to physical machine conversion
The VMware Ready Data Protection program is open to VMware Technology Alliance Partners enrolled at the Elite level. See the TAP program page for more information.
Partners interested in the VMware Ready Data Protection Program or customers with questions are invited to contact VMware’s Technology Alliance Program Team at tapalliance@vmware.com
