NetJapan ActiveImage - Hyper-V Enterprise

Overview

ActiveImage Protector 3.5
for Hyper-V Enterprise / for Hyper-V with SHR
 
 
 
Summary of ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V Enterprise / for Hyper-V with SHR
ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V provides hot-image backups of the Hyper-V host volume along with all guest virtual machines. ActiveImage Protector’s first-of-its-kind ReZoom technology lets you restore individual virtual machines instead of having to restore the entire volume. In addition, the new SHR feature can quickly start-up a VM from an image backup during the restore of the VM. ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V can restore that virtual machine to a different Hyper-V server (even to dissimilar hardware). See the differences between two edition in the list.
 
 

New!!
 Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V and Hyper-V Server (the free standalone hypervisor) are now supported. New features include incremental backup of ReFS volumes and P2V conversion of ActiveImage Protector image files to the VHDX VM file format.

The ReZoom feature is now available for the Windows 8.x Hyper-V client, enabling you to quickly restart a crashed system on a Windows 8 desktop if a server is not ready.

  Optimised for Hyper-V virtual environments
The Hyper-V VSS writer enables the backup of virtual machines and their VSS-aware applications.
         
Seamless Hot Restore (SHR):
In the event a virtual machine crashes or fails, ActiveImage Protector's SHR feature can quickly boot it as a live virtual machine from a backup image while simultaneously restoring the same virtual machine to the Hyper-V environment in the background.		   ReZoom feature
ActiveImage Protector's ReZoom feature can restore one or more virtual machines directly from a Hyper-V host's backup image, to the same or different Hyper-V server, even on dissimilar hardware.
         
Inline Data Deduplication Compression (IDDC) :
ActiveImage Protector is the first image backup solution to offer software based in-line data deduplication. IDDC improves compression by excluding redundant blocks of data, resulting in significant reductions in both backup image file sizes and storage space requirements. 		  Failover Clustering with Hyper-V
CSVFS - Smart Sector backup and restore is available.
         
Easy-To-Use Wizards
The wizards included in ActiveImage Protector's Linux and WinPE based boot environments make recovery easy, even for non-experts. The boot environment is only available with ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V Enterprise. 		  Virtual environment migration:
Supports V2P, V2V,and P2V. Migrate physical servers including Windows Server 2000 & 2003 to a virtual environment (P2V) with minimal labor.(Enterprise only).
 
 
Features

ActiveImage Protector 3.5
for Hyper-V Enterprise / for Hyper-V with SHR
 
 
 
Summary of ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V Enterprise / for Hyper-V with SHR
ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V provides hot-image backups of the Hyper-V host volume along with all guest virtual machines. ActiveImage Protector’s first-of-its-kind ReZoom technology lets you restore individual virtual machines instead of having to restore the entire volume. In addition, the new SHR feature can quickly start-up a VM from an image backup during the restore of the VM. ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V can restore that virtual machine to a different Hyper-V server (even to dissimilar hardware). See the differences between two edition in the list.
 
 
Features for Hyper-V Environment
• Seamless Hot Restore (SHR)
In the event of a VM crash or failure SHR can quickly start up a VM from an image backup file while simultaneously restoring the same VM to the Hyper-V environment in the background. SHR provides VM recovery with near-zero down time and without impacting production.
   
• ReZoom™ Technology - Restore a single virtual machine
ReZoom™ Technology is found only in ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V. With the ReZoom Wizard, you can restore a single virtual machine instead of restoring the entire volume. ReZoom technology also empowers you to restore the image to a different server – or even dissimilar hardware – quickly and efficiently. This capability has the potential to dramatically minimize downtime, as your mission-critical servers are back up and running fast – even if they have to be restored to a different machine.
   
• Failover-clustering with Hyper-V - Support for CSVFS Backup
ActiveImage Protector has built in support for backing up clustered virtual environments without the need for software agents present on each virtual machine.
   
• Multiple Destination ReZoom (MDR)
When restoring multiple virtual machines, you can select the destination folders for each virtual machine being restored.
   
• VM Auto-Start Option
You can configure additional settings for ReZoom’ed virtual machines or host server settings before booting up the virtual machines.
  Backup Features

• Inline Data Deduplication Compression (IDDC)
ActiveImage Protector is the first backup product to offer software based in-line data deduplication and compression. IDDC improves compression by excluding redundant blocks of data, resulting in a significant reduction in the size of backup image files.
   
• Fast backup with Smart Sector technology
Smart Sector technology enables fast backup of only the used sectors, resulting in a significant reduction in disk space usage requirements.
   
• Fast incremental backup
To keep track of the sector changes, ActiveImage Protector uses a proprietary filter driver. Incremental backups include only sectors that have changed since the last full or incremental backup was made. This reduces both processing time and storage needs.
   
• Reconciling Function (Continuous incremental backup)
The reconciling feature continuously creates incremental backup images even if a previous incremental backup image is found to be corrupted or deleted.
   
• Encryption / compression of backup image files
Password protection and AES 256-bit encryption mean your backup files are safe and secure.
   
• Bad Sector Skip function
The Bad Sector Skip function intelligently continues to run the backup process even when unreadable or bad sectors are encountered.
   
• Multiple Disk Backup in One Image
Backing up Multiple Disks into one Image enhances Inline Data Deduplication Compression.
   
• Command line execution
Most of ActiveImage Protector's features can be used by specifying parameters through the command line interface.
   
• Save your backups to any storage location
Lets you save your backups to any available storage location, including network shares, USB, RAID or your cloud storage location.
 
 
Backup Options
• Off-site Replication
Off-site replication can prove to be valuable in the event of natural disaster or system failures or security breaches. In addition to shared network drives and FTP locations, WebDav folders are now a destination point for replicating backups.
   
• Automatic / scheduled backup
ActiveImage Protector's Wizard delivers multiple scheduling options for backups.
   
• Throttling function
The throttling function adjusts system resource usage and network bandwidth usage priorities to ensure ActiveImage Protector's fast backups don’t interfere with other mission critical processes.
   
• Disk-to-Disk Copy
Copy entire volumes and disk drives from one hard drive to another - even to dissimilar hardware.. (Enteprise only)
  Recovery Features

• High-speed and secure restoration of sector-based imaging backup
High-speed and secure restoration of sector-based imaging backup
   
• Fast bare metal recovery (BMR)
The Advanced Bare Metal Recovery (BMR) feature dramatically speeds up disaster recovery with ActiveImage Protector 's lighting-fast recovery engine. (Enteprise only)
   
• Linux based Recovery Environment (ActiveImage Protector Boot Environment=AIPBE)
ActiveImage Protector Boot Environment(AIPBE) of ActiveImage Protector Linux edition is provided. Using the recovery environment booted from the product DVD, disaster recovery and cold backup are available.(Enteprise only)
   
• AIPBE builder
Windows PE-based boot environment builder using Windows AIK and Windows 8.1 ADK is provided. (Enteprise only)
   
• Shrink on the fly
Shrink/Restore and Shrink/Replication of NTFS volume are now supported. For example, NTFS volume may be restored to alternate hard disk which does not have sufficient available space. (Enteprise only)
   
• Pre-Boot AIPBE
Pre-Boot AIPBE feature allows booting AIPBE from hard disk without requiring optical media; enabling the restoration of backup images from a Surface Pro tablet PC. (Enteprise only)
 
 
Virtual environment support
• Virtual environment support
Migration of V2P, V2V, P2P and P2V are supported.
   
• A.I.R.* (Architecture Intelligent Restore)
Architecture Intelligent Restore (A.I.R.) provides for the streamlined restore of images in virtual to virtual (V2V) or virtual to physical (V2P) environments.
   
• Conversion to VHDX VM file format
Hyper-V VHD/VHDX support for Physical to Virtual conversion.
  SnapShot Driver

• Support for Microsoft’s standard snapshot driver (Volsnap)
No additional driver is required so that users can operate the program without being annoyed with conflict among the drivers.
   
• Support for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) aware applications
This allows for the safe backups of VSS-supported applications (SQL, Exchange, IIS, Oracle, etc.), even while the applications are active.
   
• Point-in-time multi-volume snapshot
Multi-volume snapshots enable you to backup and restore data on multiple volumes.
 
 
Image file management
• File Consolidation and Unification management
File Consolidation and Unification Management allows multiple incremental backups (Consolidation) or multiple incremental snap-shots along with the full base image (Unification) to be combined for long term data retention and reduced storage space.
   
• Restore single or multiple files / folders (Mount Image file feature)
Mount Image File feature facilitates the retrieval of individual files from a backup image. An image file can be mounted as writable, allowing changes to be made to the files extracted from the image.
  Remote Control
• Managing backups on remote machines
ActiveImage Protector allows you remote backup management over your network.
   
• E-Mail Notification
When backup image fails or successfully competes, ActiveImage Protector can send E-Mail notification using SSL/TSL such as Office 365 to a pre-set email address.
 
 
Others
• Support for Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 and Windows 8.1/8.
Supports for Storage space, CSVFS Volumes (Cluster Shared Volume File System) , ReFS(Resilient File System) and 4K sector disk .Incremental backup of ReFS is available now.
   
• Support for Windows 8 Client Hyper-V
The live recovery of VM is available on Windows 8, so you can quickly restart the system on Windows 8 machine when the server is not ready.
   
• Support for the latest uEFI motherboards
Backup and restore of GPT disks in a uEFI boot environment are supported as well as large capacity (over 2TB) disks.
   
• Support for RAID configuration
RAID configuration backup and restoration are supported
   
• Fast technical support
Fast technical support. Get answers fast with ActiveImage Protector’s Live local based support.
   
• Easy-to-use ActiveImage Protector Wizards
ActiveImage Protector's console Wizards provide automated backup and recovery management, even for non-experts.
   
 
 
 
Resource

ActiveImage Protector 3.5
for Hyper-V Enterprise / for Hyper-V with SHR
 
 
Summary of ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V Enterprise / for Hyper-V with SHR
ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V provides hot-image backups of the Hyper-V host volume along with all guest virtual machines. ActiveImage Protector’s first-of-its-kind ReZoom technology lets you restore individual virtual machines instead of having to restore the entire volume. In addition, the new SHR feature can quickly start-up a VM from an image backup during the restore of the VM. ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V can restore that virtual machine to a different Hyper-V server (even to dissimilar hardware). See the differences between two edition in the list.
 
 
for Hyper-V Enterprise/with SHR

Brochures
• Datasheet PDF

Product Summary
• ActiveImage Protector’s Practical Operation Seminar / PDF

Comparison Chart
• The differences between "for Hyper-V Enterprise" vs "for Hyper-V with SHR"		   ActiveImage Protector (common to all editions)

Brochures
• General Catalog / PDF (12 Pages)

Comparison Chart
• ActiveImage Protector comparison chart shows the differences among each ActiveImage Protector’s editions / PDF

• Comparison of Compression ratio, Backup / Restore Process Time (ActiveImage Protector vs Competitors)

• The differences between ActiveImage Protector and vmGuardian

• License Policy for ActiveImage Protector and vmGuardian

Case Studies
• ActiveImage Protector 3.5 Virtual Edition Case study of PCNet / PDF (2 pages)

In the Press
• Interview article on the magazine;NetJapan's sale director is talking about the advantages of using ActiveImage Protector / PDF (2 pages)
 
 
System Requirements

ActiveImage Protector 3.5
for Hyper-V Enterprise / for Hyper-V with SHR
 
 
Summary of ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V Enterprise / for Hyper-V with SHR
ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V provides hot-image backups of the Hyper-V host volume along with all guest virtual machines. ActiveImage Protector’s first-of-its-kind ReZoom technology lets you restore individual virtual machines instead of having to restore the entire volume. In addition, the new SHR feature can quickly start-up a VM from an image backup during the restore of the VM. ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V can restore that virtual machine to a different Hyper-V server (even to dissimilar hardware). See the differences between two edition in the list.
 
 
Hardware
CPU:
Pentium 4 or newer

Main Memory (RAM):
768MB (1024MB recommended)

Hard Disk Space:
250MB of available disk space

DVD-ROM drive:
Required to boot the recovery environment
  OS

Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 configured as Hyper-V host
Windows Server 2008 R2 configured as Hyper-V host
* PreBoot builder and setup are not supported in the system environment where only Server Core is configured. Windows 8 or 8.1 with Hyper-V set up on physical server
* Only “Restore Virtual Machines” feature is provided.
* If Desktop Edition is already set up, you cannot install the program. Hyper-V Server 2012 and 2012 R2, Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 provided for free
* Hyper-V Server does not support PreBoot environment builder and setup.
* Please run AipControl.exe to use command line interface on local host or remote host connected from ActiveImage console to perform operation such as backup tasks.
* Please run AipRezoom.exe directly from installation folder to execute “Restore Virtual Machines” feature.

Enterprise only:
* Please run WinPeBuilder.exe directly from installation folder to create ISO image of ActiveImage Protector Boot Environment (Windows PE).
 
 
Supported File Systems

Enterprise:
FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS, CSVFS
* Support for the above file systems on MBR and GPT disks
* Support for the above file systems on virtual disks created in Storage Space configured on Windows Server 2012 or later OS

SHR:
NTFS (Hot Imaging), ReFS is not supported
* Support for hot image backup only
* Does not support the CSV of Windows Server 2008 R2
* Support for the above file systems on MBR and GPT disks
* Support for the above file systems on virtual disk created in Storage Space configured on Windows Server 2012 or later OS
  Storage Media

Parallel ATA, Serial ATA (including eSATA), SCSI, SAS, iSCSI, SAN (Fibre Channel), USB, FireWire (IEEE 1394), network shared folders compatible with SMB/CIFS file sharing protocol (shared folders of Windows OS and Samba), virtual hard disk created in Storage Space
* Optical media such as CD-R/DVD-R or a tape device cannot be selected as the direct backup target..
* Please note the following limitations in regard to backing-up a hard disk where the sector size is 512 byte or more.
• Conversion of a physical image to a virtual image is not supported.
• Volume shrinking on Restore or Copy is not supported.
 
 
Others

Intel Itanium (IA-64) based systems are not supported. ž System requirements for Deduplication feature are as follows:
• 2.5% or more of available disk space of the total volume size of the backup source is required as a temporary working space for the Inline Data Deduplication Compression feature. This is in addition to the storage space required for the image backup files.
• CPU: Dual core processor or better (recommended)
• Main Memory: 2GB or more (recommended)
   
 
 
Boot Environments (Enterprise only)
    
 
 
AIPBE(Linux)

Main Memory:
512MB required (768MB or more recommended)

DVD-ROM Drive:
Required to boot from boot environment disk

Others:
* System requirements for Deduplication feature are as follows:
• 2.5% available space or more of the total volume size of backup source is required as the working space to back up using Deduplication Feature other than the storage space for backup image files.
• CPU: Dual core processor or above (recommended)
• Main Memory: 2GB or above (recommended)
* Intel Itanium (IA-64) based systems are not supported.

File System:
FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ReFS, Linux Ext2, Linux Ext3, Linux Ext4, Linux Swap, Linux LVM, VMware VMKCORE, VMware VMFS
* Support for the above file systems on MBR disk and GPT disk
* Does not support volumes on Storage Space configured on Windows 8 or later OS.

Storage Media
ATA, SATA, eSATA, SCSI, USB, FireWire (IEEE 1394), SAS, SAN (Fibre Channel), Network Drive, network shared folders compatible with file sharing SMB/CIFS protocol (shared folders of Windows OS and Samba)
* For further details about how to use iSCSI, please visit here
* SAN (Fibre Channel) is available, only if the driver exists and is loaded on boot environment.
   AIPBE(PE)

Main Memory:
768MB required (1024MB or more recommended)

DVD-ROM Drive:
Required to boot from boot environment disk.

Others:
* To build up the ActiveImage Protector Boot Environment (Windows PE), Windows AIK or Windows ADK is required.
* IT Pro Edition does not support ActiveImage Protector Boot Environment builder.
* System requirements for Deduplication feature are as follows:
• 2.5% or more of available disk space of the total volume size of the backup source is required as a temporary working space for the Inline Data Deduplication Compression feature. This is in addition to the storage space required for the image backup files.
• CPU: Dual core processor or better (recommended)
• Main Memory: 2GB or more (recommended)
* ntel Itanium (IA-64) based systems are not supported.

File System:
FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS, Linux Ext2, Linux Ext3, Linux Ext4, Linux Swap, Linux LVM, VMware VMKCORE, VMware VMFS
* Support for the above file systems on MBR and GPT disks
* The above file systems on virtual disks created in Storage Space configured on ReFS, Windows 8 or later OS are only supported in the environment built using Windows ADK.

Storage Media
ATA, SATA, eSATA, SCSI, USB, FireWire (IEEE 1394), SAS, SAN (Fibre Channel)
Network Drive, network shared folders compatible with SMB/CIFS file sharing protocol (shared folders of Windows OS and Samba)
* Storage media with sector sizes of 512 byte or more are supported only in environments built using Windows ADK.
 

 

 
FAQ

ActiveImage Protector
Affordable, high-speed, sector-based backup solution
 
ActiveImage Protector FAQ (Pre-Sales)
 
Common Questions about ActiveImage Protector (Global)
 
Q1: What is ActiveImage Protector?
ActiveImage Protector is a sector-based disk imaging backup solution developed by NetJapan Inc., who provides technical support and promotes sales of the product. The use of ActiveImage Protector enables users to back up the entire contents in hard disk into an image file. ActiveImage Protector provides Hot Imaging feature allowing to entirely back up running system along with live applications, data, settings, etc. In the event of hard disk failure due to physical corruption of hard disk or virus infection, the created backup file may be used to restore the corrupted system to the state backup was taken. ActiveImage Protector backs up and restores the system at blazing speed and provides its unique Deduplication Compression feature to enhance backup performance and reduce storage requirements by eliminating duplicate data during the backup process and compressing the created image files. For further enhancement of the product’s performance and operability including user-friendly GUI, continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve its capabilities. ActiveImage Protector was first released in 2009 and is now used to protect servers and client PC’s in tens of countries in the world ActiveImage Protector is provided in a variety of editions optimized for virtual environment including VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, physical environments for Windows or Linux server, cluster / FT / HA environment, migration from Physical to Virtual environment, etc.
 
Q2:Tell us about the unique features ActiveImage Protector can provide and what are the advantages over others on the market?
ActiveImage Protector provides unique and advanced features such as Inline Data Deduplication Compression built in every edition, A.I.R. enabling to restore backup image files to virtual / physical machine on a different server and hardware, SHR (Seamless Hot Restore for Hyper-V environment) and ReZoom. Linux edition now provides easy-to-use GUI enabling many of the user controls and options for making full use of ActiveImage Protector. Compared to others on the market, ActiveImage Protector is faster in backup processing, efficiently eliminates duplicate data and compresses image files at high compression rate so that backup storage needs can be reduced significantly without a need of purchasing dedicated storage options. NetJapan Inc., as in-house developed ActiveImage Protector, provides technical support including customization of the products to meet requirements from users and user-friendly detailed support services.
 
Q3:What is Inline Data Deduplication Compression built in ActiveImage Protector?
Inline Data Deduplication Compression feature efficiently eliminates duplicate data blocks during the backup process without a need for purchasing an optional add-on program or dedicated storage options that provide deduplication feature, not only that, no need to do any extra configuration settings or operations. The use of ActiveImage Protector enables users to efficiently eliminate duplicate data and compress image files at high compression ratio so that backup storage needs can be reduced significantly. Also, ActiveImage Protector can complete image file compression within practical process time. For example, assuming that about 1TB (1024GB) is used for virtual environment on Windows 2008 R2 physical machine, the backup volume can be compressed to almost half of original using ActiveImage Protector. For your reference, the backup / restore process speeds are compared in the following table (tested in December, 2013):
Q4: How backup / restore process time differ in case Deduplication feature is used compared to the case Deduplication feature is not used?
They should differ depending on the size of data in backup source. Referring to the above table in Q3, our test results indicate that backup / restore process time using Deduplication feature is 20% - 40% longer than backup / restore process time with standard compression.
 
Q5: What is ReZoom feature built in ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V?
The use of ReZoom function enables you to restore VMs respectively selected from backup image of entire Hyper-V host to the same or a different Hyper-V server. The restored VM may be booted up only after restore process completes, however, multiple VM’s may be selected to collectively restore at a time
 
Q6: What is SHR (Seamless Hot Restore) built in ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V?
SHR feature can quickly start-up a VM from an image backup during the restore of the VM. SHR starts a VM as a seamless virtual machine, while simultaneously restoring the same VM into Hyper-V server instead of waiting for completion of restore process. While running a seamless virtual machine directly from the backup image, restoration of the virtual machines is performed in background by using ReZoom function. In the meantime changes can be made on the virtual disk of the running seamless virtual machine. Once the restore process has completed, SHR transitions the system operation to the fully restored virtual machine. SHR provides near-zero downtime and unparalleled protection of mission critical virtual environments since not only the changes on the seamless virtual machine but also the settings including memory are transitioned to allow seamless and continuous operation.
 
Q7:What are the differences between ActiveImage Protector and vmGuardian?
vmGuardian, backup and disaster recovery solution for VMware virtual environment, was in-house developed and released by NetJapan following ActiveImage Protector. While ActiveImage Protector has to be installed in virtual environment, vmGuardian provides a Web browser interface which guides you through the various configuration settings, scheduling and backup management tasks making it easy to backup and restore your system regardless whether physical or virtual environment. By using Linux based appliance server, vmGuardian allows to back up multiple virtual machines on ESX(i) host into one image. Without a need of installing vmGuardian on virtual machines specified as backup source, and no backup agent required. Every backup / restore operation may be performed using Web browser interface connected to the appliance server. vmGuardian backs up by taking a snapshot of virtual machines via vStorage API. For your reference the differences of main features built in ActiveImage Protector and vmGuardian are listed below:

 
Q8: How can I select a proper edition of ActiveImage Protector?
A proper edition of ActiveImage Protector should be selected depending on your system environment, OS, intended use (migration to virtual environment, etc.)
• Migration of physical machines to virtual environment / move older systems to a new physical or virtual environment. →ActiveImage Protector Virtual Edition or for Hyper-V is recommended.
• Back up Windows physical server or desktop →Server Edition or Desktop Edition is recommended.
• Back up Linux server →Linux Edition is recommended.
• Use ActiveImage Protector on unlimited number of servers to back up with one license →IT Pro Edition is recommended.
• Back up clustered environment →Cluster Edition is recommended.
• Backup VMWare virtual machines without a need for backup agent →vmGuardian is recommended.

Q9:What is your License Policy for ActiveImage Protector (AIP) and vmGuardian?
Please refer to the list below:
 
Q10: What editions are included in Virtual Edition?
ActiveImage Protector Virtual Edition include Windows Server, Desktop and Linux Editions. It’s licensing options provide a "Virtual Environment License" or an "ActiveImage Protector Virtual Edition Cloud License" .
 
Q11: What are the differences between ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V and Virtual Edition?
ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V supports Hyper-V host on Windows Server 2012/2012R2/ 2008 R2. Without a need for installing ActiveImage Protector on each individual virtual machines, you can back up an unlimited number of guest virtual machines entirely and restore a single virtual machine by using ReZoom / SHR feature. (Note)ActiveImage Protector Virtual Edition including Server / Desktop / Linux Edition needs to be installed on the individual virtual machines specified as backup source.

Please refer to the list below:
Q12:What are the differences between ActiveImage Protector for Hyper-V Enterprise and for Hyper-V with SHR?
Both editions support backup of entire Hyper-V in a backup image file. Running a virtual machine directly from the backup image allows continuous operation, while restoration / migration of virtual machines is performed in background. If you are searching for a backup / restore solution which provides protection of the entire Hyper-V host, migration from clustered virtual environment or physical environment to Hyper-V virtual environment, ActiveImage Protector 3.5 for Hyper-V Enterprise is recommended. If you need a backup / restore solution for protection of individual virtual machines, ActiveImage Protector 3.5 for Hyper-V with SHR is recommended.

Please refer to the comparison chart below:
 
Q13: Which edition of ActiveImage Protector do you recommend for migration to virtual environment?
To migrate from physical to virtual environment, Virtual Edition and Hyper-V Enterprise are recommended. To virtualize multiple physical machines of different types of OS’s, you need to purchase only one license for the physical machine specified as migration destination. The same license can be used to for daily backup of the virtual environment. However, if you continue to use ActiveImage Protector on the physical machine specified as migration source, you need to purchase another licensed copy of ActiveImage Protector.


If you need ActiveImage Protector only for migration from physical to virtual environment, but you do not need AIP for daily backup after migration is completed, IT Pro Edition or IT Pro Migration License (valid for 90 days) is recommended.
 
Q14:How do you restrict the user of ActiveImage Protector IT Pro Edition?
You are requested to register two users, one for license manager and the other for “IT support professional” at time of order. One registered “IT support professional” is allowed to use ActiveImage Protector to back up and restore an unlimited number of systems, though one computer at a time, for one year. There is no restriction to the number of computers to use ActiveImage Protector, however, it’s the one ActiveImage Protector boot disk that IT Support Pro should carry. ActiveImage Protector cannot be installed or copied to any computer to use. When you purchase additional licensed copy of “IT support professional”, or for the second license year or further, special pricing schedule can be offered, if applicable.
 
Q15: Does ActiveImage Protector support Xen server?
ActiveImage Protector does not support backup of host environment (Xen server), but supports backup of virtual machines of guest OS if ActiveImage Protector supports the OS.
 
Q16:What are the Remote Management Capabilities which ActiveImage Protector can provide?
A list view of networked clients, push installation, un-installation, upgraded installation are supported. Since flexible installation options (Standard, Agent Only, Console Only) are provided, users are allowed to configure settings depending on the system environment. Since one ActiveImage Protector console is connected to one remote computer and GUI is provided to allow most of the operations which can be performed on local computer. You can also access network shared folders on a remote computer by using Remote File Explorer.
 
Q17:To run ActiveImage Protector, does it require centralized management server?
No, you do not need centralized management server. ActiveImage Protector is built mainly with console and service modules. In most cases, both modules are set up on local machine. However, service module may be installed on backup source machine, while console module may be installed on a machine on which you operate ActiveImage Protector.
 
Q18: Does ActiveImage Protector support backup of a file / folder?
Backup source may be specified for “entire disk” or “a partition”. ActiveImage Protector does not support backup of a file / folder, however, a file / folder may be restored from a backup image file created with AIP. ActiveImage Protector Linux Edition supports backup of [Entire Disk], [Volume], [Volume Group], [LVM System].
 
Q19: Does ActiveImage Protector support backup without installing the program on the machine?
Yes, it does. Without a need for installation of the program, cold imaging backup of the product-DVD booted Windows is supported while the system is stopped.
 
Q20: What is a merit / demerit of cold backup?
1. Merit of cold backup Without installing the program, it enables to create a backup image of the clean system. Since cold backup is performed while Windows system is shut down, the system resource can be used solely for reliable backup processing.
2. Demerit of cold backup Cold backup cannot be scheduled. Since Windows system has to be shut down, cold backup cannot be performed in continuous operation system.
 
Q21: How long does backup process take if backup image files are stored in network storage?
To get a rough idea, gigabit network should provide us with data transfer speed of 60MB/sec. Backup of 200GB data is estimated to take about 50 minutes. For the test results of backup process speed, please refer to the table in above Q3.
 
Q22:If the computer is powered off when backup task is scheduled, what will happen with the scheduled task?
The schedule will be skipped to run the task at the next schedule.
 
Q23: How do you calculate required space in the destination storage to save image files?
Required space is estimated at the minimum as follows: “Space required for one generation set” x (the number of generation sets to keep + 1)
 
Q24:What is the maximum number of generations you can specify to keep with retention policy?
Up to 20 "Generation sets" (a single baseline backup + the incremental backup images) can be managed.
 
Q25: What are the differences between ActiveImage Protector Personal Edition for home users and Desktop Edition for corporate users?
ActiveImage Protector Personal Edition does not provide Remote Management capabilities, since ActiveImage Protector Personal Edition is designed to be used on stand-alone PC. Software user license is not offered and annual support service is not provided for Personal Edition. If you prefer purchasing a license to use ActiveImage Protector, ActiveImage Protector Desktop Edition is recommended.
 
Q26: While ActiveImage Protector is running in background, does it impact on other program’s performance?
While a backup task is running in background, it uses system resources and other program’s processing takes rather longer. If you run disk defragmenter software, the sectors on the disk are continuously changed, therefore, it takes a longer time to perform backup processing. When you run disk defragmenter software or other application which runs at a high CPU priority, it is recommended that the processing is completed before you start backup processing.
 
Q27: Does ActiveImage Protector support RAID environment?
ActiveImage Protector supports RAID, RAID0, RAID1 and RAID5 controllers.
 
Q28:Does ActiveImage Protector save backup files directly to CD/DVD or Blu-ray media?
ActiveImage Protector does not support CD/DVD or Blu-ray as storage media. Depending on the media size, the created image files may be split into small files of predefined size. The split files may be saved in the storage media by using a writing software and used to restore the system.
 
Q29: Does ActiveImage Protector support Serial ATA2 SSD to be specified as backup source or backup target?
Yes, SSD is supported.
 
Q30: Does ActiveImage Protector support backup including hidden area (recovery area)?
Yes, it does.
 
Q31: Can ActiveImage Protector restore to a different size disk? Larger or smaller?
Yes, ActiveImage Protector supports restoring to a new HDD of the same size or larger than the original. The backup volume can be restored to the original size or can be expanded to utilize the larger available disk space. If restoring to a smaller drive, the target disk requires at minimum the total amount of space for the actual data from the backup.
 
Q32: Can ActiveImage Protector take incremental backups without creating a schedule?
No. The Incremental backup feature is one of the configuration options in the schedule setup.
 
Q33: Does ActiveImage Protector support VSS?
ActiveImage Protector supports live backup of the Hyper-V host and guests on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012/2012 R2. On virtual machines where Microsoft Exchange Server or SQL Server supporting the VSS Writer, a snapshot of the OS on the virtual machines is taken to maintain the consistency of the data through the use of the VSS Writer. If the guest OS does not support Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy (Windows 2000 or Linux), or if the OS supports VSS-aware snapshots, the guest OS is automatically placed in a paused state from the moment the live backup starts on the host to the moment the snapshot process is complete. Once completed, the guest OS is automatically released from the paused state and is placed into the previous pre-snapshot state.
 
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ActiveImage Protector
Affordable, high-speed, sector-based backup solution
 

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