VM Explorer (Support Tip): VCenter 6.7 update 1 supported now

[MichaelFunke]

In case you require support for VCenter 6.7u1, please request the VM Explorer hotfix 7.1..2 from suppport.

A support case can be logged via three different ways:

Online web portal:
https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com/

Phone:
https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com/web/softwaresupport/support-contact-information

Chat:
https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com/web/softwaresupport/chat-language-selection

[MichaelFunke]

At the current point in time we (the support organization) did not get any info about future release dates.

[james_Ash]

This has been posted in the Tips forum

Due to the high demand on information on this topic, I would like to provide the current state of facts:

• VM Explorer 7.1 will be under committed support until Jul 31, 2021 and supports ESXi 6.7u1 when the 7.1.002 hotfix is installed.
  
  
• At the current point in time there is a commitment from product management that future releases of ESXi and Hyper-V will be supported.
  
  
• In general, we do not make any "Forward-Looking statements" with regards to release dates.
  

[james_Ash]

Any news on U2 and U3 patches ?

[james_Ash]

V7 is now available

when or will this be available please

[sactobob]

In parallel a license exchange program is in place. This allows a license swap form VM Explorer to Data Protector Express:
More info:https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com/doc/KM03437268

This product does not look anything like VME, it's not a VMware backup product, but more of a Windows server level backup?  What's the use of offering a License exchange for something that doesn't even do what the original application does? It's like telling me we'll replace your drill with a hammer. Am I missing something? The product description I found seems clear, this isn't a Hyper-V/Vmware backup product.

Data Protector Express makes backup to disk and tape very easy and also supports backup to CD/DVD media. Powerful features such as D2Any2Any backup, Mailbox level protection for Exchange 2010, Bare Metal Network Disaster Recovery and self-tuning parallel data streams minimize backup and recovery times without compromising ease of use. Protection is delivered for file servers, application servers and Windows XP, Vista and 7 machines.

[HoloBolo0815]

Usually they buy a competitive product to put it EOL in order to get rid of it and replace it with their own.

Now if what you're saying is correct and they don't have anything appropriate to replace it with then I'm wondering where the logic is here.

There are only more and more questions and no answers. That alone is a good reason to look somewhere else.

[MichaelFunke]

Data Protector is a backup software for physical and virtual environments.

Data Protector Express is the same software, but with a license that allows only backup of virtual environments.

If you would like to understand it from the technical side, please see the product documenation:
https://docs.microfocus.com/DP

Indepenent from the license swap, the product gets an instant-on (trial) licenses when it is first installed that is good for 90 days and offers the full functionality of the product. Feel free to do a test installation.

[Daniel Krisciunas]

You are absolutely right.

I am a VM Explorer customer since the first release of Trilead, more then ten years ago.

Now they end of life a very very good working backup product.

We tried Data Protector Express. Just forget it. missing features like "shutdown vm before", backup every VM to its own directory (we use IBM TSM in backend for DR). I am not willing to add another DR Solution.

For setting up Data Protector you need a Consultant.

We are now evaluating other products, Data Protector Express is an absolut NoGo.

[sactobob]

I really am unclear about this new product mentioned and trying to migrate us to it. Even the Google search page I land on (https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c03037261&docLocale=en_US) has ZERO mention of vmware as a backup strategy.

Plus, similar to a previous post, I've been with Trilead for years. I went with them because their fixed based pricing was extremely reasonable vs. this crazy new license methodology based on hosts, number of CPUs, and virtual servers that makes most(ALL) backup platforms out of reach for a small business.

My yearly subscription costs for Trilead, which the original owners guaranteed me would never change (until they were sold!) is just under $600 a year.  I have a mixed environment of 2 HyperV hosts and 7 Vmware ESXI servers(some on free version). All hosts have 2 CPUs and running about 50 virtual servers. Can you tell me if DPE supports this and are you going to keep my Trilead pricing? And if not what is the price? 

[HoloBolo0815]

@everyone If you look at something almost as sophisticated as Trilead VMX you should check out Uranium Backup. With VSqaure Backup as an alternative (asked them a few questions but never received a response, so not going with it). No crazy licensing plans there.

[sactobob]

Nice Urainium backup gold looks like it's the way to go. I'll download and trial. Last time I tried an alternative, the backup for reason took hours and hours. I discovered it was from the app making 1000s of 1024K chunks for each image. It was horrible. Hopefully this one works! Thank you for the research. 🙂

On a side note, the latest VM Explorer also did something to HyperV backups. Backups that used to take about 2-3 hours now go 10+ hours, making it nearly useless. I never bothered to open a ticket about that, figuring I'm going elsewhere anyways...

[sactobob]

Still looking for an alternative. The Uranium one isn't going to work. I need a backup solution that will let me backup and/or replicate a VM to a datastore. I have a 15tb appliance that is mounted as a datastore across all my hosts. I use VM Explorer to backup to that which allows me to quickly spin up backed up VMs if I lose a host. All the ones I've found so far only back up to a local HD(or cloud), which isn't going to work for me. Any others?