Product Review: R1Soft’s CDP Server

I recently evaluated the Windows version of the R1Soft CDP Server 2.0 product. What follows is a basic write-up of the points and features that seemed relevant and important to me. Your needs may be different. For a full description of the product, click here.

For their full documentation set, click here.

Summary:

In my opinion this is a great product for local backup to disk. However, it has no good provisions for rotation of storage devices and offsite backup for disaster recovery. They did give it a go with the Archive module, but I feel that they fell short of the mark with this.

 The only way to get a good offsite backup with full capabilities is to stop the CDP service, back up the CDP Server including its databases, system state, etc. to portable media, and take that offsite. In a disaster, you’ll spend some time recovering your recovery server first.

 Overview:

·         The product is installed on a server that is not one of those that you will be backing up.

·         A disk is defined for the storage container. This disk cannot be rotated with other disks and taken offsite. It must remain present.

·         Agents are installed on server that you wish to back up.

·         Backups are scheduled.

·         E-mail notifications can be scheduled, which include a summary of the history screen.

·         Individual file/folder restore is done via the CDP server console and is pretty easy.

·         Bare Metal restore is accomplished by booting a server from CD and controlling it from the CDP Server console. There are other methods as well, but this is the most straightforward.

·         Archives to Zip files can be scheduled via the console, as long as you are not using encryption. The target for these can be FTP, SFTP, or CIFS.

During my evaluation of the product, there were several points that I could not find information about in their documentation, so I submitted technical support incidents. I just got the answers back from them. I can’t say I’m happy about any of them.

1.       When you “Archive” information from the data storage container, which allows you to send it off to an FTP server or something, you can no longer use the R1Soft graphical interface to work with that archive. From that point it becomes a Zip file that you can manually open up and copy data out of. So we could not use an Archive to do a bare-metal restore, for example.

2.       If you choose to “encrypt” (password protect) your storage, then you cannot schedule an Archive job. The software does not store the encryption password. Archives can then only be manually done.

3.       It is not possible to rotate data storage media. R1Soft writes to a disk as a container to store the data. It makes a database there, and it wants the same database to be available at all times. So the only way to get an offsite backup of the data container as an intact, whole backup that you can use the GUI to restore from is to stop the R1Soft services, back up the entire CDP Server to removable media, and take that offsite. That means restoring from one of these will involve first recovering the R1Soft server from that backup.

4.       The current version of CDP Server (2) involves one central server with agents installed on other servers to back them up. The pricing is excellent. However, version 3, which is due out in 2010, changes this model. Each server will have its own copy of the software and will back up to standalone databases that can be copied around. This will improve the offsite storage capability. The “Enterprise” edition will still have the capability to have a central server with agents for the backup targets. It is unknown at this time what the pricing will be like for either option.

Conclusion:

Within its limits, the R1Soft CDP Server 2.0 product performs well and provides a very cost effective (at this time) local backup solution for companies with multiple servers.

However, the lack of off-site disaster recovery functionality makes this a product that I am unlikely to recommend to customers, unless I have some other independent option for offsite disaster recovery.

Further, the fact that the architecture (and pricing) will change significantly in the next version, due out within a year, gives me pause. I am hesitant to roll out a backup system based on this architecture and pricing, with the probability that in less than a year, I will either have to change the backup model completely, or pay significantly more for the “enterprise” edition that will include the backup model that is being offered at such a good price now.

During my evaluation, when I found something that was not intuitive, or an interface that seemed a little clunky, I reminded myself of the great pricing and the benefits of needing only a lightweight agent installed on each server. Finding out that within a year I will either have to abandon the benefits of the agent or pay a higher cost for an “Enterprise” level product puts those rough edges and minor defects in an entirely different light.

Tags: CDP, Local Backup, R1Soft