Enterprise environments typically have more machines, more data, and more personnel than individual workstations, and these may cause more potential risks – 96% of businesses have experienced at least one major cause of data loss: human error, system crashes, hardware failures, virus attacks, power outages, fires, and natural disasters.
The damage caused by data loss in a business is not only in the data itself but also in the consequent financial and even reputational damage.
The surest way to prevent these situations is to choose an effective enterprise backup solution that establishes a high-availability, high-performance data protection strategy.
Difficulty in choosing an enterprise backup solution for start-ups
As there are usually more devices to protect and higher requirements for business continuity, the threshold for enterprise backup products on the market is often higher – both in terms of price and technology.
For small businesses with limited budgets, or even those without specialist technical staff, such a backup software may not be the best choice. Instead, some may want to find affordable or even free backup solutions.
We know that there are usually various types of data in an enterprise: the most common are computer files (physical machines), and others may be databases, virtual machines, etc. depending on the type of business and the stage of development.
For physical machines with Windows operating systems, there are some built-in backup utilities with a full range of features, such as Windows Backup and Restore & File History for Windows Client OS, and Windows Server Backup for Windows Servers. If you are not satisfied with it, you can also find some third-party free backup programs.
Even for Microsoft SQL database backup, there are options for built-in SQL Server Management Studio. However, the same functionality is lacking in the virtual machine area. You may know snapshots for VMware (and checkpoints for Hyper-V), but they are only for short-term VM protection before dangerous operations, not long-term backup. Keeping snapshots for too long will also affect VM performance.
All these factors make virtual machine backup a difficult area for enterprise data protection. Putting all this together, you would probably like to try a free solution that can cover your basic needs.
Best enterprise backup software for VMs in small business
AOMEI Cyber Backup is an enterprise-oriented backup software developed by AOMEI, a well-established brand in the backup industry. Just like their older products, AOMEI Cyber Backup offers solid backup features while maintaining its usual simplicity.
It enables you to backup VMware as well as Hyper-V virtual machines from a central console, saving you much time and administrative cost. Here are some points I like about it.
Free to use
Rather than a free demo, AOMEI offers a permanent free version for download and use. It covers most of the basic features and supports up to 10 virtual machines of VMware or Hyper-V (not tied to any host) without a time limit.
If the business grows rapidly and the number of VMs exceeds 10, you could also upgrade at a very affordable price. It provides flexible plans whether for a yearly subscription or perpetual license, customized VMs or unlimited.
Centralized web console
After logging into a simple web console, you can add VMware (ESXi host or vCenter) or Hyper-V devices to back up and restore virtual machines without installing agents on them.
Its intuitive interface and interaction allow anyone to set up a backup system and monitor daily tasks smoothly.
Automated backup and cleanup
For those virtual machines running a critical business, it’s not recommended to back them up during working hours. Instead, you can create backup schedules to run the backup during breaks.
It’s also recommended to create a retention policy that can keep backups up to date and remove obsolete versions automatically.
In-place or out-of-place recovery
Simply restore the virtual machine from any backup point (full, incremental, or differential) to the original or new location. For example, you can create an identical VM from any backup version and restore it to another host or vCenter.
Overall, AOMEI Cyber Backup is a considerable enterprise backup software for start-up businesses and non-profit organizations. It may not be the most feature-rich on the market at this stage, but its cost-effectiveness and ease of operation significantly lower the barrier to enterprise data backup, making it simple for anyone to protect virtual environments.
According to the features plan shown in the product, it will also support more functions in the future, such as SQL database and physical machine backup. Looking forward to its future development.
