As of version 5.4.2 AppAssure added ability to archive your restore points to the amazon S3. We were about to deploy a replication core on EC2, for increase backup availability when we stumbled on S3 archiveing.
AppAssure 5.4.2: The latest release of Dell Sofware’s all-in-one backup, replication and recovery software, AppAssure 5.4.2 includes myriad enhancements that broaden platform support while improving cloud and archive functionality. Notable new features include:
- Cloud access management — AppAssure now features a simple account management interface that allows accounts to be added and managed for each cloud provider, thus enabling the user’s cloud to also become a target for archive activities.
- Cloud archive and import — AppAssure 5.4.2 improves archive by adding a number of cloud storage targets, including Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace and OpenStack-based platforms. Additionally, users now can import cloud archives back into their AppAssure repositories with just a few clicks.
- Scheduled and incremental archive — The newest release includes the ability to create recurring scheduled archives on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, as well as the option to update existing archives with incremental changes by storing only the changes since the last archive, eliminating the need to create a full archive each time.
- Expanded platform support — AppAssure 5.4.2 delivers support for Hyper-V Generation 2 Virtual Machines, as well as for VMware VM Hardware version 10. In addition, the new release has achieved FIPS 140-2 Certification, a security standard that indicates AppAssure is now using government-certified encryption.
It is extremely easy to setup, and it has scheduling option so you could safely blast archive to S3 during non-business hours. I am not sure about restore yet, we will have to test it in a month or so during schedule drills. I will report how easy it is, and how lang it could take.
