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Originally published at Internet.comRetrospect (formerly Dantz Retrospect or EMC Dantz Retrospect, and now part of EMC's Insignia product lineup) is a backup and restore platform targeted primarily to small-to-medium sized businesses. Multiple versions of the product are available from the vendor, including those protecting single or multiple servers, Microsoft Small Business Server, or facilitating disk-to-disk backups. Optional add-on modules provide functionality such as support for open file backups, advanced tape support, disaster recovery options, and protection specifically tailored to MS Exchange or SQL Server environments.
The main portion of the latest version of the product is deployed to Windows servers, with clients providing for the backup of networked client machines on multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, NetWare, and Mac. A prior version of the product is also available for Mac servers, with support for Windows, Linux, and Mac client machines. (Note: this description is based on the Windows business version of Retrospect; not all described features may be available in all versions. Visit the vendor's Web site for full feature comparisons between versions).
In addition to backing up all files on the local and networked servers, Retrospect provides client support allowing for networked clients to be backed up to the central server, as well. The platform backs up all operating systems and settings, device drivers, and applications and their settings; and additionally supports scheduled runs (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly) as well as when-available client backups.
Additional features include:
- Automatic recognition of supported backup devices
- Automated update for client components via the network
- Filters that allow for the inclusion or exclusion of files, folders, or data types
- E-mail notifications for successful or unsuccessful backups
- Incremental backups, push-button backups, and "synthetic backups," wherein a full backup is created from existing backup data
- Ability to recognize and store only once duplicated files
- Support for protection of up to 4M files per volume
- Support for compression
- Support for the encryption (128-bit or 256-bit AES) of stored data
- Point-in-time file restores
- Disk "grooming" features, which allow for the automated deletion of older backed up data during a backup or performed on a fixed schedule
Separately available options provide bare metal recovery and disaster recovery options (a boot CD can be created from existing backup data); and specialized support for MS Exchange or MS SQL Server.
New features in the latest Retrospect release include user-initiated restores (via a browser-based tool); the ability to read a disk-based backup while it is being written, facilitating operations such as transfers-to-tape or user-initiated restores while a disk-backup is in process; automated deployment of Windows clients through SMS, AD Group Policies, or other tools; enhanced performance when backing up Windows File Servers; and automatic login of Windows clients.
Retrospect is available now. MSRP for the Single-Server Windows Edition is $699 (backs up one server and unlimited clients), for Multi-Server, $1,499 (supports backup of unlimited clients and servers), for SBS Standard, $499, for SBS Premium, $749, and for the Disk-to-Disk version (protects a single Microsoft Windows server performing backups to 1394/USB2 hard drives or CD/DVDs; licenses can be purchased for additional network servers/clients), $399. Also available is a Professional Edition (targeted to home or SOHO users) for $129.
Visit the EMC Insignia Web site for further information.Author: EITPlanet Staff
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