PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

BarracudaBackup 490

Thisdedicatedapplianceis

quicktodeployandeasyto

manage,withjoined-uplocal

andcloudbackupservices

SCORE

PRICEApplianceand1yrupdates,£6,1 19

excVATfrombarracuda.com

M

anaginga totalbusiness

backupstrategycanseema

dauntingresponsibility.

Barracuda’sBackupappliancescould

betheperfectanswer:theyprovide

anall-in-onesolution,withon-site

backup,cloudbackup,site-to-site

replicationandfulldatarestoration

servicesallmanagedfroma single

browser-basedportal.

TheBackup 490 appliancewe

testedcomeswithfourhot-swap4TB

WDEnterprise SATA drives,which

hadbeenpreconfiguredina RAID1 0

array.Barracudarecommendsa

maximumbackupcapacityof6TB;

thismightseemsmall,especiallyfor

theprice,buttheapplianceperforms

block-leveldeduplication,sothis

translatestoa muchgreateramount

ofbacked-updata.

Asidefromcapacity,therearefew

limitationstothinkabout.Theprice

getsyouunlimitedprotection,with

noneedtopayextraforclientor

applicationlicences;agentsoftwareis

freetodownload forWindows,Linux

andmacOS, whileappprotection

coversVMware,Hyper-VandNutanix

virtualisationhosts,plusMicrosoft

ExchangeandSQLServer.

minutesonwhicheverdaysyouwish;

tosavespace,Barracudaemploysan

“incrementalforever”system,which

runsonefullbackupfollowedby

regularincrementals.

Ifyouwanttomakeaone-off

backupofindividualitems,that’s

possible,too.Youcanbrowseall

registeredsystemsfromtheportal

andselectspecificdrives,files,

folders,VMs,SQLdatabasesor

Exchangedatastorestobebackedup.

Formessage-levelbackupsin

Exchangeyou’llneedtocreatea

dedicatedserviceaccountandrun

ashellcommandtodefine

impersonationrights–butthis

processisclearlydocumented.

Thereareplentyofwaystorestore

data,too.Youcanselectaclient

systemintheportalorfromthe

appliance’slocalwebconsole,choose

abackuprevision,pickwhatyou

wanttorecoveranddecidewhereto

sendit.Anyfilesstoredinthecloud

canalsobedownloaded

directlytothesystem

fromwhichyou’re

accessing thewebportal.

A finalfeatherinthe

Backup 4 90’shatis

bare-metalrestoration.

Justdownloadthe

recoverykitfromtheportal andyou

canfullyrestorea deadsystem

directlyfromtheappliance.TheLive

Bootfeatureallows VMware and

Hyper-VVMstoberecoveredand

migrated backtothe host,while

Barracuda’sCloudLiveBootadds

quick-accessdisaster-recovery

servicesbybooting VMsinthecloud.

Inshrt,Barracuda’sBackup 490

isa comletedata-protectionsolution

ina boxcapableofhandlingboth

on-preisesandcloudbackup,plus

site-to-itereplicationifneeded.It’s

easytomanage,andwhile

thepurchasepricemight

seemoffputting,the

inclusionofunlimited

clientandapplication

support,nottomentiona

decentchunkof storage,

makesitmuchbettervalue

thanitmightappear.

“Youcanbackupall

sourcesaccordingtoa

globaltimetable,orset

schedulesforgroupsof

systemsorsinglehosts”

Theonlycorefeaturethat’snot

includediscloudstorage:thisisan

optionaladd-on,withaone-year

subscriptioncosting£2, 598 for

unlimitedcapacity.Theprice

includesBarracuda’sEnergize

Updatesservice,whichprovides

protectionfromviruses,spywareand

otheronlinethreats.Youcanextend

hardwareprotection,too,withan

InstantReplacementsubscription

costing£1,153peryear.

Installationiseasy.Togetstarted

wesimplyhadtoplugalocalmonitor

andkeyboardintotheappliance,then

configureitsnetworksettings.We

werethenabletologintotheCloud

Controlportal,andprovidethe

Backup490’sserialnumberto

registerittoouraccount.

Clientsoftware,meanwhile,can

beinstalleddirectlyfromthe portal;

withthisinplace,wewereableto set

ourtest systemsasbackupsourcesby

eitherhostnameorIPaddress.Cloud

backupscanbeenabledbyselectinga

singletickbox,andifyou’vesetupa

remoteapplianceintheportalfor

replication,you canenablethiswith

anothertick.SecuringourHyper-V

systemssimplyinvolvedinstalling

theagentonthehost,whileour

VMwareservers andVMswereadded

byprovidingadmincredentials.

Thereareplentyofbackup

schedulingoptionstochoosefrom.

Youcanopttobackupallsources

accordingtoa globaltimetable,or

setdifferentschedulesfor groups

ofsystemsorsinglehosts.Schedules

canrepeat as oftenasevery 15

ABOVETheappliance

supportsbothcloud

managementandits

ownlocalwebconsole

LEFTBarracuda’s

CloudControlportal

providesallthekey

backupinformation

RECOMMENDED

SPECIFICATIONS

1Urackchassis4x4TBWD

SATAhot-swapdisks(RAID10)

GigabitEthernet2xUSB 2

VGABarracudaCloudControl

portal,browsermanagement

OPTIONSInstantreplacement:

£1,153for1yrUnlimitedcloud

storage:£2,598for1yr(excVAT)