A cost‐effective way to “bullet‐proof” your data
Full Features & Benefits

aSentry StorSite is a comprehensive BDR solution for Windows servers. Responsible business owners want a powerful Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution. You want a way to deliver a highly reliable, highly scalable service that won’t cost thousands of dollars to get started or hamstring top talent with routine activities. Problem solved. With no upfront fees or license purchases, aNetworks provides a comprehensive BDR program in days, not months like some other offerings require.

•   Frequent backups •   Optional off‐site data storage •   Multiple restore points •   Standby server capabilities •   Advanced restoration options       (file‐ and folder‐level restorations) with       Exchange message and mailbox recovery •   Bare‐metal restorations to dissimilar hardware

Key Features
With its Instant Virtualization capability, in less than 30 minutes, aNetworks’ unique network attached storage (NAS) device can be configured to function as a standby server. This unique device also can replace management‐intensive, error‐prone tape backups while providing much more. This new NAS‐based technology performs data backup at the block level where the actual 1s and 0s are captured from the hard drive, essentially eliminating failures related to open files. Because block‐level data is raw information that’s independent of file structure formatting, it’s the most efficient way to write to a disk. Database applications such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server transfer data in blocks without having to worry if files are open and in use. Backups are performed as frequently as every 15 minutes, providing clients with numerous restoration points compared to traditional tape backups. You have the option to send your data from the local NAS device to high availabilty, redundant off‐site co‐location facilities.

Securely Link Every Operating System Component
The NAS device can be configured to backup multiple servers by partition or logical drive. You may select a server volume or partition which will be backed up. The backup does not allow for file or folder level exclusions because a snapshot of the entire partition is taken at the block level on the hard drive. In order to take advantage of the standby server function, the operating system drive must be selected. The data backup can also be scheduled to run during specific times of the day.

NAS User Interface
Once the initial configuration and provisioning of the NAS device is finished, the NAS User Interface (UI) will appear. This is the interface that will appear each time that you logon to the NAS device. The NAS UI allows you to perform administrative functions for the NAS device and the backups.

Base Image
The first backup taken of a server is the base image. The base image is an exact, complete copy of the currently used space on the server. The base image is taken for each volume (or partition) on the server. Once the base image completes, all future backups are incremental.

Base Image Transfer by External Drive
The base image files on the NAS device must be transferred to an external drive. The drive is then shipped to aNetworks co‐location facility where the base image files are copied to aNetworks’s Storage Farm (SF). The drive transfer process can significantly reduce the time involved with transferring large initial base images to aNetworks colocation facility. This drive will be returned to you for reuse. Please allow for a three‐week turn around.
If you are making your own personal copy of the base image to an external drive and do not plan to send the drive to aNetworks, you will need to copy the base image and, optionally, any incremental backup using external drive copy.

Incremental Forever Methodology
After the base image is created the incremental take place at the frequency that you select in your support portal. If you selected 24/7 backups at 15‐minute incremental, that will create 96 incremental files each day. If you selected one‐hour incremental, that will create 24 incremental files each day. All these incremental backups will be saved on the NAS but only one image is pushed off‐site daily to the co‐location facility.

Synthetic Incremental Backups
Incremental files are collapsed into synthetic increments (basically a larger incremental file). This is done to ensure chain integrity and to speed up restorations. The fewer hops from the current point‐in‐time back to the base image, the faster your restoration will be.

Recovery Options
Recovering files and folders is a simple process where the entire partition is mounted as a volume on the NAS device. The files can then be copied to the destination location. Our software application enables your engineers to restore files, folders, and SQL tables and databases. Additionally, we provide a utility that allows you to restore Exchange mailboxes, messages, or even attachments.

Standby Server Using Instant Virtualization
The NAS device has the ability to create a standby of a failed server by creating a virtual image of the failed server on the NAS. This unique ability is due to the fact that the virtualization engine natively understands the backup images as a hard drive allowing a failed server to be virtualized within minutes. The “virtualized” server retains the same IP address, NetBIOS name, MAC address and application state of the original server. Once virtualized, the standby server will resume the backup schedule that was in effect before the failure.