Review: Arcserve UDP and Arcserve OneXafe Deliver Comprehensive Data Protection

A recent review of Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP) by LANline caught our eye. Per its website, “LANline’s independent editorial staff stands for high-quality and technological competence, offering IT pros vendor-neutral, objective reporting on all topics relevant to network, IT, and data center infrastructure.” We always appreciate an independent look at our products so we can continue to improve them.

While the review tested UDP 8.1, Arcserve recently released UDP 9.0, further enhancing the solution’s data resilience and security capabilities, among other updates. Here’s an overview of LANline’s assessment.

Setup: Arcserve UDP Plus OneXafe

LANline tested an Arcserve OneXafe 4512 immutable storage appliance along with Arcserve UDP software, which includes Sophos Intercept X Advanced for Server. UDP was installed on a physical Dell server running Windows 2022 for the test. The review notes that the setup was finished in a few minutes, and on first login to the UDP console, a wizard guides you through the basic configuration.

LANline created a new repository for primary backups, then commissioned the OneXafe appliance, noting that it “is typically configured as a secondary backup target to which UDP replicates the primary backup data.”

The reviewers point out that OneXafe encrypts data with AES-256, and a directory share with required permissions was established using the UDP console. Once that was done, Sophos Intercept X Advanced was installed on the UDP backup server and configured via the UDP cloud-based console.

LANline set up a daily scan of the UDP server, with Intercept X providing endpoint protection via malware and threat detection that relies on a deep-learning neural network to prevent malicious intrusions and stop ransomware.

Backup and Restore Capabilities

LANline set up two backup tests to assess the backup and restore capabilities of the Arcserve solution. The first job was an agentless backup of virtual machines (VMs) running on a VMware vSphere 7 ESXi cluster and using a hypervisor-type data protection plan. The second backed up three Windows VMs running on a VMware workstation.

The review notes that once these VMs were added as new nodes in the UDP console, the software automatically installed the UDP agent on the machines.

To replicate the primary backups to the OneXafe appliance, LANline created a directory share in the OneXafe console. They then set up the OneXafe share as an additional data store in the UDP console.

Once finished, LANline could add a replication job to the two backup tests. Arcserve UDP automatically transfers backup data to the OneXafe immutable storage appliance once the primary backup is completed. When the setup was finished, LANline tested the two backup plans and found that they successfully backed up all the VMs.

LANline tested UDP’s recovery capabilities in conjunction with OneXafe by deleting a Windows VM in vCenter and the associated backup data from the UDP (primary) repository. With the UDP console indicating that the VM could no longer be found, LANline highlighted the VM and opened the restore menu. The reviewers point out that the system administrator can choose whether the restore should be pulled from the primary or secondary repository.

After selecting the OneXafe secondary datastore, all available recovery points for the missing VM were shown on the console. The reviewers chose a backup from the previous evening and started the recovery process. UDP recreated the VM in vCenter and successfully restored all of the data.

In a second test, LANline encrypted the file disk in the primary backup for one VM, then deleted the VM from vCenter. Once again, the reviewers started the restore process via the UDP console. But the restore process failed because the virtual disk file they had previously encrypted could not be restored. LANline then turned to the backup stored on the OneXafe appliance, successfully restoring this second backup.

The Verdict: Your Last Line of Defense

LANline concludes that the combination of Arcserve UDP, OneXafe appliances, and Sophos Intercept X Advanced delivers a solution that protects companies from ransomware on multiple levels, with OneXafe’s immutable snapshots providing a last line of defense against attacks.  

To learn more about Arcserve UDP and Arcserve OneXafe, check out our demos on demand. If you’re ready to see what Arcserve UDP can do for your business, take advantage of our free trial offer.

Read the complete review (in German) here.