Sysbus IT Test Lab: Arcserve OneXafe Appliance and Arcserve UDP Ensure Comprehensive Ransomware and Data Protection

We love it when IT experts look under the hood of our products and tell the world what they find. That’s how confident we are in those products’ data protection, backup, disaster recovery capabilities—and ease of use. Sysbus, the respected German website for IT specialists, first tested Arcserve OneXafe in 2019. With the release of Arcserve UDP 8.1, Sysbus decided it was time to test how the two products worked together.

Testing Structure

For the test, Sysbus installed Arcserve UDP in a virtual machine (VM) using VMware ESXi 7.0.3 and Windows Server 2019 as the operating system. Sysbus also enabled the solution’s multi-factor authentication (MFA) feature and “used it on the fly.” The next step was deploying the Arcserve OneXafe appliance to the Sysbus network, setting it up as a backup target, and creating backup jobs that used this target.

The test analysis notes that Arcserve UDP includes a wizard that took them through the installation process, outlining the simple steps to set up the solution. The reviewers also note that once configured; the installation was completed without any further user interaction, adding, “One positive we noticed was that the setup routine automatically takes care of importing dependencies like redistributable software.”

Establishing the Backup Plan

The reviewers shared that after the first login to the UDP web interface, the wizard guides admins through the configuration of the first backup plan. That includes choosing the type of job—Windows, Linux client with backup agents, or VM agentless. Users select the node to be backed up and specify the backup destination. The reviewers used a network share as the target and specified the access data.

They also enabled the solution’s data compression feature and scheduled initial and daily backups, highlighting that “After that, the plan was set up and worked as expected in the test. The same applies to restoring data. Once the information is selected and a restore target is chosen, the solution runs without any problems.”

Hidden Volumes Add Value

The review notes that one of the new features of Arcserve UDP is its ability to use hidden volumes—volumes that haven’t been assigned a drive letter—as backup targets. That helps prevent ransomware from easily accessing the stored data. The test included setting up backup plans for Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and chat data from Exchange Online. The results showed that the system establishes the connection to the cloud, enabling the selected data to be backed up. For the test, the reviewers chose the hidden volume they had created as the backup target and defined the backup schedule, adding, “After that, the plan was executed as expected.”

MFA Secures Backups

Once everything was set up, the reviewers said that UDP’s MFA features “only require users to click on Settings / User Management to activate the functionality. The system then displays QR codes, which Google Authenticator can scan. A code is then available in the app to allow the user to log in to the software’s web interface.”

Once the backup environment was up and running, the reviewers added the Arcserve OneXafe appliance to the environment as a backup target. This was accomplished by creating an account using the appliance’s cloud-based management tool. Still, the reviewers also pointed out that the solution offers the option of installing Arcserve OneSystem software on-premises in a VM, for example, for those that don’t want to manage their storage appliances via the cloud.

Conclusion

Here’s how Sysbus summed up its review of Arcserve UDP 8.1 and Arcserve OneXafe: “The combination of UDP 8.1 and the OneXafe appliance was impressive in the test. It is powerful, easy to configure, and based on a convincing concept. We also liked the new functions of UDP. They appear well thought out and come with backup options that are definitely needed these days.”

To learn more, check out the Arcserve UDP free trial offer and schedule an Arcserve OneXafe demo. For expert help with your data protection, backup, and disaster recovery needs, choose an Arcserve technology partner.

Click here to read the complete Sysbus review (in German).