JetStream DR for Microsoft Azure VMware Solution with Azure Blob Storage Now Generally Available

JetStream Software Inc. announced its disaster recovery software, JetStream DR, which supports Microsoft Azure VMware Solution, is now generally available through the Azure Marketplace. JetStream Software has integrated its offerings with Azure Portal to deliver new DR capabilities for Azure VMware Solution, employing JetStream DR software along with Azure Blob Storage. 

JetStream DR protects VMware virtual machines (VMs) in the customer’s on-premises data center with failover and VM recovery in Azure VMware Solution. Additionally, VMware VMs already deployed to and running in Azure VMware Solution can be protected with VM failover and recovery to an alternate Azure VMware Solution data center.

“By combining Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, Azure VMware Solution, and JetStream’s VMware-certified software, we can fully transform the economics of disaster recovery for the enterprise,” said Tom Critser, Co-founder and CEO, JetStream Software. “At the same time, we are providing a compelling cloud-based solution ensuring enterprises can have the protection they need, both now and for the future.”

“Microsoft Azure is committed to working with leading third-party vendors to ensure our customers have the best options to meet their needs. We are pleased JetStream DR completed our rigorous testing process and is now generally available,” said Eric Lockard, Corporate Vice President, Azure Dedicated at Microsoft. “Disaster recovery and protection against ransomware are paramount issues for small and large businesses alike. JetStream DR provides a world-class solution utilizing the power and capabilities of Azure.”

Enterprises that choose JetStream DR benefit from continuous data protection (CDP) in a disaster recovery service offering with lower infrastructure costs as the data from protected VMs are maintained in Azure Blob Storage. Support for Azure NetApp Files

For customers who need to fail over quickly and recover large amounts of data, JetStream DR supports integration with Azure NetApp Files, the highly scalable storage file service in Microsoft Azure. This enables a much faster recovery time at a lower cost than provisioning additional vSAN hosts solely for the purpose of data storage.

Meeting Market Needs

JetStream DR enters general availability amid a coalescing of trends. Disaster recovery is ideally suited to move to the cloud, however, this transition has proven complex from a technical standpoint. JetStream DR is specifically designed for the cloud, enabling it to support capabilities such as maintaining recovery data in object/blob storage and dynamically provisioning compute resources when needed. This is something other first-generation DR companies can’t offer.

Additionally, it is very expensive for enterprises to replicate data into a redundant system. If they can replicate data into an object store, as with JetStream DR, enterprises pay only a fraction of the cost per gigabyte compared to file system-based storage. This is especially advantageous at a time when enterprises are expected to do more with less.

Furthermore, with risks arising daily magnified by new threat vectors, finding the best scalable disaster recovery solution has become a business imperative.

How JetStream DR for Azure VMware Solution Works

JetStream DR provides continuous data protection for VMware vSphere environments. The cloud-native software platform is specifically designed to provide the software infrastructure for an enterprise-grade DR service offering from a managed service provider (MSP) or cloud service provider (CSP).

JetStream DR is validated for Azure VMware Solution and is VMware-ready, offering unique capabilities amongst DR solutions, including:

• Cost-Effective DR: Maintains VMs and their data in Azure Blob Storage, enabling enterprise-grade DR at a lower cost of operation.
• Agentless CDP: Captures and replicates data continuously via VMware IO Filters for continuous data protection without VM agents.
• vSphere to vSphere Recovery: Supports Azure VMware Solution, so customers no longer need to maintain their own failover site. They can fail over to Azure VMware Solution and fail back when the original protected data center is restored.
• Storage-Independent: Protects VMs with any VMware-compatible datastore types: block, file, vSAN, VVOL and third-party HCI.
• Live Failback: Returns VMs to the protected site from Azure VMware Solution without interruption to VMs’ operation or protection.
• Decoupled Design: Azure Blob Storage is more than just a journal or “cold data tier” – it is the repository for all VMs, data, configuration metadata, and recovery policies.

Availability and Specifications

JetStream DR is available today. It can be purchased through the Azure Marketplace or directly from JetStream Software. License subscription pricing is based on the number of virtual machines protected. To deploy the software, customers will also need an Azure Blob Storage subscription and a VMware vSphere cluster in Azure VMware Solution.