Posts filed under 'Products'
With inSync v4.0 going live last week, Druva showcased the new Blackbird storage engine which introduces a new concept called – “Application Aware Data Deduplication”. This new engine although currently only available in inSync, will form the core of all future product offerings.
The idea of “app-aware deduplication” emerged from the fact that complex applications like MS Outlook or Exchange need much more intelligent deduplicate removal than simple block based approach.
Each data block in PST is of fixed size and usually contains a header and a footer (ref: libpst ) which makes it impossible for simple dedupe approaches to identify block boundaries and hence restricting deduplication accuracy to just 30-40%.
Application aware data deduplication depends upon APIs exposed by the application to understand the construct of on-disk data and deduplicate at the logical-block or message level. This guarantees 100% deduplication accuracy and faster processing of data.
Another interesting change is shift from PostgreSQL database to no-SQL Oracle embedded database. This small (less than 1MB in size) embedded database removes the heavy “SQL” and networking layer between the server and database, hence greatly improving performance and scalability. The new engine can now support 16TB of dedupe data and about 200 parallel backups.
In a nutshell, the Blackbird engine will have the following features -
- App-Aware deduplication
- Light-weight and highly scalable
- Simple to install and zero-maintenance
- Near-CDP – timeline/event based near-continuous backups
- Search enabled restores
- Replication (to be showcased soon
InSync v4.0
InSync v4 is definitely a new benchmark for laptop backup. I am extremely confident that if anyone tries this solution will never buy anything else for laptop backup. With new storage, redesigned WAN Optimization and dashboard, its clearly leaps and bounds ahead of what’s available in the market.
More about new features – http://www.druva.com/insync/version-4-0
Download inSync v4 – http://www.druva.com/download/insync
September 6th, 2010
I was recently watching a Discovery Network program on Airbus A380, and it was an eye opener. It was amazing how they were testing the aircraft for impact analysis. About 75% of air collisions happen because of mid-air bird impacts, the simplest solution in the past was to make the Aluminium sheet thicker (about 0.8mm). Because of the new A380′s weight, they decided to try a new approach and design a new lighter material. 
As a base, they took a thinner 0.6mm Aluminium sheet. But this time, rather than trying the usual impact analysis they create a real life scenario. They created a Chicken Gun – a gun capable of firing a 1kg skinned chicken at 260 mph towards an Aluminium target.
No surprises, the results of this testing were completely unexpected. The chicken actually tore apart the Aluminium foil like a paper. The result was a new material which combined both glass-fiber and Aluminium.
Honestly has been an eye opener for me !
Testing InSync isn’t easy, unlike server backup you have to the data is much more dispersed and diverse, coming from 1000 different sources over different networks. This time for v4.0 testing, we have decided to follow the Chicken Gun Theory. We are in the process of building three new test suites for -
- Parallel Stress
- Fatigue
- Volume of Data
- Different Networks
To simulate parallel testing we have leased over 200+ small servers from a grid provider for next few months. Each of these servers will simulate multiple users to detect bottlenecks in parallel testing. Hopefully this would also be useful for testing scalability of the storage engine. For example we recently discovered that enabling native compression in the embedded database puts some marginal load on abundantly available CPU power, but reduces critical disk I/O by 30% !
Sometimes we have seen issues surfacing from prolonged usage when server is working relentlessly for months. To test this, a small set of these servers will be kept in constant “synchronizing” state for weeks. This fatigue testing should be able to test various corner cases causing memory leaks, open file handlers, de-fragmentation etc.
And to test the effect of different networks, we would be using different proxies which will induce latency and network drops in the network. This should help us understand the “remote” backup better. This actually helped us understand a recent customer case, where backup was suffering because of VPN time-outs.
I am sure, this would help us make your laptop backup much more robust … without sacrificing any chickens (except for the launch parties)
July 21st, 2010
After a month long limited “technology preview”, Druva inSync v4 beta will now be available to all partners, customers and new registrations starting July 15th.
InSync v4.0 codenamed after the Lockheed reconnaissance aircraft -SR71 Blackbird, will showcase 4 super stunning features -
- App-Aware Dedupe
- New Blackbird Storage Engine
- New Redesigned Octopus WAN Optimization Engine
- Web 2.0 Management Console & Interactive Dashboard
First of its kind, the app-aware dedupe engine understands the data structure for applications (like Outlook & MS Office), and deduplicates data at message or logical block level. This guarantees 100% dedupe accuracy, and a significant improvement in bandwidth/storage utilization.
The new (Blackbird) storage engine now utilizes a much advanced embedded database from Oracle instead of SQL database. Less than 1MB in size, the new database simplifies installation and adds raw rocket power to the dedupe engine. The new storage architecture will support 16TB of dedupe storage with 200+ parallel connections.
The new redesigned Octopus WAN Optimization engine is designed to optimally utilize both high speed networks and weakest of WAN links. The new auto-resume feature ensures that a large file is resumed after a network interruption.
A big fan of usability, the new web console is my favourite. It’s stunningly attractive and I personally love the dashboard. The new dashboard shows some interesting statistics like data composition of backup, user activity graphs, storage growth so on.
Details & Registration
Details about the new release and registration information is given here – http://www.druva.com/insync/version-4-0-beta
Please sign-up and someone from the beta program will contact you soon.
Final Release
The final release is expected to be around Aug 10th 2010. But the dates are not finalized yet and will mostly depend on how well is the beta is accepted.
Feedback
We would soon dedicate a thread in the forums for beta discussions. Please feel free to comment here on the blog or participate in the forums. This would surely help us design your backup better.
July 8th, 2010
Today inSync team released the first internal alpha build of all new blackbird engine, which is going to be featured in inSync v4.0
And what I saw totally changed my perception of ”fast” and “small”. Forever.
If you have missed my earlier posts, Blackbird (name inspired from the SR71-Blackbird) is a new storage engine for inSync and Phoenix which will introduce Invent “Application Aware Data Deduplication” and get rid of any dependency on a SQL database.
Getting rid of SQL database shrinks the Blackbird core to only about 2 MB against current 32MB. It also avoids the overhead of TCP connects to SQL DB and SQL query optimizer, making it blazingly fast and light weight.
Application aware deduplication makes sure data deduplication happens at the logical level. For example, rather than treating a PST file like a stream of blocks, we would understand and deduplicate message by message. This guarantee faster processing and 100% deduplication accuracy.
Quickly highlighting the features from today’s presentation -
- Fast - Amazing speed.
- Light-weight - Multi-threaded. No SQL Database.
- Scalable – High level of fault tolerance against data corruptions in the store.
- Small - InSync v4.0 will probably shrink to just 12MB !!
- Simple – No DB required for installation !
The public beta for InSync v4.0 is expected by end of April. I am extremely eager to showcase this engineering marvel.
Will follow with more posts and some screenshots !
March 15th, 2010
After long waits and about 4 months of beta program, I am extremely excited to announce the general availability of Druvaa Phoenix v1.0.
The entire team has been super busy to make this happen. And I am sure it would be quite evident when you give it a try.
Reinventing Backup
Phoenix is designed ground-up for remote backups. Here are some of the key product features which make it ultra special -
- Global Source Based Data Deduplication – Over 90% reduction in backup time, bandwidth and storage.
- WAN Optimization – Understands high latency and noisy networks.
- Near Continuous Data Protection – snapshot/restore-points based point-in-time restores. No age-old full, incremental backups.
- Smart Bandwidth Scheduling - Set smart bandwidth limits for each backup schedule.
The Road Ahead
What we currently have is just a platform which will be used to showcase some market changing features -
- Search Based Restore – We missed this feature in v1.0, but should be available in the next v1.2 release
- “Blackbird SR-71“ – A new storage engine with application aware data deduplication. This should be able to match an attachment inside exchange store at New Jersey to a file stored in a file-server at Kent. This should set the standards for backup performance.
- Long Distance Replication – Replicate backed up data over noisy long distance IP networks.
- Advanced Dashboard – The second best reporting dashboard (after Google Analytics).
Application aware Agents - Phoenix currently only comes with generic Windows agent, we plan to introduce these starting v2.0
Useful Links -
I welcome you guys to download a copy and share your feedback !
December 15th, 2009
PC Data growth and concerns surrounding its backup are not new, but some of the new age factors like mobility and ever growing emails have brought an interesting twist to the story. The pace of growth of data is now much more rapid, its location more dispersed and the linkage between data sets more complex. And this is especially true with large financial institutions, which have several “branch offices” and a large pool of mobile workforce.
When we approached major financial institutions in India, we were surprised to find that most of them did not have an end-user backup policy in place especially for the mobile workforce. Interestingly they had tried the available solutions, but were not convinced with the proposition.
After further dialogues, we could summarize unsolved concerns as follows -
- The backup solution should not impact the user
- Centralized backup for multiple branch offices and mobile workforce
- Efficient bandwidth throttling and management
- Low impact on storage
We showcased and proposed inSync solution and proud to say that a large percentage of initial test deployments have already placed an order. Here are some of the brands we are proud to associate with -
So, what makes inSync a favourite with this big brand names ?
Firstly, I think because its Simple.
Although none of the customers explicitly mentioned it, but I think “simplicity” is one of the most underrated characteristics of any product and specially when it comes to backup.
I must confess, not so long back, I personally tried to installed a product which starts with a “T” and ends with “li”. The battle ended after 2 days and I still not sure if I won it I strongly feel, that in this new “twitter” age, complexity is that last thing the world wants.
Simple “under 30 minutes” installation and clear-n-crisp pricing are the two features which have fuelled the exponential growth of this product. Most of these accounts didn’t have to spend more than a day to fully understand all the features and deploy within the first set of test users. In fact for one of the accounts, it was just 2 hours
Secondly, because it comes with some Unmatched Features.
InSync comes with some very disruptive features like -
- Global source based data deduplication
- Continuous data protection
- Dynamic bandwidth and CPU scheduling
- WAN optimization
- Search based point-in-time recovery
- Managed end-point (client) upgrades
- Bare metal restore
And to best of my knowledge, most of these features are not offered by the existing products.
Third, because its Focused
Most of the existing products were developed to take care of traditional tape backups and now have been made to evolve to “backup servers, PCs and Laptops to disk/ tapes over LAN. And maybe sometimes help you to make some coffee”
We designed inSync from scratch, just focussed on “laptops”.
For example, a server backup has strict calendar based schedule which doesn’t make much sense for laptops. The server backup solutions are designed for secure and reliable local networks, but the laptop backup solution must be friendly towards the insecure weak WAN links.
Almost all the administrators regularly use 95% of it’s features. And all the new additions are planned keeping in mind the laptop users.
Lastly, The Product Quality
Most of these accounts paid a premium for inSync compared to existing “established” products. But, I guess quality is surely remembered much after the cost is forgotten.
October 28th, 2009
Happy to announce the new much awaited v3.1 release. This is an incremental release.
Some of the highlights include -
- Performance improvements for full-pc sync and BMR
- Managed Clients Upgrade
- More powerful bandwidth management
- Sync on log-off and shut-down
- Upgrade for v2.2 customers
Performance Improvements
We were planning to surprise the customers by introducing a new much faster and scalable storage (code name “blackbird”), but was pulled out at the last moment because of some stability issues. It’s now being planned for next major release.
But, the new release does bring some awaited improvements and recommendations for full-PC backup and BMR (Bare Metal Restore). The users should see about 1.5-2x performance improvements in sync and restore speed.
Manage Clients Upgrade
This new exciting feature would allow the administrator to remotely upgrade the backup clients across organization. The admin would be able to “push” the updates for the users for a particular profile. But, only the clients with version v3.1 or higher would understand this new protocol, hence this feature will only be usable from v3.1.x
Better Bandwidth and CPU Management
With this release, the administrator would be able centrally choose and lock granular bandwidth and CPU prioritization for users of a particular profile. The admin would now be able to provision bandwidth differently for LAN and WAN based connections.
Sync on log-off and shut-down
This would be an optional setting and force user backups on log-off and shut-down for Windows based clients. This was heavily demanded by administrators managing mobile workforce.
We hope to release the v3.1 by Oct 22, 2009. Please use the link here to register for updates.
- Happy Diwali
October 16th, 2009
As I mentioned in the last post, Druvaa acquired some great customers across 12 different countries. A large majority of the new customers are large enterprises from Technology and Finance verticals. The smallest deal size was about 20 licenses and largest about 10,000 licenses.
As a company policy we don’t engage in traditional enterprise selling, instead just help the interested customers buy mainly through the website. With this model, its even more important for to know what the customer likes and dislikes about the product.
I tried to reach almost all major customers to see why they purchased inSync and some others on why they did not. In this post I have tried to summarize the response I received.
Six things the customers really love about the product -
- Usability and ease of use – Especially the quick 20 minutes setup time for inSync v3 was very much appreciated
- Data deduplication and time savings - On an average the customers are seeing 1:15 storage and bandwidth savings compared to traditional softwares.
- WAN performance – Most of the customers are backing up mobile workforce easily and enjoying this feature.
- Search based restore – Search is used by almost 100% of the users and absolutely loved by all. This is something truly unique with inSync.
- Granular user policy control – Control over bandwidth, folders and restore policies is appreciated by all.
- Invisible backups – Smaller, smarter backup and specially the flexible scheduling is liked by all.
One of the fast emerging hot favorite feature is Bare Metal Restore, but I believe it may take some more time for this feature to get adopted properly.
Three things the customers or prospects would like to see improve -
- Mac Client - We do have Linux and Windows client, and all I can say is that Mac client is on its way
- Price - In the current economic scenario, unfortunately pricing is a major issue. This is probably a reason we saw sharp rise in sales when we offered the online introductory discount on v3. We do plan to release a low cost offering for inSync in near future
- Performance for large backup/restore- With the new release there are a few performance issues for non-compressible data especially over the Gigabit network. This is expected to be taken care of with next release.
With the new v3 release now production ready, in the next few posts I would like to outline the product roadmap and whats happening with the new product – Druvaa Pheonix.
April 29th, 2009
March 11, 2009
Within 2 weeks of announcing the beta, Druvaa announced the general availability of long awaited inSync enterprise laptop backup v3 on Windows platform. The new release adds features like search, bare-metal restore and performance improvements.
Druvaa is one of the fastest growing enterprises in storage and data backup domain. The flagship product Druvaa inSync is fully automated laptop backup software which protects corporate data for office and remote users. It features simple backup, point-in-time restores, and patent-pending deduplication technology to make backups much faster.
The new v3 release includes the following features -
- Full PC Backup (with data deduplication)
- Bare Metal Restore
- Search functionality in restore
- Performance improvements for large files (e.g. Outlook PST)
- Usability Improvements
Find out more about new release – http://www.druvaa.com/insync/laptop-backup
Download a Free 30 days evaluation copy – http://www.druvaa.com/download/insync/
Over 80% of corporate data is duplicated across users. Druvaa inSync uses data deduplication to save “only a single copy” of content (emails/docs) duplicated across users. This delivers 10X faster backup with 90% reduction in bandwidth and storage.
The product uses Continuous Data Protection to create near-infinite restore points. On restore the user sees a timeline view of data and can restore from any point in the past.
Key Product highlights includes -
- Data Deduplication – Saves 90% backup time, bandwidth and storage.
- Continuous Data Protection – Timeline based, from the past restore
- Backup for Remote Users – WAN Optimized, faster backups over VPN/WAN
- Security – 256 bit SSL and 256 bit AES encryption
- On-demand Restore – GUI and browser based restores from any point in the past
- Advanced Reporting – Six different reporting options for flexible & detailed reporting
Product Page – http://www.druvaa.com/insync/laptop-backup
Save 25% on new Purchase until March 31st 2009
Druvaa also announced an introductory 25% discount on the purchase of new v3 release. To find out more about the pricing and new discount, please visit – http://www.druvaa.com/insync/buy
About Druvaa
Founded in 2007, Druvaa Software is a leading provider of Continuous Data Protection and Disaster Recovery solutions. Since inception Druvaa has released two award wining products products – Druvaa inSync and Druvaa Phoenix. Druvaa is privately held and backed by Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Accord International (HK).
Corporate Website – http://www.druvaa.com/
March 11th, 2009
As inSync 3.0 release nears completion and the action moves from development to release engineering, I get some time to reflect on how inSync has shaped up.
(Please let us know if you have any feedback for beta.)
Some factors proved very crucial in the development process -
Usability First
inSync team always kept usability ahead of everything else. Usability ensured that inSync features can be easily evaluated by prospective customers. A customer may or may not like a product, but that comes after she can evaluate it easily. No usability means no evaluations means no feedback and no sale. We would rather not have a feature than an unusable one.
Zero Baggage
inSync started as a disk-to-disk backup. It does not have any baggage that carries with a tape backup with disk-to-disk backup feature. We also tried not to pick non-core features along the way. If inSync picks up a new feature, be assured that Druvaa is very serious about it. We would rather have a small set of well deveoped features than a plathora of half cooked ones.
Release Early, Release Often (RERO)- The Apple Philosophy
inSync 1.0 was a small feature set, but a complete product. (Interestingly, a set of customers found that it meets all their requirements and continue to use it even today.) Note that RERO is not about the quality or usability of the product. It’s only about leaner releases, each with a small set of new features. RERO allowed us a rich customer feedback that helped us pick the next set of feature to focus on.
I’m not saying that we do not miss deadlines, but things are more predictable while dealing with a small set of features. RERO also implies seamless upgrades, which is an extra effort but much lesser than managing a big release. In essence, we would rather have a small release than a big one that never ships.
Team with Diverse Experience
Druvaa development team has engineers with extensive experience working on Windows, Linux, systems programming, database programming, UI programming, QA development, you name it. Things would be different if all of us were brilliant system programmers but none knew how to do UI, or the other way round. I’m proud to say that inSync is a no handicap team and we strive to ensure that the product does not have any weak areas.
Python as The Programming Language
Kudos to Guido for a wonderfully intuitive language and kudos to the python team for the extensive set of modules. inSync uses C/C++ when it comes to heavy computation or interfacing with the operating system. But in both the cases, we managed to keep the C/C++ code to lower level functions. The high level logic is coded completely in python. It allowed us very fast developement of good quality, highly maintainable, cross platform code.
Don’t Reinvent, Reuse The Wheel
inSync uses Qt (PyQt) for GUI, PostgreSQL as database server and several other python modules. We picked these after extensive experimentation and analysis. We also contribute back any bug fixes and enhancements. It’s not about just reusing the wheel but choosing a good wheel and then making it better.
Please let us know if you have any feedback for the beta. Would be more than glad to take a look.
March 7th, 2009
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