OnApp adds incremental backup for virtual servers and smart servers

OnApp has announced the latest version of its Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud platform for hosts, telcos and other service providers. The new version of OnApp introduces an incremental backup system for virtual servers used in public and private cloud services, and the new smart servers launched by OnApp at the end of 2013. With incremental backup, service providers can let their customers choose to back up only files that change, which reduces the time, disk space and cost of backup for their customers, while simultaneously reducing the network bandwidth and storage capacity required for backups in their cloud.

The new version of OnApp also features a range of enhancements to location groups, virtual server troubleshooting, and diagnostics for OnApp Storage, the platform's integrated SAN. OnApp has also announced new rebranding capabilities for its Android app and an update to its cloud management app for iPhone and iPad.

“Like many new OnApp features, the incremental backup system was developed at the request of our customers,” said Carsten Sjørup, OnApp’s Chief Technology Officer. “Backup is a vital part of any cloud service, and to date we've supported snapshot backups of entire servers. Adding incremental backup gives our customers another way to improve efficiency and resilience in the back end, and offer more backup options to their users at the same time. We’re looking forward to seeing how our customers use the new backup scheme as part of their services.”

Incremental backup joins OnApp's existing snapshot capabilities for entire virtual servers and smart servers. Each type of backup can be taken on an ad-hoc basis or automated via a backup schedule, and service providers can control the number of free backups, and backup limits and prices, in their billing plans for different tiers of customer.

The incremental backup system supports Linux Virtual Servers running on Xen and KVM hypervisors, and smart servers running on KVM. Incremental backup for Windows and other operating systems is available through OnApp's partnership with Bacula4Hosts. OnApp will continue to enhance its backup capabilities in future releases.

The new version includes a range of other improvements for cloud service providers:
· Location groups can now contain cloud as well as CDN resources. Location groups enable service providers to group server, storage and network resources and assign them to a specific location, such as "Asia-Pacific" or "New York datacenter.” This is particularly useful for providers running multiple datacenters, as it simplifies management of distributed cloud infrastructure, helps ensure that (for example) storage resources in the US aren't assigned to customers running servers in Asia, and enables them to bill for each location independently, to reflect differences in local infrastructure costs.
· Recovery mode for virtual servers has been enhanced with the ability to add custom applications to a virtual server's recovery image. Service providers can automatically add disk tools, registry editors and other applications to help their administrators and customers with troubleshooting.
· OnApp Storage diagnostics have been improved with a new healthcheck screen. More than half of all new OnApp clouds are now deployed using OnApp's integrated SAN: the diagnostic tools simplify management of the storage system and help service providers identify and resolve issues such as zombie disks, and nodes that need rebalancing to maintain performance and redundancy.
OnApp has also released new branding packages for its iPhone/iPad and Android apps, which offer a broad range of mobile cloud management capabilities for service providers and their users. The packages enable OnApp customers to customize the apps with their own look, feel and brand identity. The new iOS package adds support for iOS 7, while the new Android package introduces branding capabilities to OnApp’s Android app for the first time. Both packages are available free of charge to customers running the full version of OnApp.