Today we released version 3.0 of Zmanda Recovery Manger for MySQL. Here are the highlights of the release.

The new version of ZRM supports Zmanda Management Console (ZMC) running on 32- and 64-bit Ubuntu and Debian. We received quite a few requests for providing such support in the past.

In addition to Linux and Solaris, the ZRM server can now run on Windows. We supported logical and VSS-based backup for MySQL on Windows for a long time, but sometimes it was a challenge to introduce ZRM running on Linux/Solaris to all-Windows shops. Based on feedback from customers, prospects and from our partner MySQL, we have developed the version of ZRM that can protect MySQL in all-Windows environments.

We expanded the number of supported snapshot technologies by adding EMC CLARiiON SnapView to the list. This mid-range storage array is a staple for many data …

First, the announcement. On September 21st at 11:30am our VP of engineering Paddy Sreenivasan will talk at OpenSolaris Storage Summit in Santa Clara about Open Source backup software Amanda for OpenSolaris.

Now the news. Sun just published Sun Fire x4540 as Backup Server for Amanda Enterprise backup software quick-start guide on BigAdmin system administration portal. The guide provides an introduction to configuring the Sun Fire X4540 server as a backup server for backup to disk. The specific examples for configuring the zpool and ZFS file systems on the Solaris 10 illustrate how easy it is to provision high-capacity storage for backup to disk. The Zmanda Recovery Manager for MySQL quick-start …

Today Sun announced release of X4540 Open Storage server (a.k.a Thor). We were fortunate to get early access to Thor to certify Amanda Enterprise and Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL. Both solutions are optimized for backing up to disk, are already certified with Solaris 10, and leverage capabilities of ZFS. So it made perfect sense to certify them on Thor, effectively creating a high-performance and yet relatively inexpensive backup appliance.

The unit we were using is powered by 8 CPUs operating at 2300 MHz and provides 48 SATA drives with total capacity close to 50TB in 4U enclosure. That is good packing; a typical EMC unit with so much capacity will take the whole rack.

MySQL Quickpolls might be insightful for people who develop products and services for MySQL. Recently I was looking again at “How do you backup your production database” poll. To interpret the results, I wanted to know who are the people answering that and other Quickpolls. Are they the DBAs responsible for running MySQL in production or the developers writing applications that use MySQL? For a backup guy like me knowing that makes a difference.

Every Quickpoll gets a time stamp when opened and tells how many people answered the poll. It occurred to me that the normalized number of people (MySQL polls run for different periods of time) answering each poll could give me some insight. The graph below shows the daily number of people answering each poll in the last 24 months.

Of course, I understand there could be self-selection …

Ask any DBA what are his top priorities for backup of MySQL. Chances are that hot backup and recovery to a specific point-in-time (or transaction) will be on top of everybody?s list.

The recovery to any point-in-time has been always an ultimate goal for data protection. Traditional backup solutions allow recovering only to a point in time when the last backup took place, e.g. last night. A lot of new data could be created and lost since that last backup. That is why in the last several years many vendors have been working on Continuous Data Protection (CDP).

Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) defines Continuous Data Protection (CDP) as “a class of mechanisms that continuously capture or track data modifications enabling recovery to previous points in time”.

One of the candidates for a marketing position (btw, we are looking for a very technical marketing talent, drop me a line at dj at zmanda dot com) asked me if Zmanda wants to change the world. The way I see it, our job is just opposite to changing the world. We want to keep the world the way it was. If your hardware dies or a user drops a table, we give you the ability to go back in time and to recover your file with Amanda Enterprise or your MySQL database with Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM).

How do we actually accomplish going back in time? Are we talking here about super-expensive and complicated Continues Data Protection (CDP) technologies? Our solution delivers the same result, but without the cost and complexity of CDP. ZRM incremental backups result in a copy of the MySQL …

Given a chance, I always check www.zmanda.com on different gadgets with various browsers and form factors. As soon as iPhone became available, I was at the Apple store checking out the new device and especially its web browsing capabilities.

It took me a couple of attempts to type the URL, but then I got it right and I could see our web site, wiki and forums. Everything looked great. Surprisingly, I could see most of the page without too much zooming and moving the window. Our upcoming Management Console for backup and recovery of MySQL is built on a LAMP stack with a look and feel similar to our website. What if we could actually manage all or at least some frequent day to day backup activities of MySQL DBA via iPhone?

Here at Zmanda we are moving fast, and within a few days we presented to a couple of our customers how to manage MySQL backups via iPhone. Here is a use case. A …

The MySQL User’s Conference provides very fertile environment for new ideas. For example, last year we came to the conference with a conviction to build a MySQL agent for our Amanda Enterprise backup and recovery software. However, after talking to many MySQL users about their backup needs we got convinced that stand-alone solution optimized for MySQL DBAs was a better way to go, and that is how Zmanda Recovery Manager for MySQL was conceived.

This year we received a lot of insightful feedback and suggestions from MySQL users and our customers. Special thanks to MySQL engineering and product management for providing their perspective. Here are the major takeaways for us, the MySQL backup guys:

• Back up the MySQL server configuration files when you do backup of the database — that will simplify …

The MySQL database has become the world?s most popular open source database because of its fast performance, high reliability and ease of use. The DBAs expect the same virtues from a backup solution for MySQL. Often times we are asked what performance to expect from Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL. That is why recently we measured backup and recovery performance for MyISAM and InnoDB storage engines using various backup methods available with ZRM.

In our testing we used MySQL 5.0 running Netflix databases available as part of Netflix Prize project. Our 2-way Red Hat Enterprise 4 server with 4 GB of memory was able to copy large files with an average transfer rate of 37 Mb/s.

All details and results are described in a white paper available with a free registration to the Zmanda Network. Here are the important takeaways:

• Logical backups and …

We just published the results of Amanda usage survey and I want to share my personal observations.One of the most inspiring findings is that 95% of respondents would recommend Amanda to a friend. The Loyalty expert Fred Reichheld would be very impressed with such a result. The overall satisfaction with Amanda is also highlighted by the fact that 70% of respondents have been using Amanda for more than 2 years. People use software for such a long time only if it does the job well. Many users reported that Amanda was up to the task recovering files in most critical situations.

I think it is just great that more than 60% of users provided suggestions for new functionality.