Disaster recovery tool replicates active virtual machines from one server to another

Virtual server tools specialist Vizioncore last week announced EsxEssentials, a new software bundle that combines its EsxRanger Pro backup tool with its EsxReplicator and EsxCharter monitoring tools.

The main feature of EsxRanger Pro is that it can work with virtual machines (VMs) that are actually running. EsxReplicator is a disaster recovery tool that replicates a running VM or group of VMs from one server to another, complete with all settings. EsxCharter is a real-time monitoring tool that can be used by administrators to spot bottlenecks and issue alerts when problems arise. The combination package provides a comprehensive set of tools to run production-grade applications on a VMware ESX Server system.

David Bieneman, Vizioncore’s chief executive, said expert Linux administrators could use Linux scripts instead of Vizioncore’s graphical tools, but argued that Vizioncore’s Windows-based tools are much simpler, so most Linux experts would prefer to use them to free their time for other tasks. “The command prompt turns people off from VMware. Not everyone on staff understands the Linux command line,” he added.

The news comes a few weeks ahead of a major update to VMware’s ESX Server and VirtualCenter management tools, which is expected to be announced at the beginning of June.

Vizioncore’s new bundle costs $899 (£480) per CPU and is available now. Previously the three tools would have cost over $1,250 (£670) per CPU.