* New version of Winternals Recovery Manager warrants a reminder of its benefits
It’s been a few years since I touted the benefits of Winternals Recovery Manager (“Winternals shoots for remote recovery of PCs and servers”) but this week’s release of Version 3.0 reminded me to draw it to your attention once again.
Simply stated, Recovery Manager is a Windows enterprise recovery utility/suite that provides customized protection at multiple levels (including the operating system, application, user data, and user settings) which are centrally managed for all sites throughout the enterprise, allowing multiple remote systems to be restored simultaneously. All without leaving the relative comfort of your office. And if your “office” this week happens to be beach-front in Maui – it’ll work there too!
Among the new features of Version 3 are open file support, 64-bit system support, and what the company calls “bare metal” recovery capability. This last one is nifty. The product can now be used to rebuild damaged or corrupted hard drives, without having to reinstall the operating system. The benefit is recovery from hardware failures in a fraction of the time required by normal reinstallation procedures, with minimal data loss.
Another significant enhancement in the new version is the ability to take “recovery points” (i.e., roll back/roll forward snapshots) of open files, such as database files, without disabling them first. Too often in the past, the first time we found that a file couldn’t be restored (because it couldn’t be archived while open) was after it had become corrupted.
Additional new features in Recovery Manager 3.0 include:
* Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Integration – Easily integrate Recovery Manager into MOM 2005.
* Persistent Recovery Points – Locks important Recovery Points so that key system configurations are always available as a baseline rollback.
* Multiple File Store Locations – Creates additional file stores for geographically distributed networks with limited bandwidth.
* Encrypted Files Recovery – Protects and recovers encrypted files.
* Tablet PC Support – Supports Tablet PCs running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.
Recovery Manager operates through scheduled system snapshots (called Recovery Points). These schedules can be deployed from a central console to any protected Windows-based systems throughout the enterprise. Should a problem occur, Recovery Manager 3.0 can quickly roll back multiple systems in parallel to a prior healthy state taken during a previous Recovery Point, or to a standard baseline configuration.
Rollbacks can be fine-grain controlled at the file system level, targeting any user-selected combination of operating system files, program files, user registry settings, user data, or any other unique file sets deemed valuable to a specific IT infrastructure. By rolling back only adversely affected files, the most recently stored user data and system settings are preserved.
Recovery Manager 3.0 also allows you to compare Recovery Points taken at different times so that administrators can analyze and selectively undo harmful changes. Contrasting and documenting file and registry changes can help you identify the root causes of undesired behavior to prevent recurrences.
Winternals proprietary SmartBind technology can be used to link Active Directory Organizational Units to Recovery Point schedules so that newly added computers are automatically protected, without manual administrator involvement. Other manageability features include the ability for remote users to locally generate and store Recovery Points, even when systems are disconnected from the network. Recovery data can later be synchronized to the central file store.
Since Recovery Manager 3.0 virtually removes the need to visit affected servers and desktops, you can make the move to the beach. As long as there’s an Internet connection allowing you to reach the management console, you can quickly and easily handle most hardware and/or software crises. Visit the Winternals Web site for details, then visit your favorite travel agent.
