StorageCraft ImageManager ShadowStream (SS)
Take Charge of Your Backups–Onsite, Offsite, and in the Cloud

Features & Benefits:

Managed-folder Structure

Reduce time spent configuring settings on managed backup jobs.

Image Verification

Know your backup image files are in a known good state for fast and reliable recovery.

Advanced Image Verification

Regularly get visual confirmation that backups are working as they should.

Consolidation

Reduce restoration time, risk of backup-file corruption, and needed storage space by automatically consolidating continuous-incremental backup image files.

Retention

Balance storage space and file recovery needs through retention policies that you set.

Notification and Monitoring

Easily watch over backup jobs in the user interface and receive notice when an issue arises.

Throttling and Concurrent Processing

Maintain strong system-wide performance by managing how StorageCraft ImageManager uses system resources.

Local and Network Replication

Replicate backups onto a local drive or to a network share so that you’re prepared for a small-scale disaster.

Offsite Replication

Replicate backups offsite to a remote server, co-location facility, data center, or the StorageCraft Cloud so that you’re prepared for a site-wide or regional disaster.

Pre-staged Recovery

Pre-stage the recovery of a server before disaster strikes, and reduce downtime.

Capability:

Verification: Users can configure image verification to occur daily, weekly, or monthly; automatically verifying the integrity of the backup image files and chains through MD5 validation. They can define how frequently the image files are verified and re-verified. Finally, users can setup an advanced verification by automatically booting into a virtual environment, following which, they receive an email with an attached screenshot of the System Login Screen showing success or failure.

Consolidation: Users can reduce restoration time and the risk of backup-file corruption by automatically consolidating continuous-incremental backup image files, which can be consolidated into daily, weekly, and monthly files to reduce the length of the backup image chain. They can roll up multiple monthly consolidated files to further shorten the process.

Premium Features: StorageCraft ImageManager allows users to replicate encrypted backup image files to the StorageCraft Cloud (with a StorageCraft Cloud Services account) StorageCraft ShadowStream technology accelerates file transfer speeds up to five times faster than traditional FTP protocols, to a private or public cloud, remote offsite storage location, or even a co-location facility.

Retention and Recovery: Users can minimize storage space for backups by managing the retention policies for continuousincremental and consolidated backup image files. They can also manage backup image file cleanup for all managed folders on a network through global retention policies. Users have the flexibility to set different retention policies for backup images replicated locally versus replicated offsite. Users can recover in minutes by pre-staging their local backups into a virtual or other machine for standby failover.

Licensing:

StorageCraft ImageManager doesn’t require you to purchase a license to use it. However, in order to install the software, you will be prompted to accept the End User License Agreement.

ShadowStream licensing

To use our high-performance file-transfer tool, StorageCraft ShadowStream® technology, you need to purchase jobs. When you purchase jobs, you receive a product serial number, which may contain one or more job licenses. You can assign these job licenses to the same or different computers, and you can move them between computers as needed.

Technical Specifications:

StorageCraft ImageManager runs on most Microsoft Windows operating systems, but we recommend using a Windows Server operating system. (Please be aware that StorageCraft ImageManager 7 will not work on Windows 2000).

StorageCraft ImageManager requires you have Microsoft .NET 3.5 service pack 1 installed.

System Requirements

Minimum Hardware Requirements

ImageManager has the following hardware requirements:

• At least 1 GB physical RAM (4 GB recommended).
• At least 75 MB of free hard disk space for installation files.
• Must meet the minimum operating system support requirements listed in the following section.

Operating System Support

ImageManager runs on:

• Windows Server 2012 R2 (Requires .NET 3.5) (64-bit x64)
• Windows Server 2012 (Requires .NET 3.5) (64-bit x64)
• Windows Small Business Server 2011 (64-bit x64)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation (64-bit x64)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows Server 2008 (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows Small Business Server 2008 (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows EBS Server 2008 (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows Server 2003 (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows 10 (Requires .NET 3.5) (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows 8.1 (Requires .NET 3.5) (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows 8 (Requires .NET 3.5) (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)
• Windows 7 (32-bit x86 and 64-bit x64)

Note: ImageManager runs on most Windows operating systems but StorageCraft recommends using a Windows Server operating system such as Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012.

Other Requirements

Microsoft .NET version 3.5 Required

ImageManager requires Microsoft .NET version 3.5 Service Pack 1 (for some operating systems) or higher (for other operating systems). You must ensure that the right version of .NET is installed before installing ImageManager 7. The information below will help you decide which versions of .NET are needed for your operating system.

• Windows Server 2012 normally has .NET4.5 installed by default. You also must install .NET 3.5 manually. The installer for .NET 3.5 is under the "Turn Windows Features on or off" option.
• Windows 10 normally has .NET 4.5 installed by default. You also must install .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 manually. The installer for .NET 3.5 is under the "Turn Windows Features on or off" option.
• Windows 8 normally has .NET 4.5 installed by default. You also must install .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 manually. The installer for .NET 3.5 is under the "Turn Windows Features on or off" option.
• Windows Server 2008 R2 does not come with .NET Framework pre-installed. The installer for .NET 3.5 is under the "Turn Windows Features on or off" option and must be installed manually.
• *Windows Server 2008 does not come with the .NET Framework pre-installed. The installer for .NET 3.0 is under the "Turn Windows Features on or off" option. However, ImageManager requires version 3.5 or 4.0. The ImageManager installer attempts to download and install .NET 3.5 or higher. If that fails, you can download and install the Framework manually.
• *Windows Server 2003 R2 requires a manual installation of .NET 3.5 (in some cases) before you can install ImageManager 6.
• Windows 7 normally has .NET 3.5 installed by default.

* The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 can be downloaded here.

Folder and File Names

ImageManager does not support folders or filenames containing an apostrophe ( ' ).

Documentation:

Download the StorageCraft ImageManager Data Sheet (PDF).