Data has been called “the new currency,” “the new raw material of business,” and even “the new oil.” More than ever, organizations understand the value of the data they collect and generate, and rely on mission-critical information systems to drive sales, build relationships and advance their businesses. Data loss represents the greatest risk to modern organizations, and companies now talk about “business continuity” when they discuss downtime. More often than not, disaster has less to do with the destruction of brick and mortar than the inability to maintain access to data and applications, although for businesses without the right backup and recovery solutions, the two can go hand in hand. Despite these shifting concerns and sensibilities, many organizations are still relying on antiquated approaches to backup and recovery systems. Whether recovery means simply being able to restore a file inadvertently deleted by a user or a site-destroying event, modern backup systems that eschew file-based approaches provide clear advantages to businesses of all sizes. This paper examines the advantages of image-based backup and recovery solutions over legacy file-based systems, and explores ways that multi-tiered backup can ensure business continuity in a variety of situations. Specifically, Paragon’s Protect & Restore, arguably the most user-friendly and robust solution among image-based backup providers, offers unique benefits and unsurpassed opportunities for channel partners who deploy it for their clients. 20 Years of Paragon and a Fresh Approach to Backup and DR: Paragon Software Group has spent the last 20 years developing software to support the data security and storage management needs of businesses of all sizes. More recently, it has also begun expanding its portfolio of mobile productivity and reference software, further reinforcing its position as a premier provider of business solutions. Over Paragon’s 20 years of creating innovative solutions for everything from multicasting to continuous data protection, the company has developed unparalleled expertise in disk- and file-based backup and DR, as well as system virtualization, deployment, and hard disk management. Countless OEMs and other technology partners license Paragon file system and imaging tools, while a rapidly growing cadre of businesses, from SMBs to Fortune 500 companies, is relying on data protection solutions by Paragon Software. Leaving File-Based Backup in the Dust: All of this experience has left Paragon uniquely positioned to develop the most robust, user-friendly, comprehensive backup and recovery solution in the market. Providing performance, granularity and utility that legacy file-based backup systems can’t match, Paragon Protect & Restore (PPR) also offers single-console control of remote, virtual and physical backups that is unique among its image-based competitors.“PPR is arguably the most user-friendly and robust image-based backup solution", says CRN.

1. PARAGON
PROTECT & RESTORE
Unbeatable Disaster Recovery for Your
Clients
A White Paper Prepared by CRN
(The Channel Company)

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Data has been called “the new currency,” “the
new raw material of business,” and even “the
new oil.” More than ever, organizations
understand the value of the data they collect
and generate, and rely on mission-critical
information systems to drive sales, build
relationships and advance their businesses.
Data loss represents the greatest risk to
modern organizations, and companies now talk
about “business continuity” when they discuss
downtime. More often than not, Disaster has
less to do with the destruction of brick and
mortar than the inability to maintain access to
data and applications, although for businesses
without the right backup and recovery
solutions, the two can go hand in hand.
“PPR is arguably the most
user-friendly and robust
image-based backup
solution and offers unique
benefits and unsurpassed
opportunities for channel
partners who deploy it for
their clients.”

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Despite these shifting concerns and
sensibilities, many organizations are still relying
on antiquated approaches to backup and
recovery systems. Whether recovery means
simply being able to restore a file inadvertently
deleted by a user or a site-destroying event,
modern backup systems that eschew file-based
approaches provide clear advantages to
businesses of all sizes.
This paper examines the advantages of image-based backup and recovery solutions over legacy
file-based systems, and explores ways that multi-tiered backup can ensure business continuity in
a variety of situations. Specifically, Paragon’s Protect & Restore, arguably the most user-friendly
and robust solution among image-based backup providers, offers unique benefits and
unsurpassed opportunities for channel partners who deploy it for their clients.

4. FRESH APPROACH TO BACKUP & DR
20 Years of Paragon and a Fresh Approach to
Backup and DR
Paragon Software Group has spent the last 20
years developing software to support the data
security and storage management needs of
businesses of all sizes. More recently, it has
also begun expanding its portfolio of mobile
productivity and reference software, further
reinforcing its position as a premier provider
of business solutions.
20 Years of Paragon
Over Paragon’s 20 years of creating innovative
solutions for everything from multicasting to
continuous data protection, the company has
developed unparalleled expertise in disk- and
file-based backup and DR, as well as system
virtualization, deployment, and hard disk
management. Countless OEMs and other
technology partners license Paragon file
system and imaging tools, while a rapidly
growing cadre of businesses, from SMBs to
Fortune 500 companies, is relying on data
protection solutions by Paragon Software.
Leaving File-Based Backup in the Dust
All of this experience has left Paragon uniquely
positioned to develop the most robust, userfriendly, comprehensive backup and recovery
solution in the market. Providing performance,
granularity and utility that legacy file-based
backup systems can’t match, Paragon Protect
& Restore (PPR) also offers single-console
control of remote, virtual and physical backups
that is unique among its image-based
competitors.

5. FRESH APPROACH TO BACKUP & DR
Still Innovating for the Channel
Paragon always has been entirely channelfocused, and in keeping with that tradition,
PPR offers compelling advantages to the
company’s growing network of channel
partners. Beyond the business model, which
can deliver generous margins for partners,
PPR gives the VAR or MSP a genuinely
innovative and vigorously supported product
for their clients that can scale nicely from the
SMB right up to the largest enterprise.
The benefits to the channel are more
explicitly described at the end of this paper.
However, the advantages of PPR for your
clients will become quite apparent as we
explore the underlying technologies and
approaches.

6. WHERE FILE-BASED BACKUP FAILS
Where File-Based Backup Fails
Before we examine the general advantages of image-based recovery systems or the particular
benefits of Paragon’s latest iteration of their Protect & Restore software, it’s useful to look more
closely at the significant problems associated with legacy approaches to backup, namely filebased services. File-based backup, at its most basic level, simply copies files from one medium to
another.
Speed (or the lack thereof)
Every system administrator, at one point or another, has waited for a file-based backup to
complete. Whether this simply involves manually copying files from a user’s hard drive to an
external or network drive or completing a full server backup to tape, the process can be brutally
slow. Because of the poor performance and substantial overhead on the system being backed up
(and the network if the backups are stored on a local or remote file server), most file-based
backups occur during off-peak hours. Too often, as much as a day’s worth of work can be lost
because file-based backup systems lack the performance to support real-time data protection (or
even backups that are more frequent than every night).

7. WHERE FILE-BASED BACKUPS FAIL
Exchange (enough said)
Microsoft Exchange is frequently cited as the
most critical application in any organization.
Hugely popular with a massive install base,
Exchange drives communication and
collaboration for millions of users. It ties into
many other business applications both in the
Microsoft ecosystem and from third parties,
compounding the impact of any problems
that might occur with the system. Corrupted
Exchange databases, hardware failures and
network disruptions all can wreak havoc on
the businesses that rely on Exchange.
“Restoring backed up files is
a very different proposition
from recovering a complete
system. Anyone who has
attempted to restore an
Exchange database from a
file-based backup knows
the difference between
‘restoring files’ and
‘recovery’ very well.”
Unfortunately, restoring Exchange from file-based backups is woefully inefficient, and system
administrators tell horror stories about hundreds of thousands of dollars lost when sales and
support staff can’t reach clients for days at a time.

8. WHERE FILE-BASED BACKUPS FAIL
Virtualized Environments
Modern hypervisors contain a myriad of lowlevel enhancements that improve
performance and can deliver significant
backup, recovery, deployment, and
management advantages for virtual guests
over physical servers and workstations.
Although file-based backup utilities can back
up virtual disks, they can’t leverage
hypervisor-level tools or effectively support
deployment, snapshots, recovery, etc.

9. WHERE FILE-BASED BACKUPS FAIL
Recovery vs. File Restoration
As noted, with respect to Microsoft Exchange, restoring backed up files is a very different
proposition from recovering a complete system. Anyone who has attempted to restore an
Exchange database from a file-based backup knows the difference between ‘restoring files’ and
‘recovery’ very well.”
The performance problems described above also become much more disruptive when it comes
time to actually restore a system. Not only can it take an unacceptably long time to copy files
from a backup (even using a file-based backup/restore utility), but simply copying the files to a
new or repaired system is often only the beginning of a recovery effort. Especially in the case of
so-called “bare metal restores,” where a workstation or server must be replaced, often with
dissimilar hardware, complete reconfiguration is time-consuming at best and disastrous if the
server being recovered is running mission-critical applications. The cost of downtime for a
receptionist’s PC can run in the hundreds of dollars but the ripple effect of downtime for an
engineer immersed in a high-stakes project can be much greater.
The bottom line is that few organizations can afford downtime at any level; when things go
wrong, there simply isn’t time to wait.

10. PARAGON PROTECT & RESTORE 3:
RETHINKING IMAGE-BASED BACKUP
Paragon Protect & Restore 3: Rethinking Image-Based Backup
Paragon takes a very different approach from file-based backup. PPR uses image-based backup,
also known as sector-based backup, to rapidly copy every sector - or only used sectors to save
time and storage space - of a disc (either virtual or physical) and create an exact replica, or image.
PPR then analyzes the disk for changes to individual sectors and can perform nearly continuous,
real-time incremental backups of the disk image, ensuring that an updated snapshot of the disk is
always ready to restore in the event of data loss or hardware failure.
At a high level, the advantages of image-based backups over file-based solutions are clear, but
PPR has additional benefits over its competitors. Just as they leapt ahead of file-based services
with their image-based backup tools, Paragon is now leaping ahead even among other imagebased providers.

11. RETHINKING IMAGE-BASED BACKUP
How It Works
PPR has several components that work together to ensure seamless, regular backup of
workstations and servers in physical, virtual, and hybrid environments. The PPR console can be
installed on any physical or virtual Windows desktop or server and provides a single interface for
managing backup and recovery across an organization. Installing PPR on one or more servers
provides the ability to create multiple backup servers to distribute the workload (PPR leverages
Active Directory so it must be installed on a Windows Server with Active Directory services
running, although the server(s) does not need to be dedicated to PPR).
Highlights of particular functions and configurations are outlined [on the following slides].
Once the server and console applications are installed, creating backup policies for every
machine on a network becomes a matter of pointing and clicking within the console:
1. Define storage media as backup targets.
2. Silently push agents to Windows systems joined to the Active Directory.
3. Set up agentless backups on all VMware hosts for any guests supported by ESX.
4. Add agent-based backup for Windows guests on Hyper-V, Oracle and Citrix hosts.
5. Define backup schedules and routines.
This isn’t an oversimplification. The process is remarkably easy and intuitive.

12. RETHINKING IMAGE-BASED BACKUP
(HOW IT WORKS)
High Performance and Redundancy
PPR is designed to be modular in nature to improve
performance, scalability and redundancy. Administrators
can define multiple backup servers and storage targets and
create sophisticated multi-tiered backup policies with
simply a basic understanding of their own network
architecture.
Because PPR can create local backups (e.g., to an attached
USB drive), network backups (to a file server, NAS appliance
or SAN) and off-site backups via FTP (to the cloud or a
remote office location), backup images can be maintained
on-site on high-speed disks for optimum performance,
faster recovery and near-real-time updates. These backups
can then be archived off-site for disaster recovery, longerterm retention, and less expensive storage of multiple
incremental backups for recovery to virtually any point in
time.
“In roughly 90% of all restore
cases, the local site is
operational and only an
individual machine requires
restoration, in which case
the primary storage
destination also provides the
best restore performance.
Two-tiered backup scenarios
let organizations maximize
performance and availability
and reduce long-term
storage costs.”

13. RETHINKING IMAGE-BASED BACKUP
(HOW IT WORKS)
Virtual, Physical and Everywhere in Between
Although PPR is Microsoft Windows-centric with backup agents for Windows PCs and Active
Directory integration for its backup server and console, the solution is also especially well-suited
to virtualized and hybrid environments. PPR provides agentless backup for all VMware guests,
regardless of the guest operating system. A Hyper-V bridge is under development as well, which
will deliver similar agentless capabilities on Microsoft’s popular hypervisor.
Whether running strictly physical servers and workstations or operating in any of the popular
virtualized environments, PPR supports full backup capabilities, managed from the console.
Because the backups are image-based, recovery tools (also managed from the console) can be
used to ease deployment of virtual servers and desktops by replicating and restoring VM images.
Don’t Forget Dedupe
Unlike many backup solutions, PPR includes native data deduplication. This can substantially
reduce storage needs, especially for longer-term storage of incremental backups. Organizations
are able to retain daily, weekly and monthly backups longer and restore in a much more granular
and specific fashion to a particular point in time.

14. RETHINKING IMAGE-BASED BACKUP
(HOW IT WORKS)
Other Key Features
PPR includes several other valuable features that
work in concert with its image-based approach to
ensure absolute business continuity and make it
easy for IT to support user needs:
•
•
•
Exchange Server protection: Built-in backup and
restore algorithms for Exchange allow users to
begin sending and receiving email even while
the database is still being restored after a
failure.
Policy validation: PPR can check whether the
backup policies defined by administrators will
work correctly.
Recovery ID: Automation of remote recovery
operations minimizes the time and effort, as
well as the opportunity for error, by eliminating
the need for on-site IT personnel.
•
•
•
•
Email notifications: Multiple administrators can be
notified in real-time of events and errors based on
rules they set.
Bare-metal restore: PPR includes tools to restore
images to dissimilar hardware, with particularly
useful tools for GPT/UEFI configurations.
Near-instant virtualization: PPR’s proprietary,
optimized backup image format can quickly be
converted to boot up in most popular hypervisors,
giving users access to applications, files or their
own desktops, even if physical hardware is
temporarily unavailable.
File-level recovery: Just because the backups are
image-based doesn’t mean that administrators
can’t recover individual files and folders for users.
In fact, restoring accidentally deleted or modified
files is the most common user request for backup
and recovery solutions.

15. RETHINKING IMAGE-BASED BACKUP
(HOW IT WORKS)
One Console to Rule Them All
From an administrator’s perspective, one of the most striking features of Protect & Restore is the
unified management console. The console application is completely consistent across all of its
functions, making restoring a machine just as intuitive as setting up a backup policy or pushing an
agent to a desktop. The interface is fast, clean and uncluttered, allowing administrators to save
time and effort when focusing on recovery or creating robust backup policies.

16. RETHINKING IMAGE-BASED BACKUP
(HOW IT WORKS)
The Real Goal: Disaster Recovery
This, of course, is the real goal behind any backup
solution. The backups themselves are far less
important than the ability to quickly recover from
data loss or interruption of an application and
ensure business continuity. With file-based backup
systems, especially when restoring complex
systems like Microsoft Exchange or restoring an
end user’s environment on a new workstation after
a hardware failure, recovery can take days. The
best image-based systems can reduce that time to
minutes in virtual environments, or well under an
hour for physical systems.
Few businesses can achieve the data center ideal of five nines (99.999% uptime), but PPR is
arguably the best solution for minimizing downtime across all of an organization’s systems,
whether sitting on a desktop or running on an enterprise-class server in a data center.

17. CONCLUSION: 100%
CHANNEL=GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
Conclusion: 100% Channel = Golden Opportunity
Paragon Protect & Restore 3 is an outstanding solution for image-based backup and recovery. It is
easy to use, easier to deploy, and handles physical and virtual environments with equal aplomb.
However, because Paragon sells its software exclusively through the channel, MSPs and VARs
have a golden opportunity to
1. Provide a best-of-breed solution to their clients and
2. Achieve high margins through PPR sales or adding PPR to their subscription services portfolio.
Most midsize and large businesses already have backup solutions in place. Yet many still rely on
file-based backup and are vulnerable to all of the weaknesses inherent in these tools. For the VAR
or MSP that can demonstrate the benefits of PPR over their clients’ current solutions, the sales
opportunities are significant. As organizations move to virtualized environments, the need for
robust recovery solutions that play well with virtual machines and hypervisors is increasing
exponentially. A great backup and recovery application is a very reasonable upsell as channel
partners guide their clients through this transition and educate them on the value of data safety,
security and best practices for business continuity.

18. ABOUT PARAGON SOFTWARE GROUP
ABOUT PARAGON SOFTWARE
Founded in 1994, Paragon Software offers a complete line of backup & disaster recovery (BDR),
imaging, virtualization and hard disk management solutions. Paragon serves its customers and
partners from offices around the world, delivering its software and services to SMB and large
enterprise customers through a network of VARs, MSPs, DMRs and OEMs, as well as online
through the company web site. www.paragon-software.com.
To learn more about Paragon Protect & Restore or the company’s partner program, please visit
www.protect-restore.com.