Nerdio adds backup and disaster recovery features to improve Azure Virtual Desktop resiliency

Nerdio announced significant new backup and disaster recovery features within its Nerdio Manager products that improve the resiliency of AVD and ensure data protection and continuity from a variety of data loss scenarios.

“As usage of Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) continues to grow, it has become a mission critical component in allowing continuous and safe access to corporate applications and data,” said Vadim Vladimirskiy, CEO and co-founder of Nerdio. “The new added powerful backup and disaster recovery capabilities in Nerdio Manager related to major areas of AVD operation, such as the management of desktop images and session hosts, improve the service’s resiliency, ensure business continuity and allow us to help IT teams when they need it most.”

Key backup and disaster recovery features now available in Nerdio Manager include:

• Active/Active Host Pool Disaster Recovery – When enabled, Nerdio Manager will automatically distribute session host virtual machines (VMs) across two Azure regions. Users will be distributed across VMs in both regions as they log in and FSLogix profiles will be automatically replicated. In case of an Azure region failure, users will continue accessing VMs in the available region, ensuring continuity of data and operations. This feature will be available in Nerdio Manager for MSP in Q1 2022.
• Desktop Image Backup and Geographic Replication – Nerdio Manager’s built-in desktop image backup functionality allows users to backup images automatically. Users can geo-replicate desktop images through Nerdio’s integration with Azure Compute Gallery to keep desktop images in sync across multiple Azure regions.
• Support for FSLogix Cloud Cache – Nerdio Manager automatically enables and configures FSLogix Cloud Cache on disaster recovery-enabled host pools. Users’ profiles are asynchronously replicated across multiple storage locations making them available during regional outages. This provides a resilient disaster recovery configuration because if one location becomes unavailable, Cloud Cache will automatically fail over to a secondary location where profiles are accessible.
• Auto-healing capabilities – Session host VMs are responsible for the delivery of users’ desktops and apps and must be available for users to be able to connect. Nerdio Manager’s Auto-Heal functionality automatically detects and repairs broken session hosts.

“As enterprises increase adoption of virtual workplace technologies like VDI, ensuring the resilience and recoverability of data is a paramount priority,” said Mark Bowker, Senior Analyst, ESG. “In fact, according to our data, aside from strengthening authentication, business continuity and disaster recovery plans are a top priority to support today’s ‘back to office’ transitions. By supporting active/active replication and adding in features such as built-in desktop image backups, Nerdio is furthering business availability and making AVD virtual desktops a resilient choice for digital workforces everywhere.”

Nerdio Manager extends the native AVD service rather than replacing it like other proprietary VDI management solutions on the market. Through separate products tailored to meeting the needs of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and enterprises, it delivers over 200 features that the native service lacks to simplify management, ensure efficient operations through automation, and lower compute and storage costs on average between 50-75%.