Avamar

Avamar
Name	Avamar
Developer	Dell EMC
Released	2003
Latest release	7.x
Programming language	C, C++
Operating system	Linux-based appliance
Genre	Backup and deduplication software
License	Proprietary

Avamar

Avamar is an enterprise backup and deduplication platform originally developed by a startup and later acquired and marketed by Dell EMC. It provides source-based variable-length deduplication, client agents, and integrated appliances for backup, recovery, and replication across virtualized, physical, and cloud environments. Avamar has been used in data centers alongside products from firms such as VMware, Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, and IBM while competing with offerings from NetApp, Veeam, Commvault, Veritas Technologies and Rubrik.

Overview

Avamar is designed to reduce backup windows and network load by transmitting only changed data segments to centralized storage appliances. The platform targets enterprises running infrastructures from providers like Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco Systems, Lenovo, and Fujitsu and integrates with virtualization stacks from VMware ESXi and hyperconverged solutions from Nutanix. Avamar appliances are commonly deployed alongside storage arrays from EMC Corporation (now part of Dell EMC), Dell Technologies, and cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Typical customers include organizations in finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and government agencies such as National Institutes of Health and entities that rely on systems from Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server.

Architecture and Components

The Avamar architecture centers on a purpose-built appliance combining storage nodes, a metadata catalog, and a deduplication engine. Core components include client-side backup agents for platforms like Microsoft Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, AIX, and Solaris; the global deduplication index; management software; and disaster recovery replication modules. Appliances are offered as integrated hardware from vendors such as Dell EMC, and as software-defined instances deployable on platforms like VMware vSphere and Kubernetes distributions supported by Red Hat OpenShift. The system uses a fixed-size grid of nodes that cooperatively store chunks and fingerprints, with catalogs maintained for fast lookup and restoration comparable to metadata services in systems developed by Google and Facebook.

Features and Functionality

Avamar provides source-side variable-length deduplication, client-side encryption, policy-driven retention, immediate virtual machine restores, and role-based access control compatible with directories like Active Directory and LDAP. It supports application-consistent backups for Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle RAC, SAP HANA, and MySQL through integration with APIs and agent modules. The platform includes replication for offsite copies to appliances or cloud targets, automated catalog synchronization, and reporting compatible with enterprise monitoring tools from Nagios, Splunk, and SolarWinds. Additional functions include synthetic full backups, global data reduction ratios that can exceed traditional compression techniques used by vendors such as Symantec, and integration with orchestration frameworks like Ansible.

Deployment and Integration

Deployments range from single-appliance installations to federated grids spanning data centers in locations managed by operators such as AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Deutsche Telekom. Integration points include snapshot coordination with NetApp ONTAP, array-based snapshots on Dell EMC Unity, and plugin modules for virtualization platforms including VMware vCenter and Microsoft System Center. Backup workflows commonly interface with ticketing and IT service management platforms such as ServiceNow and BMC Software. For cloud tiering, Avamar integrates with object storage services from Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud Storage, and can be orchestrated with frameworks like HashiCorp Terraform.

Performance and Scalability

Avamar's global deduplication design reduces bandwidth and storage needs, enabling high-density backup targets comparable to scale-out systems from EMC Isilon and Ceph. Performance scales by adding nodes to the appliance grid; metadata operations are optimized to minimize restore latency and to support large numbers of clients similar to architectures used by Dropbox and Box (company). Throughput characteristics vary with workload type—virtual machine images, databases, or file systems—and deduplication ratios depend on data uniqueness. Benchmarks performed by independent labs often compare deduplication efficiency and restore times against products from Commvault and Veritas NetBackup.

Security and Data Protection

Security features include AES encryption in transit and at rest, client-side key management options, and integration with enterprise authentication providers such as Microsoft Active Directory. Avamar supports immutable retention policies and replication for disaster recovery to help satisfy compliance regimes like HIPAA and PCI DSS used in healthcare and finance sectors. Audit logging and role-based access align with governance frameworks adopted by organizations such as ISO and NIST; integration with security information and event management systems from Splunk and IBM QRadar is typical in enterprise deployments.

History and Development

Originally founded by a startup team in the early 2000s, the technology gained attention for pioneering variable-length, source-based deduplication and was acquired by EMC Corporation in the mid-2000s. Post-acquisition development followed EMC’s product roadmap alongside offerings such as Data Domain before the corporate merger that created Dell EMC. Subsequent releases introduced tighter integration with virtualization platforms from VMware (a Dell Technologies affiliate), expanded cloud-tiering capabilities to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, and enhanced appliance models to compete with emerging vendors like Rubrik and Cohesity. The product lifecycle reflects broader consolidation trends in enterprise storage highlighted by mergers involving companies such as Symantec and NetApp.

Category:Backup software