Invenio IT

Overview: The Extensive Line of Datto Products (Updated 2024)

Tracy Rock

Tracy Rock

Director of Marketing @ Invenio IT

Published

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What’s New with Datto SIRIS and Other Datto Products?

First released in 2011, the Datto SIRIS is widely considered one of the best data backup solutions available today.

The latest iteration – SIRIS 5 – offers several enhancements over previous versions, including increased performance, hardware upgrades and a consolidated product offering for greater simplicity.

In this post, we look at what’s new with the SIRIS 5, in addition to other key Datto products, including:

  • Datto ALTO (Small business backup)
  • Endpoint Backup for PCs (Cloud-based endpoint backup)
  • Endpoint Backup for Servers (Cloud-based endpoint server backup)
  • SaaS Protection (Cloud backup for M365 & Google Workspace)
  • Azure Backup (Cloud backup for Microsoft Azure)
  • File Protection (Lightweight endpoint backup)
  • Datto Workplace (Enterprise file sync and share)
  • Datto network solutions (Switches, wifi access points, edge routers)

Datto products are purpose-built to protect your data and safeguard your business from costly downtime. And, what makes the Datto SIRIS 5 unique from other data backup solutions is that it unifies backup with disaster recovery to create a complete, all-in-one solution stack.

Here’s a breakdown of each product, starting with the Datto SIRIS 5.

What is the Datto SIRIS 5?

The Datto SIRIS is a complete, integrated business continuity solution that provides total data protection, combining on-site data backup with replication in the immutable Datto Cloud. It protects physical, virtual and cloud infrastructures running on Windows, Mac or Linux.

If you’re already familiar with the Datto SIRIS, then you know it’s the preferred backup solution for businesses of all sizes because of unique features like instant virtualization, ransomware detection and “inverse chain” backups. We discuss these in greater detail below, but let’s start with the newest features that were introduced on the Datto SIRIS 5.

SIRIS 5: Latest Features, Upgrades & Enhancements

  • Increased performance: The SIRIS 5 has 4 times more performance than SIRIS 4, thanks to upgraded RAM and CPUs. This allows for even faster disaster recovery performance, including instant restores and flawless virtual environments.
  • More reliability: The SIRIS 5 is built with dependable, industry-standard server hardware. It features a redundant power supply, enterprise SAS HDDs and dedicated OS RAID. Plus, advanced diagnostics translate into improved uptime.
  • Greater simplicity: Datto has streamlined its SIRIS product offering to consolidate the best features and optimize performance across the board. The SIRIS 5 is available in 13 different options / sizes (down from 25), making it easier for businesses and their MSPs to choose the right appliance for their needs.
  • 7-year data retention option: Businesses now have the option of choosing a 7-year time-based cloud retention option, which retains cloud storage for 7 years. Other existing options include 1-year cloud retention, infinite cloud retention and fully customizable retention periods (with SIRIS Private, which we discuss below).

Here is a quick snapshot of some of the hardware upgrades and specs on the new appliance options:

In addition to the hardware upgrades, Datto SIRIS 5 comes with several new features, including:

  • New reporting capabilities for managed-service providers: including Hero reports, Device audits and PowerBI templates, all of which help to provide businesses with greater insight into the value of their BCDR deployments
  • Improved agentless backup performance: delivers up to double the backup throughput
  • Advanced network configuration: including VLAN grouping
  • New DWA driver version 3.0.12: for increased backup and screenshot success rates

Together, all of these enhancements translate into a more powerful BCDR solution, built for quick and frequent backups (up to every five minutes) and faster disaster recovery.

Additional Features on the Datto SIRIS 5

Aside from the new upgrades listed above, the Datto SIRIS 5 continues to offer a host of great features that already make SIRIS a leading BC/DR solution, including:

  • Inverse Chain Technology: This is what powers Datto’s ultra-fast backup process, fast restore times and backup resilience. Unlike with traditional incremental backups, each incremental snapshot is a fully constructed (bootable) recovery point. This eliminates the slow and often unstable process of rebuilding a chain of incrementals.
  • Hybrid backups: Backups are stored both locally on the SIRIS 5 for the fastest restore times and in the georedundant Datto Cloud for added protection. No need to configure your BCDR system with disparate third-party clouds. With Datto SIRIS, local and cloud backups are seamlessly integrated.
  • Instant virtualization and DRaaS: Backups are efficiently stored as bootable virtual machines. These VMs can be spun up instantly on the local device or in the cloud. This provides instant access to protected machines, applications and file systems.
  • Ransomware protection: The Datto SIRIS was the first BCDR solution to offer a ransomware detection capability. This feature notifies administrators if ransomware is detected during the backup process, allowing them to revert to a backup at the earliest signs of an infection. This is vital protection that saves business from downtime and enables them to avoid paying a ransom.
  • Rapid Rollback: Rapid Rollback allows you to rapidly restore damaged or lost file systems without the need to reimage an entire machine. This is a valuable tool for restoring files that have been encrypted by ransomware or corrupted after a software/OS update, allowing you to restore only the affected files.
  • Advanced Backup Verification: Datto SIRIS automatically test-boots each backup to ensure it is viable. Additionally, it uses script execution to further verify that a service or application is executable.
  • Backup Insights: This tool makes it easy to identify changes to files and applications between any two backup points. It takes just seconds to view, select and restore files back to the protected machine.
  • Flexible deployment options: In addition to the option of using a plug-and-play SIRIS appliance, SIRIS can be deployed as a software-only implementation on your own hardware, either as a virtual machine or native Linux server.
  • Cloud Deletion Defense: Available on both SIRIS and ALTO, Cloud Deletion Defense is like a cloud-based “recycle bin” for backups. When agents are deleted (whether accidentally or maliciously), Cloud Deletion Defense provides an added failsafe that lets you recover the agent from the cloud and regain access to deleted snapshots.
  • SIRIS Private: SIRIS Private allows businesses to create a private cloud for their BCDR deployment by simply connecting two SIRIS devices: one SIRIS deployed locally and a secondary SIRIS that can be deployed anywhere else. This creates a secure, self-contained environment, which is ideal for businesses that must adhere to tight restrictions on how their data is stored, such as healthcare, financial services and government.

Datto ALTO

Datto ALTO delivers most of the same backup performance and capabilities as the Datto SIRIS, but in a smaller form factor designed for small businesses. You get the same powerful features as SIRIS, like hybrid backup storage (local and Datto Cloud), Inverse Chain Technology, instant virtualization, ransomware protection, Rapid Rollback and automated backup verification, just to name a few.

Since ALTO is designed for smaller businesses, there are some important differences vs. SIRIS:

  • Backup storage up to 1TB (vs. up to 60TB with SIRIS)
  • Desktop-only form factor (Mini PC)
  • Up to 4 agents (vs. unlimited agents with SIRIS)
  • Instant cloud virtualization (no local virtualization as with SIRIS)
  • Cloud storage at 1 datacenter (vs. 2 with SIRIS)
  • Does not include Backup Insights comparison tool

For small businesses who want the power of SIRIS but in the small Mini PC form factor of ALTO, we recommend the SIRIS 5X. It offers the full feature set of SIRIS with twice the storage capacity and RAM of ALTO.

Endpoint Backup for PCs (formerly Datto Cloud Continuity)

Datto Endpoint Backup for PCs is a cloud backup and recovery solution for Windows laptops and desktops. It provides dependable endpoint protection by backing up files that are stored on local devices, rather than in protected servers. This protection is vital for businesses, especially in the new era of hybrid workforces, because users don’t always remember to save data on secure network drives. Thus, a tremendous amount of data lives on users’ local PCs, leaving it at risk.

By backing up that data to the cloud, Datto Endpoint Backup for PCs offers protection from threats such as:

  • Lost or stolen laptops
  • System/hardware failure
  • Accidental file deletion (or malicious deletion)
  • Physical damage to the PC
  • Ransomware
  • Natural disasters

Endpoint Backup can be used as a companion to a more robust BCDR solution, like SIRIS. In addition to backing up files, it protects the entire device configuration, setup and applications. Like SIRIS, Endpoint Backup uses image-based backup technology to efficiently capture data and allow rapid restores of individual files/folders or the entire machine via bare-metal restore.

Alongside the 2022 release of SIRIS 5, Datto announced several updates to its Endpoint Backup solution, including updates to screenshot verification, the automatic backup “pause and resume feature,” multi-volume support and bare-metal restore capabilities.

Endpoint Backup for Servers

Endpoint Backup for Servers provides the same protection as Datto’s PC cloud backup product, but purpose-built for servers.

It provides direct-to-cloud backup for all server workloads, including remote servers, local machines, virtual machines (on-premises or cloud) and distributed environments. This ensures that organizations can back up every server, whether it’s on-site, in a data center or elsewhere.

Like other Datto products for BC/DR, its server backup solution offers several exclusive features, including built-in ransomware protection, Inverse Chain technology, instant virtualization and secure backup storage in the immutable Datto Cloud.

 

SaaS Protection (formerly Backupify)

Datto SaaS Protection safeguards your cloud data. Businesses that use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 can use SaaS Protection to protect their SaaS data from a variety of threats:

  • Accidentally or maliciously deleted emails or files
  • Deleted accounts from deprovisioned / expired licenses
  • Ransomware attacks
  • Failed third-party integrations
  • App / service outages

Copies of the SaaS data are securely stored on Datto servers. Compromised files and folders can be restored directly to a user’s account or downloaded to an administrator’s computer with a few clicks. Automatic backups are performed up to three times a day, capturing point-in-time snapshots of each user’s account, including:

  • Microsoft 365 Backup: Microsoft Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint Online, Calendar and Contacts
  • Google Workspace Backup: Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Google Drive and Team Drives

Datto SaaS Protection is formerly known as Backupify, which was developed in 2008 and acquired by Datto in 2014. In the years since, Datto has continued to expand and integrate the service into its extensive line of Datto products.

Another iteration, known as Datto SaaS Protection +, includes not just backup for Microsoft 365, but also threat detection with SaaS Defense.

Datto Backup for Microsoft Azure

Datto Backup for Microsoft Azure protects Azure workloads from ransomware, cyberattacks and other forms of data loss.

Azure backups have become critical for businesses that rely on Microsoft’s cloud servers. But a common mistake that many organizations make is storing those backups directly in Azure, which increases their risk exposure.

Datto gets those backups out of Azure and replicates them the Datto Cloud. This makes them invisible to attackers, while also ensuring a stronger failsafe. In the event of data loss, Datto enables you to spin up VMs in Azure or directly in the Datto Cloud if Azure is unavailable.

Datto Workplace (formerly Datto Drive)

Datto Workplace is a cloud-based enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) solution. Formerly known as Datto Drive, it provides a cloud-based platform for securely sharing files from anywhere, on any device.

Workplace can be integrated tightly with Microsoft Office, Teams and Outlook with immediate access to local and cloud files. It also features advanced malware detection, automatically scanning each file upload for signs of an infection, including ransomware. Administrators have complete oversight of their data, including: viewing files created by former employees, creating or deleting user accounts, editing account privileges, as well as setting storage limits.

Datto Networking Appliance

The Datto Networking Appliance (Datto DNA, for short) is a high-performance edge router with fully-integrated 4G LTE failover for uninterrupted connection to the Internet.

Datto DNA has been referred to as the first “born in the cloud” router for its remote management capabilities, allowing administrators to monitor and configure the router(s) from anywhere. It has an intuitive user interface, built-in firewall, intrusion detection and enhanced web content filtering for dependable network security.

Like most Datto products, the key here is business continuity: the 4G LTE failover keeps users connected and keeps the business running, even if the primary Internet connection goes down. Plus, the remote management capabilities eliminate downtime by allowing admins to rapidly diagnose issues without needing to be on site.

File Protection

Datto File Protection is a lightweight endpoint backup solution. It protects business-critical documents with continuous file and folder backup, providing an extra safeguard against accidental data loss, hardware failure, ransomware, and lost or stolen devices.

Like Cloud Continuity, there is no appliance or physical backup device to install. Protected files are securely stored in the Datto Cloud. End users or admins can easily restore their own files without the need to contact their MSP. Whether users are working in the office or at home, backup locations are continually scanned and backups continue over any Internet connection. File changes are immediately backed up as changes are detected on the device, and prior versions are retained for 180 days.

Datto Networking Switches

Datto Networking Switches offer high-performance switching with the same cloud-management ease as the Datto DNA. You can seamlessly connect devices and users across a network. And, since everything is configured in the cloud, the rest is plug and play.

Datto’s Networking Switches come in 3 models with 8, 24 or 48 ports to meet the needs of small and medium businesses. The switches also feature built-in support for Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), powering up to 30 watts on all ports.

Admins can remotely monitor the switch from a single pane of glass, which provides a multi-tenant view of all networks and connected devices. The cloud management helps to eliminate the need for on-site visits, making the network easier to maintain across multiple locations.

WiFi Access Points

Datto’s cloud-managed WiFi Access Points are another networking product designed for plug-and-play deployment and simplified management. Along with the Datto DNA and networking switches, the access points make it easier for businesses (and their MSPs) to securely monitor and manage the entire network, from virtually anywhere.

Key advantages include:

  • Plug-and-play: Access points can be configured in the cloud prior to deployment, so that installation is quick and simple. Plus, configurations can be cloned to rapidly deploy multiple access points.
  • Self-optimizing WiFi coverage: Datto’s WiFi access points use smart technology to self-tune for optimal performance. The mesh connection automatically forms to create a dependable, encrypted mesh network.
  • Auto-channel scanning: Access points scan all channels daily to identify the network channel with the least interference.
  • WiFi 6: Datto’s access points are WiFi-6 and Hotspot 2.0/Passpoint® ready, resulting in increased capacity, throughput, performance and power.

Where to buy Datto products

Datto products are available exclusively through Datto’s network of approved managed-service providers, known as Datto Partners. Working with a Datto Partner ensures that businesses get the highest level of expertise and service from IT professionals who have the most extensive knowledge of Datto’s products.

As a Datto Elite Partner, Invenio IT maintains a long-term strategic partnership with Datto that has allowed us to successfully deploy and manage BC/DR solutions for clients throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.

Request a free demo to take a tour of the SIRIS 5 or other Datto products listed above. For more information, contact our business continuity specialists at (646) 395-1170 or email success@invenioIT.com.

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