LifeKeeper for Windows v5.2

Yesterday, we announced the release of LifeKeeper for Windows v5.2, LifeKeeper Data Replication for WIndows v5.2 and the debut of LifeKeeper Protection Suite for SAP.

The major features of the v5.2 releases are:

• LKDR Performance Improvements – Significant improvements have been made to increase performance in both LAN and WAN configurations.
• LKDR Network Bandwidth Throttling - ability to limit the amount of network bandwidth that will be used for each replicated volume.  The Network Bandwidth Throttle can be set using the LifeKeeper GUI or by manually changing the registry key “BandwidthThrottle”.

• Certification with Windows 2003 R2
• Enhancement to the Oracle Recovery Kit - The Oracle Recovery Kit has been modified to allow local installation of the Oracle binaries. 

• Better Handling of Registry Settings for Replicated Volumes - Registry changes that are made for LKDR are now persistent and will remain intact following a LifeKeeper switchover or failover. Also, there is a new command line option (EMCMD <system>. READREGISTRY <volume>) to force a re-read of LifeKeeper Data Replication registry settings without the need for a system reboot.

The LKDR performance enhancements completely eliminate the effects of latency on WAN replication.  By manipulating the TCP Window Size based on available bandwidth and latency, this update to LKDR is able to keep the network pipe constantly flush with data and achieve a consistent 90% bandwidth utilization in most environments.  Our experience with doing Exchange disaster recovere installs showed us that inadequate bandwidth was the top factor for project failure, so we set out to ensure that LKDR was wringing every bit out of the pipe that it possibly could.  Congrats to the team who tore LKDR apart and put it back together in order to ensure it was optimized from top-down.

We are particularly excited about getting the SAP protection onto Windows.  The Linux SAP solution has been a big seller for us, and the Windows space is much larger for SAP.  So, logic holds that we should see a good return on this R&D investment.  Time will tell .....