Zmanda, the year-old California start-up, has run up an enterprise-grade open source backup and recovery solution specifically for MySQL databases called, pointedly enough, Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL.

It is based on the long-standing and popular Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver (Amanda) open source project.

Zmanda figures it will push the wider adoption of MySQL, reputed to have upwards of 10 million active installations. Forrester Research already predicts that 30% of enterprises will be using MySQL in two years time.

The ZRM widgetry includes granular recovery capabilities, an automatic backup scheduler, the ability to set backup retention policies and reporting and monitoring. It is supposed to be able to detect the specific storage engine that's being used and optimize the backup process to that engine and configuration as well as manage remote backups.

ZRM, which is supposed to be better and more DBA-friendly than BakBone, Arkeia or Veritas NetBackup, should integrate easily with existing backup solutions.

Zmanda, the bulk of whose developers are in India near Veritas' facility there, is employing a dual-license model like MySQL. A free community edition, covered by the GPL, is available at www.zmanda.com/downloads.html. An enterprise version of ZRM is available as part of a paid subscription to the Zmanda Network that includes certified and pre-compiled software.

Cost will run $200 per server per year for a Level 1 subscription or $500 for a Level 2.
According to Zmanda CEO Chander Kant, Zmanda users will not be forced to update their licenses years from now just to recover data they've backed up like they must do with Veritas. Zmanda uses open and defined data formats.

Zmanda plans to follow the MySQL roadmap and over time add support for Windows and support for MySQL's streaming online backup API when it arrives. It is also planning deeper integration with applications that use MySQL.