Arcserve ShadowProtect: Scalable, Reliable Data Protection and Disaster Recovery—Built for MSPs

Fast, dependable image‑based backup and recovery across physical, virtual, Windows, and Linux environments—now with both agent‑based and host‑based Microsoft Hyper‑V protection.

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One Solution. Multiple Data Protection Models. Verified Recovery.

Managed Service Providers don’t manage one type of environment—and need flexibility to manage diverse client environments.

Arcserve ShadowProtect® data backup and recovery delivers right‑sized protection per workload, so MSPs can combine proven agent‑based backups with new host‑based Microsoft Hyper‑V protection—all on a single platform.

MSPs Depend on ShadowProtect

Fast data recovery

Meet or exceed RTOs and RPOs with rapid file‑level, volume‑level, and full‑system recovery. Use patented ShadowProtect VirtualBoot capabilities to instantly boot a backup image as a virtual machine.

Flexible, reliable data recovery

Recover files, restore entire volumes, or migrate systems across physical and virtual environments (P2P, P2V, V2P, V2V). ShadowProtect uses automated verification to help confirm backup images are usable when recovery is needed.

Effortless growth at any scale

ShadowProtect supports mass deployment, centralized configuration, automated verification, and alerting—minimizing ongoing operational effort. ShadowProtect scales for MSPs supporting dozens of clients or thousands of protected systems.

Ransomware attackers striking during the holidays can cripple an MSP client, but with reliable backup and recovery from Arcserve, Prime ICT was able to keep our customer up and running. The customer did not need to pay the £200,000 and was able to recover all of their data.
Read the full success story

Jack Hubbleday Technical Director at Prime ICT

Immutable Backups With Arcserve Cloud Cyber Resilient Storage

Arcserve Cloud Cyber Resilient Storage (available for purchase) provides consistent, cloud-based immutable backups. A key component of a ransomware protection strategy, it integrates with Arcserve ShadowProtect and Arcserve ImageManager™ and is simple to manage.

Agent or Agentless Backup: Giving MSPs Choice

Agent‑based protection supports application‑specific requirements at the workload level.
Host‑based Microsoft Hyper‑V protection supports scalable, centrally managed protection at the infrastructure level.
Verify backup integrity with ImageManager 8.1.
Replicate intelligently with flexible cloud options.

The result: lower operational cost, stronger recovery outcomes, and a broader MSP service catalog

How Host‑Based Hyper‑V Enhances MSP Flexibility

Host‑based Hyper‑V backup expands MSP choice—enabling lightweight, centralized protection where it makes sense, while preserving ShadowProtect agent‑based backups for workloads that demand application‑level insight and precision.

Ideal use cases include:

Large, multi‑VM Hyper‑V hosts
Template‑based or commodity
VMs Dev/test, VDI, and infrastructure services
Streamlines MSP onboarding at scale

Simplify VM protection with host-based backup and reliable recovery, helping MSPs reduce complexity, accelerate deployment, minimize infrastructure overhead, and deliver secure, dependable recovery for Hyper-V workloads of any size.

Built for Complete MSP Data Resilience

Cross‑platform system protection

Protect Windows and Linux systems—physical or virtual—with a single solution.

Storage‑agnostic design

Use the mix of production and backup storage that best fits customer needs today and tomorrow.

Replication

Replicate backups to local storage, remote servers, co‑location facilities, third‑party clouds, or private cloud environments.

Testing and verification

Run automated tests on backup images to help ensure recoverability before disaster strikes.

Broad hypervisor support

Support multiple hypervisors across mixed environments: Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESX/ESXi, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization and more.

Migration and scheduling

Migrate systems without downtime and run frequent backups—even during business hours—for strong RPOs.

Backups can be great, but if you can’t verify them on a consistent basis, they’re useless.
Learn how ABS verifies recovery with ShadowProtect

Josh Dube Founder and CTO, ABS

Discover the Complete Arcserve MSP Data Resilience Portfolio

Improve customer data resilience with Arcserve backup and recovery capabilities.

Arcserve ImageManager

Arcserve ImageManager helps MSPs take control of Arcserve ShadowProtect backup images across onsite, offsite, and cloud environments—while providing auditable proof that backups are ready to recover.

Arcserve Cloud Cyber Resilient Storage

Immutable backups with Arcserve Cloud Cyber Resilient Storage

Add cloud‑based immutable storage to strengthen ransomware protection. Integrates seamlessly with ShadowProtect and Arcserve ImageManager.

Arcserve SaaS Backup

Arcserve SaaS Backup offers complete protection for data stored in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra ID, Salesforce, Google Workspace, Zendesk, and more.

RESOURCES

Dig Deeper Into Arcserve ShadowProtect

Learn more about ShadowProtect data backup and disaster recovery components and technical specifications:

Data Sheet

ShadowProtect Datasheet

Data Sheet

ImageManager Datasheet

Documentation

Windows Operating System Support

Documentation

Linux Version Support

Webpage

Backup Image Management

Webpage

Centralized Management

ShadowProtect 8.0 and ImageManager 8.1

This FAQ covers the most common questions MSP partners have about Arcserve ShadowProtect 8.0 and ImageManager 8.1, with a focus on the new host-based Microsoft Hyper-V backup model, how it compares to agent-based backup, what has changed in Arcserve ImageManager 8.1, and how to handle licensing, upgrades, and recovery workflows.

1. Setup & Compatibility

What Windows Server versions are supported for ShadowProtect host-based backup?

Can ShadowProtect host-based backup and agent-based backup run on the same machine?

Does the ShadowProtect 8.0 installer always show both host-based and agent-based as installation options?

Can an MSP switch from ShadowProtect agent-based to host-based backup? What happens to existing backup chains?

Yes, an MSP can switch from agent-based to host-based backup in ShadowProtect, but it requires a clean reinstall rather than an in-place upgrade. The process is:

Uninstall the existing agent-based ShadowProtect installation
Reinstall ShadowProtect 8.0 and select Host-Based during installation (Hyper-V role must be enabled on the machine)

Existing agent-based backup chains remain fully restorable after migration. Backup files are not removed during the uninstall process and remain available for recovery operations. Restores can still be performed after switching to host-based protection. Any new backups created after the migration will be executed as host-based jobs.

What is the upgrade path from ShadowProtect 7.5.18 to ShadowProtect 8.0?

To upgrade from ShadowProtect 7.5.18 to ShadowProtect 8.0 there are two paths:

Continuing with agent-based backup: an in-place upgrade from ShadowProtect 7.5.18 is supported without uninstalling first.
Deploying host-based backup: you must uninstall ShadowProtect 7.5.18 first. ShadowProtect 7.5.18 was an agent-based-only installation. If you attempt to install host-based backup without uninstalling, the installer will only show the agent-based upgrade option.

2. Backup Behavior

What file formats do ShadowProtect host-based and agent-based backups use?

How are ShadowProtect host-based backups organized by default?

Do ShadowProtect host-based backups work with VirtualBoot?

Has anything changed with pushing agent upgrades in ShadowProtect 8.0?

3. Recovery

How do you recover an entire virtual machine from a ShadowProtect host-based backup?

How do you recover a file or folder from a ShadowProtect host-based backup?

4. Monitoring & Management

Do host-based backups report status to Arcserve ShadowControl?

What does ImageManager 8.1 track?

ImageManager 8.1 tracks the history of verification, consolidation, and retention results for agent-based backups. New in 8.1: improved virtual boot testing results, enhanced OS check disk tracking, a clearer verification results dashboard, and exportable verification history reports for compliance and customer reviews. A new API allows MSPs to feed verification data into existing dashboards, reporting systems, or automation workflows.