Virtual server back-up gets 64-bit native agentless solution

With a growing number of organisations planning to implement high-performance virtual servers, agentless back-up and recovery software is being hailed as the way to go, given the penalties associated with agent-based alternative software. Methods most commonly used today to protect virtualised server environments do not provide the same level of capabilities as those in physical server environments, unless you make compromises – such as backing up the entire physical server versus individual virtual machines. Some solutions back up at the virtual machine level, but then you need to buy an agent for each one – and, normally, you have to back up the entire VM, rather than the parts that change. Asigra makes the point that others lack support for backing up enterprise applications, such as Oracle, SQL server and Exchange – and that others back up at the host-level, but place too much burden on the host CPU, resulting in degraded system performance. “Asigra provides the most comprehensive back-up offering for VMware,” says Tom Dugan, co-founder of the VMware User Group in Philadelphia. “Until Asigra, there was no clear, comprehensive leader in virtual machine back-up. With 64-bit Asigra Televaulting, the company provides users with a powerful solution to match the increasing performance and complexities of virtual server environments.” He cites two key features: the ability to back up at the ESX level without installing software agents, which may otherwise disrupt stability; and the ability of Asigra to back up only the block level changes of the VMDK files, rather than the entire VM.