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What is VMware Consolidated Backup?

By Keith Kessinger

First introduced in VMware Infrastructure 3, VMware Consolidated Backup is a proxy server that assisted with local area network-free backups of virtual machines (VMs). This configuration eliminates the backup traffic from a network, freeing up ESX server resources for VM performance.

Other key features of VCB include the following:

VCB, however, is not a typical backup agent because it's a command line tool that consists of several Windows-executable programs. With scripts, these programs also provide a framework for third-party backup products to use as well.

Many detractors of VMware's backup agent grumble that you need to use other backup programs in conjunction with VCB, because it is not a robust, all-in-one tool. Another sticking point for many companies is that VCB requires a dedicated Windows proxy server. While VMware touts this as an advantage, some find it puzzling that their virtual environment backup tool needs a standalone physical machine.

With the release of vSphere 4, VMware has been pushing backup vendors to write to the new vStorage application programming interfaces (APIs), which replaced VCB. VMware also released VMware Data Recovery, which is capable of data backup and utilizes the vStorage APIs, but lacks some of the bells and whistles of third-party backup tools. For more on VMware Data Recovery, check out SearchDataBackup.com's VMware Data Recovery installation guide.

If you're still using VMware Infrastructure 3 and are researching additional virtual backup options, check out the following resources:

 

16 Mar 2010

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