Agentless backup is a backup and restore process that eliminates the need for individual software installations or "agents" to be installed on client machines requiring protection. Instead, agentless backup employs communication protocols to manage backup tasks from a single administrator computer for an unlimited number of machines connected on a local or remote network. Agentless backup is based on
disk-to-disk backup of compressed data using network protocols and AES
encryption.
Agentless backup can be performed from a single point of administration, resulting in lower administrative costs. While agentless backup may be priced higher than traditional backup methods, there are no licensing fees since agentless backup is generally priced according to total storage used, so businesses can potentially reduce backup costs overall by employing
disk-to-disk agentless backup.
The process for agentless backup can simplify data storage infrastructures significantly:
- A data storage client software is installed at an arbitrary backup administration point
- The backup administrator designates network machines and machine data for backup
- The data storage client software transfers all designated data compressed and encyrpted to an offsite disk-based storage, where it is mirrored to a redundant storage center
- Administrators can automate backup tasks, scheduling both full and incremental backups
- Restores can be made with backup data transferred IP-WAN, or using local restore at LAN speed with backup drives shipped overnight from the offsite disk-based storage facility
Agentless backup benefits any business that wishes to simplify
data backup, and is optimized for enterprises with large numbers of machines distributed over remote networks.
