I’ve debated for a while whether to do this or not, since it might come across as somewhat twee. I think though that in the same way that “My Very Eager Mate Just Sat Up Near Pluto” works for planets, having an A-Z for backups might help to point out the most important aspects to a backup and recovery system.
So, here goes:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Maximum control over backup granularity, down to the individual file level. | Each in-guest backup is unaware of other backups that may be happening on other virtual machines on the same server. Thus, the backups have the potential to actively compete for CPU, RAM, Network Bandwidth and Storage IOs. An aggressive or ill-considered approach to in-guest backup configuration can bring an entire virtual environment to its knees. |
| Coupled with NetWorker modules, allows for comprehensive application-consistent backups of enterprise products such as Oracle, Exchange Server, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP, etc. | Suffers same problems as conventional per-host agent backup solutions, most notably in consideration of potential performance inhibitors such as dense filesystems. Can result in the longest backups of all options. |
| Very strong support for granular recovery options. | Bare Metal Recovery options are often more problematic or involved. |
| Least affected by changes to underlying virtual machine backup options. |
And there we have it. Maybe neither short, nor succinct, yet hopefully useful none-the-less.