What about the agents...

[verre]

Hi everybody, I've one doubt about how and when Veeam installs an agent inside the guest. Veeam says that it is agent "free" in contrast of "agent-less" in order to highlight the difference compared to others competitors. I know that sometimes veeam installs his own patented agent before starting a backup and remove it after the backup is ended. My question is:
does Veeam use to install (and then remove) his agent only when "Enable application-aware image processing" is selected on the backup job? Or does Veeam install some agents in other situations, like, for example, when "enable guest file system indexing" is checked?

[Shestakov]

Hello Valentino,

My question is: does Veeam use to install (and then remove) his agent only when "Enable application-aware image processing" is selected on the backup job?

Veeam Backup & Replication does not deploy persistent agents inside VMs. Instead, it uses a runtime coordination process on every VM that is started once the backup operation is launched, and removed as soon as it is finished. This helps avoid agent-related drawbacks such as pre-installing, troubleshooting and updating.
When you enable guest file system indexing, VBR deploys a runtime process inside VM as well.
Thanks.

[verre]

Ok thanks. So no agent stay longer installed on guest.. it sounds good. Besides the two already mentioned scenarios, are there other situations in which Veeam installs agents inside guests?

[Shestakov]

Valentino,

Please read this post for the explaination of differences between Veeam's runtime process approach and classic agent-based solutions.

Thanks.

[DavidReimers]

Hi,

I've done a bit of searching and I can't find any threads talking about this, but I have a customer who has a definitive requirement to know.

Does Veeam install any sort of agent or driver in the guest VMs, either for VM-level backups or for guest/application processing?

Customer is currently using ShadowProtect, and StorageCraft are spreading FUD that Veeam isn't as good 'and it injects an agent into the VM, which is a security concern for many'.

Thanks,
Dave.

[DavidReimers]

Answered my own question. Found this after a Google search: veeam-backup-replication-f2/what-about- ... 24179.html

[veremin]

Generally speaking, agent means persistence, while AAIP runtime process is removed as soon as it's finished its activity. Thanks.