About the Remote Agent for Windows Systems

The Symantec Backup Exec Remote Agent for Windows and NetWare Systems (Remote Agent) is installed as a separate, add-on component that must be used for the backup and restore of remote Windows or NetWare resources. This section details how to protect remote Windows resources.

Specific information on protecting remote NetWare resources is available.

See About backing up NetWare servers.

The Remote Agent is a system service that runs on remote Windows servers and workstations. The Remote Agent provides faster backup processing by locally performing tasks that in typical backup technologies, require extensive network interaction. The Remote Agent processes backup data into a continuous stream that the media server then processes as a single task. This method provides better data transfer rates over traditional technologies, which require multiple requests and acknowledgments between the media server and the remote server.

The Remote Agent enables you to do the following:

Back up and restore in firewall environments.
Back up and restore using a specified local network if the media server and the remote computer are on the same subnet.
Display the remote computer in the media server's Favorite Resources node.
Attain significant performance increases when running modified backups (for example, differential and incremental). This occurs because file selection is performed locally by the Remote Agent instead of across the network as performed by traditional network backup applications.

Note:

Network hardware has a major impact on performance. Performance is directly related to the capabilities of the networking hardware in the media server and the remote device. Higher network bandwidth ratings also contribute to faster operation processing.