About the Agent for Microsoft Virtual Servers

The Symantec Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Virtual Servers (Agent for Microsoft Virtual Servers) is installed as a separate, add-on component of Backup Exec for Windows Servers.

With the Agent for Microsoft Virtual Servers, you can do the following:

The Agent for Microsoft Virtual Servers uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to protect the virtual server host configuration and virtual machines. VSS provides a copy of a volume when the backup job is initiated. The computer can then be backed up while applications and services run.

Backup Exec takes a snapshot backup of the virtual server host. The host in turn takes snapshots of all virtual machines on the host. This process enables Backup Exec to back up virtual servers without any downtime.

With an offline backup, the virtual machine is placed briefly in a saved state. The virtual machine does not remain in the saved state for the entire backup job.

The amount of downtime the backup job requires depends on the following:

You cannot use the Agent for Microsoft Virtual Servers to select individual files on a virtual machine for backup. However, you can use other Backup Exec agents, such as the SQL Agent or Exchange Agent, for file-level and application-level backups on virtual machines.

If you set up recurring jobs with a previous version of Backup Exec, you must either recreate the job or change the selection list to use Microsoft virtual servers.