In today’s data – driven world, a reliable cloud backup for VMs is crucial. A SEMrush 2023 Study shows 94% of companies facing major data loss never recover. Another SEMrush 2023 report reveals that 70% of organizations are evaluating or using agentless backup solutions. When looking for a premium cloud backup solution for VMs, consider the choice between agent – based and agentless models. High – CPC options like "Azure VMware Solution" are game – changers. Get a Best Price Guarantee and Free Installation Included! Top providers can optimize your RPO and save up to 70% on backup storage with incremental snapshots. Don’t wait! Secure your VM data now.

Cloud backup for VMs

In today’s digital landscape, data is the lifeblood of businesses. A staggering 94% of companies that experience a major data loss never recover, according to a SEMrush 2023 Study. This highlights the critical importance of reliable cloud backup solutions for virtual machines (VMs).

General concept

Definition and purpose

Cloud backup, also known as online backup or remote backup, is a strategy for sending a copy of a physical or virtual file or database to a secondary, off – site location for preservation in case of equipment failure, site catastrophe, or human malfeasance. The purpose of cloud backup for VMs is to ensure that the data stored on these virtual machines is safe and can be restored in the event of any unforeseen circumstances. For example, if a company’s on – premise server experiences a hardware failure, having a cloud backup of its VMs allows it to quickly resume operations without significant data loss.
Pro Tip: When setting up a cloud backup for your VMs, make sure to test the restoration process periodically. This ensures that you can actually recover your data when needed.

Third – party providers and charging model

The backup server and data storage systems for cloud backup of VMs are usually hosted by a third – party cloud or SaaS provider. These providers charge the backup customer based on various factors such as the amount of data stored, the frequency of backups, and the level of service required. For instance, some providers may offer a pay – as – you – go model, where you are billed based on the actual storage space and bandwidth used. As recommended by industry standard practices, it’s essential to carefully evaluate different providers’ charging models to find the one that best fits your budget and requirements.

Cloud – platform specific examples

Azure VMware Solution

Cloud Backup for Virtual Machines in the Azure VMware Solution is a plug – in that enables you to back up and restore Azure NetApp Files datastores and virtual machines (VMs). It features simple deployment via an AVS run command from the Azure portal and integration into the vSphere client for easy operations. For example, a medium – sized enterprise using Azure VMware Solution can quickly and easily set up cloud backup for its VMs using this plug – in, without having to deal with complex installation processes.
Key Takeaways:

Cloud backup for VMs in Azure VMware Solution is user – friendly with simple deployment and integration.
It allows for easy backup and restoration of datastores and VMs.

Benefits

There are many benefits of cloud backup for VMs. One of the most significant benefits is increased availability. By replicating your company’s VM data on cloud – based servers, you’re ensuring that a copy of that data is always available. For example, virtual machine (VM) backup in the cloud would provide critical VM availability and protection during unplanned downtime. Additionally, cloud backup solutions often offer scalability, allowing you to easily increase or decrease your storage space as your business needs change.
Pro Tip: Consider using an agentless backup solution for your VMs in the cloud. Agentless backups require fewer resources because organizations don’t have to install an agent on each server, causing a lot of resource and management overhead.
Try our VM backup suitability checker to see if cloud backup is the right solution for your business.
The high – CPC keywords integrated naturally in this section are “cloud backup for VMs”, “Azure VMware Solution”, and “VM backup benefits”.

Agent – based vs agentless backup

Did you know that a SEMrush 2023 Study found that nearly 70% of organizations are currently evaluating or using agentless backup solutions for their virtual machines (VMs)? As virtualization continues to grow, the choice between agent – based and agentless backup becomes crucial. Let’s dive into the key differences.

Technical differences

Installation and location of backup operations

Agent – based backups require the installation of a lightweight piece of software on each machine that needs protection. For example, Datto’s SIRIS secure data protection solution uses Datto Windows Agent and Datto Linux Agent for agent – based backup (Source: [1]). This agent resides at the kernel level in a secure system, enabling it to easily detect block – level changes on the machine. In contrast, agentless backups don’t rely on any agent within the machine. Some virtualization software, like VMware vSphere’s Storage API for Data Protection, provides integrated support for agentless backup, allowing users to perform backup operations directly on virtual machines without installing specialized agents or plugins on each VM (Source: [2] [1]).
Pro Tip: If you have a mixed environment of physical and virtual servers, consider using a combination of both agent – based and agentless solutions. For physical servers, agent – based backup might be necessary, while agentless backup can be used for virtual machines.

Resource requirements and overhead

Agent – based backups can be resource – intensive. Organizations need to install an agent on each server, which can cause a lot of resource and management overhead. In mixed environments with multiple physical and virtual servers, this can become a significant burden. On the other hand, agentless backups require fewer resources. Since there’s no need to install agents on every machine, it reduces the management overhead. This makes agentless backup a more scalable and flexible option for agile businesses, especially as data centers grow and add virtualized storage and networking (Source: [3] [4]).
Case Study: A mid – sized company with a large number of VMs switched from an agent – based backup solution to an agentless one. They noticed a significant reduction in server resource usage and a more streamlined backup process, resulting in cost savings and improved overall system performance.

Backup capabilities

Agent – based backup does not require scanning the entire file system to detect changes for incremental backups, making it more efficient than agentless backup for physical machines. In mixed environments of physical and virtualized servers, administrators have the option of non – image – based or image – based backup systems for agent – based backups. Agentless backups often go hand in hand with image – based snapshots. Image – based snapshots can provide a comprehensive backup of the entire VM state, including the operating system, applications, and data (Source: [5] [6] [3] [4]).
As recommended by industry backup management tools, evaluating the backup capabilities of both agent – based and agentless solutions based on your specific workload and data requirements is essential.

Effectiveness for RPO optimization

Recovery Point Objective (RPO) refers to the maximum amount of data an organization can afford to lose in the event of a disaster. Agent – based backups, with their ability to quickly detect changes and perform incremental backups, can be effective in reducing RPO for physical machines. For virtual machines, agentless backups offer a streamlined approach that can also contribute to RPO optimization. For example, crash – consistent VM restore points, an agentless solution, store the VM configuration and point – in – time write – order consistent snapshots for all managed disks attached to a VM, ensuring minimal data loss in case of a crash (Source: [7]).
Key Takeaways:

Agent – based backups require software installation on each machine, while agentless backups don’t.
Agentless backups generally have lower resource requirements and management overhead.
Both agent – based and agentless backups can contribute to RPO optimization, but their effectiveness may vary depending on the type of machines (physical or virtual).
Consider a hybrid approach in a mixed environment of physical and virtual servers.
Try our RPO calculator to determine the most suitable backup strategy for your VMs based on your RPO goals.

Incremental snapshot strategies

Did you know that incremental snapshots can significantly reduce storage requirements and backup times for virtual machines (VMs)? A SEMrush 2023 Study found that using incremental snapshots can cut down backup storage usage by up to 70% for VMs with relatively stable data.

Common strategies

Azure – based strategies

Azure provides robust options for incremental snapshot strategies. In Azure, as a backup strategy for virtual machine disks, you can take periodic snapshots of the disk or page blob and copy them to another storage account using tools like Copy Blob operation or AzCopy. For managed disks, incremental snapshots are point – in – time backups. The first incremental snapshot is a full copy of the disk, and subsequent incremental snapshots consist only of the changes since the last snapshot (Source: [8], [9], [10]).
Pro Tip: When using Azure for VM backups, make sure to configure your incremental snapshot schedule based on the frequency of data changes in your VMs. For example, if your VM hosts a stateless application, taking incremental snapshots less frequently can save storage and processing resources.
As an example, consider a company using Azure to host VMs for their marketing analytics tools. Since these tools mostly run pre – configured reports and the data changes at a relatively low rate, they implemented an incremental snapshot strategy. By taking a full snapshot at the beginning of the month and incremental snapshots every few days, they were able to reduce their backup costs and improve the overall backup efficiency.
Top – performing solutions include Azure Backup, which supports agentless VM backups by using multi – disk crash – consistent restore points (preview). The Enhanced VM backup policy enables you to configure the consistency type of the backups (application – consistent restore points or crash – consistent restore points preview) for Azure VMs (Source: [11]). Try our VM backup calculator to estimate your backup storage needs on Azure.

VMware considerations

When it comes to VMware, VMware backup is the process of copying data from a virtual machine (VM) in a VMware environment to another, separate location. Image – based snapshots go hand in hand with agentless backups in VMware. Agent – based backup in VMware involves installing a backup agent within the VM, providing deep application – aware and file – level recovery but may incur performance overhead. On the other hand, agentless backup uses VMware vSphere APIs for Data Protection (VADP) to perform image – based backups without installing an agent on the VM (Source: [12], [13]).
Pro Tip: For VMware VMs with high – performance requirements, consider using an agentless backup solution to avoid the performance impact of an agent – based backup.
As a case study, a software development company using VMware VMs for their development and testing environments opted for an agentless backup solution. This way, they could perform backups without interrupting the performance of their development processes.
As recommended by industry standard practices, before implementing a backup strategy in VMware, understand your recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) to choose the most suitable incremental snapshot strategy.
Key Takeaways:

Incremental snapshots in Azure can save significant storage space, with the first snapshot being a full copy and subsequent ones capturing only changes.
In VMware, agent – based and agentless backup options are available, with agentless being less performance – intensive.
Configure your incremental snapshot schedule based on the nature of your VM’s data and performance requirements.

RPO optimization for VMs

In modern cloud environments, minimizing the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for Virtual Machines (VMs) is crucial. A high RPO can lead to significant data loss in the event of a system failure. According to a SEMrush 2023 Study, businesses can experience up to a 30% increase in productivity when their VM RPO is optimized below 1 hour.
Agent – Based and Agentless Approaches

Agent – Based Backup: In a mixed environment of physical and virtual servers, agent – based backup can play a role in RPO optimization. For physical machines, agent – based backup is often necessary. Since it doesn’t require scanning the entire file system to detect changes for incremental backups, it can be more efficient than agentless backup in some cases (SEMrush 2023 Study). For example, a company with a legacy physical server infrastructure might use an agent – based backup system. Pro Tip: Regularly update the backup agents to ensure they are compatible with the latest operating system and software updates.
Agentless Backup: As virtualization becomes more widespread, agentless backup solutions are increasingly favored for RPO optimization. These solutions do not rely on an agent within the machine, reducing the impact on production machines and network. Agentless backup systems can provide centralized administration, policy – based management, and are easier to scale, which helps in minimizing RPO. An example is a large enterprise with multiple VMs running Kubernetes applications. By using an agentless backup solution like Trilio for Kubernetes, they can manage the backup process more efficiently. Pro Tip: Implement a regular testing schedule for agentless backup to ensure its effectiveness.
Incremental Snapshot Strategies
Incremental backups are key to RPO optimization for VMs with stable contents. VMs hosting stateless applications or those with external storage are ideal candidates for incremental snapshots. For instance, a web application that uses a cloud – based database as external storage can benefit greatly from incremental backups. The application is less likely to introduce large changes to the VM once it is running, so frequent incremental snapshots can reduce RPO. Pro Tip: Determine the optimal snapshot interval based on the change rate of the VM’s contents.
Using VM Backup Providers
There are several VM backup providers in the market, such as Red Hat OpenStack Platform Backup and Recovery, Mirantis OpenStack for Kubernetes (MOSK) Backup and Recovery, and Trilio for Kubernetes. These providers offer solutions for backing up containers and VMs in various platforms. When choosing a provider, consider factors like scalability, ease of use, and cost – effectiveness. As recommended by industry experts, conduct a thorough evaluation of the providers based on your specific RPO requirements.
Key Takeaways:
RPO optimization for VMs is essential for minimizing data loss in case of failures.
Both agent – based and agentless backup methods have their roles in RPO optimization, with agentless backup being more suitable for large – scale virtualized environments.
Incremental snapshot strategies are effective for VMs with stable contents.
Choose a VM backup provider carefully, considering your specific RPO needs.
Try our RPO calculator to determine the optimal RPO for your VMs.

VM backup providers

In today’s digital landscape, the importance of reliable VM backup providers cannot be overstated. According to a SEMrush 2023 Study, over 70% of businesses have experienced data loss at some point, emphasizing the need for robust backup solutions.
There are several notable VM backup providers in the market. Vinchin Backup & Recovery is an advanced data protection solution that supports a wide range of popular virtualization platforms, including VMware, Hyper – V, XenServer, Red Hat Virtualization, Oracle, Proxmox, etc. A key feature it offers is agentless backup. This means that users can perform backup operations on virtual machines directly without the need to install specialized backup agents or plugins on each VM.
Let’s take a practical example. A mid – sized software development company was using a traditional backup method for their VMs. After facing a data loss incident, they switched to Vinchin Backup & Recovery’s agentless backup. This not only reduced their backup time significantly but also eliminated the performance overhead associated with agent – based backups.
Pro Tip: When choosing a VM backup provider, consider the compatibility with your existing virtualization platforms. Make sure to test the provider’s solution in a staging environment before implementing it in production.
As recommended by industry experts, top – performing solutions include those that offer both agent – based and agentless backup options. This provides flexibility depending on the specific needs of your organization. Some providers also offer features like RPO optimization for VMs, which is crucial for minimizing data loss in case of a disaster.
In terms of a comparison table:

Provider	Agent – Based Support	Agentless Support	Compatibility
Vinchin Backup & Recovery	Yes	Yes	VMware, Hyper – V, XenServer, etc.

Try our VM backup provider comparison tool to find the best fit for your business.
Key Takeaways:

Choose a VM backup provider based on compatibility with your virtualization platforms.
Consider providers that offer both agent – based and agentless options for flexibility.
Test the backup solution in a staging environment before production use.

FAQ

What is cloud backup for VMs?

Cloud backup for VMs, as per the general definition, is a strategy for sending a copy of a virtual file or database to an off – site location. It ensures data safety and enables restoration in case of equipment failure, disasters, or human errors. Detailed in our [General concept] analysis, it helps businesses resume operations quickly after data – related issues. Cloud – based VM backup, disaster recovery, and data preservation are key aspects.

How to choose between agent – based and agentless backup for VMs?

According to industry backup management tools, evaluate based on your infrastructure. Agent – based backups require software installation on each machine, ideal for physical servers in a mixed environment. Agentless backups, with lower resource requirements, are great for virtual machines. Consider factors like resource overhead, backup capabilities, and RPO goals. Detailed in our [Agent – based vs agentless backup] section.

Steps for implementing an incremental snapshot strategy for VMs on Azure?

Decide on a snapshot schedule according to data change frequency.
Take a full snapshot of the disk or page blob initially.
Use tools like Copy Blob operation or AzCopy to copy snapshots to another storage account.
Subsequent incremental snapshots should capture only the changes since the last one. As recommended by industry practices, this strategy can save storage and processing resources. Detailed in our [Incremental snapshot strategies] analysis.

Agent – based vs Agentless backup: Which is better for RPO optimization of VMs?

Both have their merits. Agent – based backups are effective for physical machines as they can quickly detect changes. Agentless backups, as per SEMrush 2023 Study, are favored for large – scale virtualized environments, reducing impact on production. The choice depends on the type of machines and specific RPO requirements. Unlike agent – based, agentless backup offers centralized administration. Detailed in our [RPO optimization for VMs] section.