Do I really need agents?

[ashounsome]

We've been using ArcserveIT and Veritas for years without any agents. I have been told that you can't back up SQL or Exchange server properly without them - is this true? Also is Veritas one stop disaster recovery agent worth considering buying?

 

[SQLBill]

Concerning the SQL Agent...it depends. How do you plan on doing your SQL backups? If you are planning on using Veritas to do the backup straight from the database, you need the agent. It does what the native SQL backup does. If you use the native SQL backup to go to disk and then Veritas to backup that file to tape, you don't need the agent.

Everything I've read in this forum and others devoted to SQL Server say to use SQL Server to backup to disk and then use Veritas to copy the backup file to tape.

-SQLBill

 

[ashounsome]

Many thanks for your reply. We are reliant on tape backup only at the moment so I guess that I ought to buy the agents