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VSS vs. Empyreal Systems Online Backup with Open Files Agent
VSS
Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) was created to provide a backup and recovery infrastructure for the Windows Server 2003 operating system. It includes a mechanism for creating point-in-time copies of data to preserve relational integrity. While the Service can provide coverage for some missed files during backups, there are limitations because many business applications are either non-VSS aware or IT administrators are using VSS to backup file-only servers.
The Dilemma
The VSS framework coordinates VSS compliant backup applications (requestors), business applications (writers), and storage snapshot technology (providers) to enable reliable storage backup and recovery. Backup applications and business applications must be VSS compliant in order to benefit from the VSS framework. However, many applications are not VSS compliant and may never be updated to be compliant because of development and maintenance costs. Also, VSS cannot predict or control the I/O flow of such legacy applications. The VSS solution to legacy writer support is to provide “crash consistency”. This means that VSS only guarantees file system integrity and does not guarantee legacy writer transaction integrity. If the VSS snapshot is created while a legacy writer transaction is in progress, the snapshot will contain a partial transaction and will be corrupt.
Don’t Take Chances; Use Empyreal Systems Online Backup Service with Open File Agent.
If you are unsure about any applications’ VSS-compliancy status, don’t take chances with legacy backup solutions or VSS alone; use Empyreal Systems Online Backup Service in conjunction with your current plan and insure data integrity during backups. If other servers in your network are managed by anything other than Empyreal Systems Remote Backup Service with OFA support built in your taking chances of possibly having incomplete backups and corrupt files. If you have file-only servers or applications and related files on separate servers and you want to guarantee the integrity of your backups, use Empyreal Systems Online Backup Service with Open File Agent in conjunction with your current backup strategy or VSS. Make Empyreal Systems Online Backup service part of your disaster recover plan today.
