Server virtualization is quickly becoming a standard technology in many data centers today. While VMware augments hardware utilization significantly through the use of server virtualization, VMware’s Virtual Infrastructure (ESX) 3 also introduces new issues concerning the backup and recovery of virtual environments.

This paper describes several approaches that can be used to back up VMware ESX Server 3.x and its underlying components using Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 for Windows Servers and the Backup Exec Agent for VMware Virtual Infrastructure (AVVI). This paper also discusses the relative advantages and disadvantages of each method.