1. 5 Pitfalls of Agent-based Solutions

2. The Problem With Agents
The use of agents with a backup and recovery
solution (either a tape or a disk-to-disk (D2D)
product), has a direct impact on data security,
recoverability, and costs. IT managers know the
downsides that accompany agent-based
solutions.

3. 5 Pitfalls of Agent-based Solutions
1. Compromised Security
2. More pieces of software to manage and to fail
3. Exorbitant licensing fees
4. Mounting administrative costs
5. Application disruption

4. Compromised Security
A port in the firewall must be opened for every
agent. Since almost every agent has
administrative privileges, it effectively creates
vulnerability in the server architecture. Hackers
need only to tap into the agent to attack the
server. With no in-flight encryption, agents put
data at risk during transmission from the remote
office to the data center.
CC Image courtesy of Daniela on Flickr

5. More pieces of software
to manage and to fail
More sites, more data, more applications, more
users, more systems, more agents—growth
makes everything harder to manage—agents
only compound the problem. As infrastructure
expands in size and complexity, problem
diagnosis takes longer.
CC Image courtesy of Wheeler on Flickr

6. Exorbitant licensing fees
Traditional software vendors charge for
software based on the old per-system model.
This is costly and requires customers to closely
monitor their complex system and user
landscapes. For many growing organizations,
buying a site license is actually a simpler
solution — albeit even more costly and often
unnecessary — than trying to keep track of
backup products installed across hundreds or
thousands of machines.
CC Image courtesy of johnr71 on Flickr

7. Mounting administrative costs
Each time a data center administrator or service provider
has to deploy an agent, or intervene to support it at a
remote site, cost rolls back into the business model
making it increasingly difficult to remain competitive.
CC Image courtesy of 401(k) 2012 on Flickr

8. Application disruption
Each time a hot fix or new version of the
software is released, the agents must be
upgraded too. This upgrade process requires a
reboot of the server that the agent resides on.
Unfortunately, this application disruption must
be repeated for every affected server on the
network.
CC Image courtesy of Irma on Flickr

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