Acronis Backup for VMware 9 - User Guide - Manual (Page 20)

20 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2013
4.2 Installation options
The very first thing you have to do is to install Acronis Backup for VMware software, configure your
ESX(i) host connection settings and set up your access credentials to Acronis Backup for VMware web
console.
When you run your Acronis Backup for VMware installation package, the installation menu appears.
Acronis Backup for VMware has three main installation options:

Install Acronis Backup for VMware as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) host.

Install Acronis Backup for VMware as Windows Agent.

Extract installation files.
The first option allows you to install the software on a remote ESX(i) host (see Installing Acronis
Backup for VMware as Virtual Appliance on an ESX(i) Host (p. 21)).
The second option allows you to install Acronis Backup for VMware software on your local PC (see
Installing Acronis Backup for VMware as Windows Agent (p. 22)).
The third option allows you to extract the installation files (see Extracting installation files (p. 24))
and perform either Acronis Backup for VMware remote deployment or local installation manually
with the help of standard installation tools. You can always choose this option, if you would need to
manage or troubleshoot your Virtual Appliance / Windows Agent installation without the default
installer, or if you would need to install only a certain component without carrying out the full
installation procedure.
There are several reasons why Acronis Backup for VMware Virtual Appliance deployment to an ESX(i)
host is preferable over Acronis Backup for VMware Windows Agent installation. These reasons are:
1. Your backups will be LAN-free without additional setup effort (you don’t have to connect the
FC/iSCSI storage to the Windows machine where you run the Agent).
2. The hotadd method used by Virtual Appliance (attaching virtual drives to Virtual Appliance during
backup) is usually fastest possible to get access to the VM data for reading.
3. Virtual Appliance is free from possible software compatibility issues (such as 3rd party NFS
servers or other services which may block the ports).
4. It is easier to maintain Virtual Appliance and you don’t have to have a dedicated Windows
machine for it. Surely it is a better choice if your infrastructure is fully virtualized.
5. Virtual Appliance is easier and faster to install.
The disadvantage of Virtual Appliance is that the backup will consume CPU and memory resources
from the ESX(i) host, which may be a problem for highly loaded environments. In this case, if you
have a physical computer available to be used as a console for managing all Backup for VMware
functionality, you can choose to install the Backup for VMware Windows Agent locally.