Backup and recovery software typically requires you to install an agent onto every server you want to backup. Agents create a whole host of problems, even in a modest-sized environment, however agentless backup solutions don’t require any agents to be installed. Instead they reach out over the network to backup operating systems, file systems, and applications, using industry-standard programming interfaces, which inherently makes it easier to install and support than other backup and recovery solutions.

The key benefits of an agentless backup solution like BrightCloud Backup are:

1. Significant savings

Even if backup agents were free, an agentless solution would still provide huge savings. First-year operating expenses alone approach an estimated £100,000 for an enterprise environment with 1,000 server agents. Annual server maintenance and operating expenses for this same configuration add up to nearly £45,000. An agentless solution eliminates those operating costs in addition to the purchase price of the agents.

2. Simple licensing

We offer businesses a unique pay-as-you-grow pricing model instead of the traditional agent-based pricing, based simply on the amount of compressed backup data stored. Customers purchase our software the same as disk capacity — no license fees, no tracking, no overspending on site licenses — paying only for compressed storage capacity consumed.

3. One piece of software to install, manage, and diagnose

Our software even upgrades itself, so there are no time-consuming and resource-draining updates required for the hundreds or perhaps thousands of systems on typical enterprise networks.

4. WAN/LAN/CPU resource conservation

Our software runs with negligible impact on servers, workstations, and laptops, eliminating the drain on CPU resources associated with agent-based solutions. Data reduction technologies also minimise the impact on bandwidth and storage resources. While traditional agent-based backup and recovery solutions require implementation of high-speed connections between the central data centre and remote offices, we work with existing links such as DSL.

5. Robust, hardcoded security

Our solution provides extremely safe in-flight and at-rest data security utilising up to 256 bit AES encryption. And it works within the organisation’s security framework—there are no agents to open hacker-tempting ports in the firewall. With secure data transmission across an IP WAN, we help businesses achieve compliance, minimise information-loss liabilities, and protect customer confidence.

6. Elegant scaling

The software is capable of elegantly scaling both in the dimensions of capacity and performance. This type of scalability is critical for environments with large numbers of remote sites, high-capacity data sets, and rapid data growth. While agent-based solutions compound complexity in rapid growth environments, our agentless backup and recovery solution easily accommodates new capacity, new applications, and new sites. Features such as integrated load balancing ensure efficiency across multiple system IP addresses.

7. Backup consistency, improved recoverability

The simplicity, efficiency, and security of the system makes it easy for remote sites to implement and maintain consistent data backup programs. This means companies can significantly boost data recoverability in locations where success rates below 50% were once the norm.