5 Pitfalls of Agent-based Solutions

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.

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

Compromised SecurityA 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

More pieces of software to manage and to failMore 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

Exorbitant licensing feesTraditional 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

Mounting administrative costsEach 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

Application disruptionEach 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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