In this configuration, the Virtual Server Agent and MediaAgent are installed on a physical server for SAN only backups with no data transferred over the LAN. A pure physical implementation will often provide the best performance and requires physical hardware with visibility into the storage network.
When to Use
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Data Stores are configured on Fibre Channel or iSCSI SAN (No NFS).
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Able to provide Physical Windows server with SAN access to Data Store LUNs
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Direct tape copies are required or physical MAs required for secondary operations.
When Not to Use
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SAN access to Data Store LUNs from outside ESX Server environment is not possible.
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SAN mode is not supported for backups of virtual machines that use VVol storage.