VMware® ESX Server supports several different backup methods, including the agent-based, server-free backup provided by VMware Consolidated Backup. Many organizations choose to adopt multiple backup solutions to address different recovery needs: one for file-level restores, one for full virtual server image restores, and yet another for application-consistent backups of databases and applications. Solutions that provide application-consistent backups--ensuring that the backup data is in a recoverable state--add to the complexity when they make you shut down or quiesce your databases and applications during backup. Multiple solutions with multiple processes can give you a data management headache.