Advantages and Disadvantages of AOFO

Hi,

When doing normal file backups, AOFO is a must. It will back up the file even if it is in use (and NOT on the Backup Exec Active File Exclusion list...like *.edb for instance). You need this selected otherwise you face likely backup job failures when BE cannot access, and back up files like *.doc for example.

That's the major advantage to it.

the disadvantage? If you use AOFO with databases (eg. SQL/Exchange), you run the risk of being in a position where you cannot do a redirected restore of an SQL DB to another server, or Exchange logs not clearing for example. For this reason it is advised not to use AOFO when backing up databases.

If you were backing up databases and normal data, the recommendation is to split your jobs...assign the data job to use AOFO, and deselect it for any databases.

Thanks!