Microsoft SQL Server and VMware Virtual Infrastructure best pratices
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You can also use VMware Consolidated Backup or the snapshot capabilities provided by your
storage vendor. When you understand the recovery point objectives and recovery time objectives
for your SQL Server databases, you can define which of the above options is appropriate for your
environment. ESX supports the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) framework, so you can use a
VSS-compliant solution to create application-consistent copies of data with any of these backup
options.
So the sort answer is no - it VSS framework that ensure MS SQL is in a consistant state. VSS is also in use for Exchange and Shadow Copy Components backups.
