Hi.
I am using both SBE and BESR. I often get the question: "What's the difference between SBE and BESR?".
Here are the answers I give:
Physical servers:
- SBE for backing up data (File Server, SQL Server, Exchange, Active Directory...) - Daily backups...
- BESR for backing up entire systems (Windows Server) - Weekly backups...
Virtual servers:
- SBE for backing up data
- SBE for backing up systems
Physical servers can be backed up with SBE only. It's just less handy to restore an entire server with SBE than BESR. When it comes to virtual servers, no hesitation, I would go with SBE only. With vSphere Essentials Edition you'll get VMware vStorage APIs to facilitate the backup of your VMs using SBE.
Of course BESR can do both, data and system backups. I just think it's not as good as SBE for data. If someone has to buy a product, I would always go for SBE. The ability to use a tape is a good way of externalizing data. It's often compulsory due to legal regulations.
Regards.
Bob