Backup functionality can be combined in one application server or moved to a specialized server and modularized architecture.
A master backup server that maintains schedules and data catalogues for the entire enterprise and controls the copy of data to backup media. Backup clients—computers with data to back up.
Here our master backup server and our media server components are on the same box. So this would issue the request, you’re going to backup to this resource, the backup client would read the data that needs to be backed up, whether its all of it or whether its just changed files, at that point it would pass the information across the LAN, it would get written to tape. The tape index would get built and stored on our master backup server. So now we have a catalogue of what information is on what tape and what position it’s in on what tape. As we grow, we might want to separate out the media server function.