Which feature allows you to consolidate backup and recovery operations?

The feature that enables the consolidation of backup and recovery operations is vSphere Data Protection (VDP). This feature is designed specifically to integrate with vSphere environments, allowing for efficient backup and recovery processes using VMware snapshots. VDP offers a streamlined approach to data protection, ensuring that virtual machines can be easily backed up and restored within the same infrastructure.

Additionally, VDP supports features like deduplication, which minimizes storage space requirements for backups, and it allows for scheduled backups to ensure data is consistently protected without manual intervention. This consolidation simplifies management and reduces the complexity typically associated with separate backup solutions, making it easier for administrators to maintain data continuity in a virtualized environment.

In contrast, while VMware Site Recovery Manager focuses on disaster recovery automation and business continuity, vSphere High Availability is geared towards providing uptime by restarting virtual machines on other hosts in case of a hardware failure. vSAN Storage Policies are primarily concerned with managing storage characteristics and performance rather than backup and recovery operations. Thus, while each of these options contributes to overall system resilience, VDP is uniquely positioned to consolidate backup and recovery tasks effectively.