The backup process in Windows 2008 server has taken a significant step forward in terms of usability from the Automated System Recovery (ASR) process of Windows 2003/XP and even more so when compared to the legacy NTbackup.exe process of yesteryear.   The new backup process integrates into the server manager console.  When you first open it up it immediately shows you a listing of all recent backups for the server.  The available actions to perform have also been greatly simplified and streamlined.  You are given the choice between performing the backup immediately, scheduling a backup, or performing a restore.

Earlier today I was able to make a backup of my test server with just a few simple mouse clicks. (See video above.)   I then took the backup and restore it to an alternate server.  (See video below.)

This by far has been the easiest system recovery I have ever performed outside of using imaging products such as Norton Ghost or Acronis.  For enterprise customers you're still going to want to consider some form of centralized backup product however for the small to mid enterprise customer using of the native tool in Windows 2008 is the easy, and cost-effective way to go.