>>> READ FIRST : [FAQ] FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS v5 <<<

[Gostev]

Guest File System Indexing and Search

Q: I have multiple sites and more than one Veeam Backup server. Will the guest file search show results across all Veeam Backup servers?
A: Yes, as long as all your Veeam Backup servers are federated in the Enterprise Manager.

Q: Will turning on indexing slow down my backups?
A: No, instead of actually scanning through the whole file systems like some competitive solution do, we capture index data directly from NTFS MFT as a part of guest OS freeze process. Required MFT data is captured nearly instantly, which is we are calling it Instant Indexing.

Q: Does the indexing functionality require more CPU power on the Veeam Backup server or Veeam Enterprise Manager server?
A: No, creating the “catalog” of all files inside the backed-up image is done by Veeam Backup servers, not by the Enterprise Manager server. Enterprise Manager only displays search results, whereas actual catalog indexing and search is offloaded by Microsoft Search Server (we support both Search Server 2008 and 2010). The Microsoft Search Server Express edition is free and is sufficient for smaller deployments.

Q: Is Microsoft Search Server required to be able to browse guest file system?
A: No, browsing guest files for specific VM and restore point does not require Microsoft Search Server and is available natively.

Q: My index is too large, and single Microsoft Search Server no longer scales.
A: Just add additional Microsoft Search Server, and Enterprise Manager will automatically load-balance global catalog between them.

Q: Is Microsoft Search Server 2010 better than Microsoft Search Server 2008?
A: Yes, it has a few times better capacity at a cost of increased system requirements. To significantly increase capacity of any version, upgrade to licensed version of Microsoft Search Server, and use licensed Microsoft SQL server for Microsoft Search Server backend database.

Q: Would you suggest putting the Veeam Backup Search on its own server? Is catalog crawl CPU intensive?
A: This is not recommended if your Veeam Backup server hardware is fairly weak. Catalog crawl is quite resource intensive task that can consume significant chunks of server CPU, thus affecting backup performance.

Q: I have fairly large environment, but want to stick with free Microsoft Search Server Express edition, do you have any recommendations?
A: Index only those VMs you really need to index (for example, file servers only). Index only selected folders on your VMs (for example, only user home folders on your file servers). If you are still running out of capacity, just deploy additional Microsoft Search Servers.

Q: Is the Instant Indexing feature only available with Veeam Enterprise Manager?
A: You do not need Enterprise Manager to create the local catalog, but you have to install Enterprise Manager server to be able to browse and search for guest files in VM backups, and maintain global catalog across multiple backup servers. Also, please see the Standard vs. Enterprise Edition comparison document on product page under Resources tab for more information about slight differences in Instant Indexing feature set depending on your Veeam Backup license level.

Q: Where does the index database reside?
A: Local catalog is stored directly on the Veeam Backup server, in the location specified during setup. Global catalog (across all backup servers) is located on the Enterprise Manager server. Additionally, index is also stored in the backup file itself (and so is immediately available for all imported backups).

Q: What do I need to backup to protect index database?
A: You need to backup Enterprise Manager server, since this is what holds global catalog (across all backup servers). Backing up local catalog data on Veeam Backup servers is not required, since any new index data that appears there is automatically (and incrementally) replicated to the global catalog.

Q: It looks like guest file index is missing some files?
A: By default, we do not index Windows system and temp folders to reduce the index size.

[Gostev]

vPower Engine

Q: Do any of the new v5 vPower features depend on certain versions of VMWare, vCenter, etc.?
A: No, there are no dependencies on VMware product versions. We support all currently available versions of VI3 and vSphere 4.

Q: Do any of the v5 features depend on certain VMware license levels?
A: No, there are no dependencies on VMware license levels. But note that Storage vMotion is not included in some VMware editions, so you may want to get Acceleration Kit with Storage VMotion, and upgrade one of your hosts with it. Having Storage vMotion makes Instant VM Recovery a smoother experience.

Q: Will any of the new capabilities require the Veeam Backup server to be run in a virtual machine?
A: No, this is not required.

Q: Do I have to store our backups on NFS datastore in order to be able to use vPower?
A: No, you can keep using whatever backup storage you are using today. vPower engine is backup storage-agnostic. If you can backup to that storage, it can be used with vPower.

Q: How do I create the vPower NFS datastore?
A: You do not create it manually, the process is 100% automated.

Q: Where exactly vPower NFS server runs?
A: NFS server runs directly on Veeam Backup server. Because VMware ESX(i) uses vmKernel interface to access NFS storage, ESX(i) host you are using for any vPower functionality must have vmKernel interface on the same network as Veeam Backup server. You can simply add additional vmKernel interface in ESX(i) host configuration. Otherwise, mounting vPower NFS on ESX(i) host will fail.

Q: How does it deal with RDM disk? We use file servers and SQL servers using RDM to an Equallogic volume.
A: vPower supports vRDM disks (virtual mode), but not pRDM (physical mode). Because snapshots are not possible on the latter, pRDM disks are automatically excluded from backup.

[Gostev]

Virtual Lab

Q: Do I need to create virtual lab for Instant VM Recovery?
A: No. Instant VM Recovery feature is available even in Standard Edition, which does not provide ability to create virtual labs.

Q: What exactly this "virtual lab" is?
A: By virtual lab we mean automatically managed, fully isolated environment where VMs can be run directly from backup file to facilitate features such as universal application item recovery (U-AIR), SureBackup (Recovery Verification) and On-Demand Sandbox. Virtual lab uses isolated virtual networks that mirror production networks, and uses proxy appliance for routing between production and isolated networks, and between isolated networks. Each virtual lab places all temporarty VMs in the designated folder and resource pool. You can use resource pool to control resource usage of virtual lab VMs.

Q: How does the proxy appliance work?
A: The proxy appliance allows to route traffic between computers in the production network, and temporary VMs running from backup in the isolated network. Think about proxy appliance as your home router, which routes traffic between your home network and internet.

Q: Do you change temporary VMs IP addresses to prevent IP conflicts for VMs which are already running in production?
A: In fact, all temporary VMs in the isolated network have exact same IP addresses as in production network. IP address conflicts are simply not possible, as different VLANs are used for production and isolated networks.

Q: How is it possible to access temporary VMs in the isolated network from production network, if VMs in both networks have the same IP addresses?
A: Each temporary VM is assigned so called "masquerade address" from selected masquerade network (part of virtual lab settings). Routing table on Veeam Backup server is automatically updated, and proxy appliance IP address in the production network is assigned as gateway for masquerade network. Acting as gateway, the proxy appliance performs address translation and substitutes masquerade IP address with real IP address in the isolated network. Although this sounds pretty complex, all happens transparently for you as a user.

Q: What if i want all computers on the network to be able to access those temporary VMs running in the virtual lab?
A: You should assign the proxy appliance static IP address in the virtual lab settings, and update your production router settings to forward all request destined into masquerade network (as configured in virtual lab settings) to the proxy appliance IP address. Alternatively, if you only need to access select VMs in the isolated network, you can use virtual lab's Static Address Mapping feature and point specific IP addresses in the production network to selected IP addresses in the isolated network. Proxy appliance will grab specified production IP addresses for its production network interface, and will take care of routing automatically.

[Gostev]

Instant VM Recovery

Q: What is Instant VM Recovery?
A: Instant VM Recovery allows you to instantly recover any VM into your production environment by running it directly from backup file. Best analogy is that this gives you "spare tyre" so that you can get to a service shop. You cannot go at full speed, but you are still going instead of being stuck in woods. To complete the restore, you can use Storage VMotion to migrate the recovered VM to production storage without any impact on users (this is like changing spare tyre to a real one as you go). Alternatively, if your VMware license does not include Storage VMotion, you can move VM to production storage during off-hours with replication, VM Copy or File Copy (this is like pulling over to a service shop to change tire). Note that Instant VM Recovery supports bulk operations (publish/unpublish multiple VMs at once).

Q: As a percentage, what's the difference in performance when running a VM that has been replicated versus one that’s running from a backup file?
A: It depends on many factors (backup files location, storage speed of Veeam Backup server, number of concurrently running insta-recovered VMs). Generally, for all low I/O server (such as DC, DNS, DHCP, WWW, AV, PRING) the performance difference will be hardly noticeable. Impact on high I/O servers will be much more noticeable, because vPower NFS throughtput is limited.

Q: What will disable Storage vMotion when you do an Instant VM Recovery?
A: Choosing a VMFS datastore as the change storage location, versus storing the changes in temporary storage on the Veeam Backup server (which is the default behavior).

Q: Our VMware license does not provide Storage VMotion. What are my options to complete the restore?
A: Consider upgrading one of your hosts with VMware Acceleration Kit that enable Storage VMotion (well worth it). Alternative, simply perform failover during the next maintenance window. To do that, you can use FastSCP/File Copy/VM Copy/Replication functionality of Veeam Backup). Unlike with Storage VMotion, these approaches require some downtime. However, this is still beneficial as this allows you to convert unplanned downtime (which is what cost businesses money) into planned downtime during your regular maintenance windows.

Q: Will Storage VMotion, Replication or VM Copy carry over the actual, latest VM disks state (including delta from backup state)?
A: Yes, this happens automatically.

Q: What happens if Veeam Backup server fails when you have instantly recovered VMs running?
A: Just what happens when your production storage fails - nothing pretty. Although the chance of consequent failures of 2 different storage devices is pretty unlikely to say the least. It is like getting a hole in your newly placed tire...

Q: With the instant VM recovery feature present, why would you replicate?
A: 2 big reasons: not to have dependencies on Veeam Backup server to run the VM, plus full disk I/O performance in case of disaster (important for large-scale disasters).

Q: Will Instant VM Recovery work with RDM that have been backed up?
A: Yes. RDM in virtual mode is backed up as VMDK and are available directly in the backup file. RDM in physical mode is skipped during backup, however there is nothing preventing instantly recovered VMs from connecting and using it.

[Gostev]

Manual Recovery Verification

Q: I have v5 Standard Edition that is advertized to have "manual" SureBackup recovery verification. What is the process?
A: To perform manual recovery verification, you should use Instant VM Recovery feature. For example, for simple VM boot up test, just go through the Instant VM Recovery wizard and power on VM, but do not select a checkbox to connect VM to a network.

Q: I performed boot up test as described above, and while VM booted fine, most applications could not start?
A: This is expected because there is no network connectivity, so application cannot establish connection to domain controller, DNS servers, and other services it is dependent on. If you want to test application recovery, create isolated network and edit instantly recovered VM network configuration with vSphere Client before powering it on. Perform this for all required VMs which run dependent applications (such as DC and DNS), placing them all on the same isolated network, and start them in correct order (for example, DNS > DC > Application).

Q: This sounds very similar to what we are already doing during our monthly/quarterly/annual DR tests. What is the catch?
A: The catch is that with Veeam, you are able to run VMs directly from backup files, without spending many hours of extracting all those VMs from backup to production storage. Even finding free disk space alone (to extract all required backups) often becomes a challenge. So DR test that would previously take a whole weekend can now be completed in less than 30 mins.

Q: This manual process sounds too complex to perform for every backup, every VM, every time as your marketing materials state?
Q: That is right, which is why v5 Enterprise Edition provides fully automated recovery verification that performs all of the tasks described above automatically, including running required test scripts against each VM. It even creates and manages isolated test environment automatically for you. This allows you to perform DR test every single day, with review of email report showing recovery verification job results being the only manual activity in the whole process.

[Gostev]

Application Groups

Q: What is Application Group?
A: Application Group is our way to handling application dependencies for any VMs running in the isolated environment. Simplest example is Microsoft Exchange server - if you power it on in the isolated environment which does not have DNS server and Domain Controller present, mailbox store will not start.

Q: Can you give an example of what is typical Application Group looks like for small Windows shop.
A: Any application group should contain at least DNS server for name resolution, and directory server for authentication. In Windows world and smaller environments, both services are typically provided by Domain Controller, so application groups may look like these (put DNS before DC if DNS server is separate):
Exchange: DC > Exchange
FTP Server: DC > File Server > IIS
SharePoint: DC > SQL > SharePoint

Q: Can you give an example of what typical Application Group looks like for small Linux shop with no directory services used.
A: Any application group should contain at least DNS server for name resolution. Application groups may look like these:
CMS: DNS > MySQL > Apache w/CMS code
CRM: DNS > Oracle > CRM Server

Q: I have pretty static and small environment with just a few VMs. How should I configure application groups?
A: Simply put all of your VMs in a few application groups keeping in mind the required boot order. You can create one group per application, or you can have more than one application per group, or even all of them in a single group.

Q: I have a large and dynamic environment with many VMs created and deleted daily. Micro-managing application groups is hardly possible.
A: We have thought of that. In this case, you should setup your application groups to contain essential infrastructure services only (for example, DNS and DC is something almost every application in Windows shop depends on). Now, SureBackup jobs provide you with capability to "link" this application group and one or more of your backup jobs together. With such setup, SureBackup first starts the application group VMs and leaves them running for the duration of job, and then proceeds to powering on VMs from linked backup jobs one by one for verification. As a result, as you are adding or removing VMs from environment, they will be automatically added to backup jobs (granted you have backup job setup on container basis), which in turn will make them processed as a part of SureBackup job without requiring you to edit its settings.

[Gostev]

SureBackup (Recovery Verification)

Q: Can you please go over of the whole concept and what it is all about?
A: See the following high-level video (for desciption of concept and architecture), and more technical demo (contains pre-release UI).

Q: What is SureBackup job?
A: SureBackup jobs perform actual recovery verification by powering on one or more VMs in the isolated environment, and verifying recovery by checking if VM was started, OS was booted, VM responds to ping, and VM applications are running fine. SureBackup job is also the key component of U-AIR and On-Demand sandbox functionality.

Q: What exactly is verified by the SureBackup job? VM availability, OS boot up or also applications?
A: All of this. There are 4 steps or level of recovery verification:
1. Check for successful VM startup (API call results). For example, if virtual disk is missing from backup file, or if disk descriptor file is corrupted, VM will not start and vCenter will tell SureBackup the issue.
2. Check for successful OS boot up by checking VM heartbeat. If OS does not boot, then VMware Tools service will never start and heartbeat will never appear.
3. Check for network connectivity by pinging VM. If VM never appears on the network, this also indicates in some recovery issue.
4. Check VM applications by running test scripts against them. If application does not respond to test script with expected results, this indicates recovery issue.

Q: Are all of the above tests mandatory?
A: No. You can define which tests you want to use granularly for each VM, container, or linked backup job.

Q: Which VMs will be verified by SureBackup job?
A: All VMs from the selected application group (these run for the duration of the job providing required infrastructure services), and all VMs from linked backup jobs (these are simply started, verified and stopped one by one).

Q: I can see that it is possible setup SureBackup job without specifying application group to use. How so?
A: If you do not care to verify application recoverability, and just want to make sure VM can boot up, then you do not need to worry about some applications possibly not starting because of missing dependencies, and thus you do not need an application group to start and run those dependencies first. Just stuff your SureBackup job with linked backup jobs, and make sure application test scripts are disabled to avoid getting verification error reports.

Q: If I have not virtualized my Domain Controllers, how do you bring instances of those inside the virtual fenced lab?
A: You have to have at least one virtualized domain controller.

Q: I received report that verification had failed for one of the VMs. How can I quickly see what is going on?
Q: Open the corresponding SureBackup job session, locate the VM in question, right-click it and choose to restart it. Click the hyperlink under VM name to open its console (or use vSphere client), and troubleshoot the recovery issue manually.

Q: Verification procedure for some application we have is a manual process that cannot be scripted. What is our best option?
A: Create dedicated application groups for these applications. Create SureBackup job with this application group, select the Keep VM running checkbox, and schedule the job with the required period (say, once a week after full backup). VMs will sit there and wait for staff responsible for manual recovery verification to come in the morning and perform the required tests by connecting to VM with vSphere Client.

[Gostev]

On-Demand Sandbox

Q: How do I setup a sandbox?
A: Create new application group and stuff it with VMs you want to be available in sandbox. Create new SureBackup job, select the newly created application group, and select "Keep VMs running" checkbox. Now, simply run the SureBackup job. As soon all VM in the job start, your sandbox is ready! Use vSphere Client to open consoles to VMs running in the sandbox, and do what you need to do! Or, simply connect to applications running in sandbox with native management tools you are using to manage the same application in your production environment.

Q: When I start SureBackup job, it always runs using latest backups - but I need to go 1 week ago?
A: To start SureBackup to restore point other than latest backup, right-click the job, select "Start To" in the short-cut menu, and select the desired date and time to start the job to.

Q: I can ping and access sandbox VMs running in the isolated environment by masquearade IP address from backup server, but not from any other computer?
A: This is because routing table was updated automatically on Veeam Backup server as a part of SureBackup job. If you execute route print you will see one of routes pointing to proxy appliance IP address in production network. So, to make other computers able to access sandbox VMs, you should either update their local routing table (note that Universal AIR wizard does this automatically), or configure router in your environment accordingly to make this work for all computers at once (however, it might be easier to use Static Mapping feature of the virtual lab instead).

[Gostev]

U-AIR Workflow

Q: Can you explain the problem this functionality is addressing?
A: Please refer to the following blog post for more details: Separation of Permissions in Backup and Recovery

Q: I am the only admin in a small environment. Do I have to use this workflow in order to be able to restore application items?
A: No, obviously we do not want you to spend time creating and approving lab requests for yourself. As backup administrator, you can simply right-click any VM in the running SureBackup job session, and start application-item recovery procedure immediately. Just make sure AIR wizards are installed on your Veeam Backup server.

Q: How it works from end user perspective?
A: User perspective:
1. Install AIR wizard depending on the application you need to recover from.
2. Right-click the Virtual Lab Manager tray icon to create new virtual lab request.
3. Specify description, estimated time needed, required VM and restore point, and submit request.
4. Wait until the request is approved by backup administrator, and the lab is started.
5. Continue on in the AIR wizard and perform the restore.
6. If you need more time, just extend virtual lab lease.
7. When done, dismiss the lab (if you forget, it will expire automatically).

Q: How it works from backup administrator pespective?
A: Administrator perspective:
1. Receive email notification about new lab request.
2. Open Enterprise Manager, make desicion to approve or deny access to requested data to the user.
3. Go through request approval wizard. If necessary, adjust request settings (such as lab lease time).
4. Manage active labs if needed. For example, stop lab used by developers to let somebody else perform emergency restore using the same virtual lab.
5. No need to babysit lab, as they will automatically expire after requested time passes.

Q: How it works under the hood?
A: All operations described below are fully automated and "hidden" from users:
1. AIR wizard generates lab request and passes it over to Virtual Lab Manager (VLM), which and sends it over to Enterprise Manager.
2. Request is approved by admin, who selects SureBackup job to use as a part of approval process.
3. Enterprise Manager will automatically locate Veeam Backup server for selected SureBackup, and will have it run the SureBackup job for required VM only.
4. Once all dependent, and the selected VM are running and ready (ready means recovery verification wass successful), Veeam Backup server notifies Enterprise Manager.
5. Enterprise Manager notifies requesting VLM install, and provides network parameters for lab (proxy appliance IP address and masquearade IP address of requested VM).
6. VLM updates routing table on local machine, and notifies user the everything is ready with popup notification.
7. User is now able to proceeds through AIR wizard to perform application item recovery.
8. Lab automatically expires automatically as requested time passes (unless user extends the lease, or per user request to dismiss the lab).

Q: Do I have to install AIR wizards on Veeam Backup server?
A: No, AIR wizards can be installed on any computer. For example, you can install them on developers' workstations.

Q: Am I required to use Veeam AIR wizards to recover individual items? Unfortunately wizard X lacks feature Y which I really need.
A: No, if you prefer you can simply use native tools to get individual application items from applications running off backup files in isolated virtual lab environment. For example, Microsoft Exchange or SharePoint through OWA (see User-Directed Recovery below), and Microsoft SQL through Management Studio, Oracle through Oracle SQL Developer (video in Oracle session), MySQL through MySQL Workbench (video in Session 3), etc.

[Gostev]

Universal AIR Wizard

Q: How this "universal" recovery is supposed to work?
A: Once the lab is prepared, Universal AIR wizard will provide masquerade IP address of requested VM in the isolated environment, and update routing on current computer automatically to enable transparent access. You can then use native management tools to extract required items from the application, and put them back to production server. For example, you can use free Oracle SQL Developer to perform item-level recovery from Oracle database, or Microsoft SQL Management Studio to perform item-level recovery from Microsoft SQL database, or MySQL Workbench to perform item-level recovery from MySQL database, etc. - any application!

Q: I had never dealt with databases before. Is there a demo that can help me better understand the concept, so I can explain this to my colleagues?
A: Session #3 video shows example of item-level restore from MySQL server backing my very own WordPress blog using free MySQL Workbench tool starting at 31:00.

[Gostev]

Active Directory AIR

Q: What is the list of capabilities of Active Directory AIR wizard?
A: Restore both entire objects, or individual attribute values of existing objects back to production Active Directory.

[Gostev]

Exchange AIR

Q: What is the list of capabilities of Exchange AIR wizard?
A: Restore individual mailbox items (email, appointments, contacts) back into production mailbox, to Outlook PST file, or to individual files.

Q: Can I restore from other user's mailbox?
Q: Just like with other Exchange item recovery products, you need to make sure your account has sufficient permission to access mailbox it is injecting the restored data to. By default, domain adminstrators do NOT have permissions to other users' mailboxes. Full Mailbox Access permission on all mailboxes you want to be able to restore data for must be granted to account you are using to perform Exchange AIR .

[Gostev]

SQL AIR

Q: What is the list of capabilities of SQL Server AIR wizard?
A: Recover SQL databases, tables, records, schema etc. directly to the original SQL server, or to a SQL script.

[Gostev]

User-Directed Recovery

Q: How do I enable users to restore their own items from latest backup?
A: Essentially, you need to create ever-running SureBackup job with application in question, and provide convenient DNS name to it.
1. Create new application group with VMs running required application and its dependencies.
2. Create new SureBackup job with "Keep application group running" option selected, and schedule it to run after each backup.
3. Open settings for Virtual Lab used by SureBackup job, and edit static IP mapping feature to map isolated IP address of required VM to some unused IP address in the production network.
4. Update production DNS and assign simple DNS name to the IP address chosen earlier, for example "exchange-yesterday".
With that in place, any user in the production environment will be able to access the server running from latest backup in the isolated environment by this DNS name. Any VMs published in such a way will be running until the next backup job is started. The next run of backup job will stop any linked SureBackup jobs, and perform backup. Then, SureBackup job will start using the newly created latest backup file according to its schedule, and again runs for the whole day until the next backup. Effectively, you will have a copy of application running from last night's backup always available to users behind easy to remember DNS name - enabling them to logon to familiar user interface and recover any data they need. This system will require no maintenance whatsoever.

Q: What are some use cases for this?
A: Just a few ideas, I am sure you will find many more uses - please let me know!
1. User-driven application item recovery from selected applications featuring web UI. Publish Exchange from last night backup to let users logon to OWA and extract required mail items or other data from their mailbox. Publish SharePoint server to let users recovered deleted documents. Publish CRM server to let users to recover accidentally deleted or corrupted customer records. Remember, since it is a copy of production system, all permissions are still in place – the user will only be able to retrieve items he or she had access to.
2. Development shops. Publish yesterday's copy of Oracle database, and let your developers test new code, lookup previous state of any values, compare database schema, and so on. Every day, the server behind selected DNS name will run the latest copy of Oracle from last night's backup, making it extremely simple and convenient to access, with the system requiring zero maintenance. Any changes made to the database will be discarded once the SureBackup job running the VM is stopped.

[Gostev]

Recorded Live Demo

Q: What is the easiest way to understand new concepts and see new functionality in action?
A: Download and see recorded demos available at http://www.veeam.com/go/vPower-webinar (sign in to see all webinars available)