Backing up Templates (vmtx) with Veeam Backup & Replication

[TimeKnight]

So ever since I upgrade to B&R v6 I have been having problems backing up template. I have a Veeam account that has been granted the “Administrator Role” in vCenter Server for my datacenter that I want to back up. In B&R v5 this worked fine (for both ESX 4, ESXi 4.1 & ESXi 5.0)

Now I have upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication v6 and I cannot backup templates. I contacted support and we verified that the Veeam account can access that datastore, and all datastores. We also checked to see if we could manually download the .vmdk using the Veeam account. The only problem seems to be if it’s a template (.vmtx). If I convert the template to a vm (.vmx) the backup works correctly.

The only workaround that has been found is to grant the Veeam account rights over the entire vCetner server instead of just individual datacenters. This seems like more rights that should be required for the Veeam account and something that has defiantly changed from v5 to v6.

I was hoping to get some feedback from other uses to see if they too are having issues backing up templates?

My support case ID # 5164931

Brian

[Vitaliy S.]

The only change that I can think of is a new vStorage API (VDDK) version, which requires more permissions compared to the previous one. Let me verify that with our QC team, I will update this topic once I have more info.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Brian,

In order to backup templates you need specify this level of permissions on vCenter Server (no admin privileges are required).

Code: Select all

Global:
Log event
Licenses

Datastore:
Low-level file operations

Virtual Machine – Provisioning:
Allow read-only disk access
Allow virtual machine download

Let me know if that helps.

[TimeKnight]

The problem is not the type of premisions required it where they need to be placed with Backup & Replicaiton version 6. I used to be able to grant my veeam account premissions at the "datacenter" level in vCenter Server. Now the veeam account must be granted rights over all of vCetner giving it rights into Datacetners i do not want it to see.

[Vitaliy S.]

Yes, I see your point. Just wanted to help in case you don't want to use admin account for your vCenter Server connection.

[TimeKnight]

Just to update anyone who was curious, my support case has been closed and I have confirmation that this is a change in v6, and your Veeam service account now must have permissions granted over all of vCenter. Hope this gets added to the Backup & Replication user guide

[Gostev]

It is in the User Guide, see page 54...

If vCenter is used, administrator credentials are required.

[nhilhorst]

I had the same problem and I fixed it like this:

1) click on the vCenter server
2) click on tab Permissions
3) add the Veeam service account as an administrator and allow propagate
4) try again to backup the templates, it should work now

Kind regards,

Niels

[vmbackupuser]

After weeks of trying to backup my Templates with v6, your steps above worked perfectly.
Many Thanks for this Niels.

[kevinnaughton]

I'm trying to add a template to my backup job. But the template does not appear in the selection list. I'm doing host based (not vCenter). Tried using the ESXi root account for credentials, still nothing. All the VMs are in the list, and backups work fine for them. But the template does not show up. Tried goign through the datastore as well, and doesn't show up there either.

[Sethbartlett]

Make sure you are selecting this when looking for the VM/Template.

Veeam Backup & Replication_2012-09-11_16-59-18.png (54.55 KiB) Viewed 704 times

[kevinnaughton]

Yes, I did select VMs and Templates. Also tried datastore. It doesn't show up. I'm thinking it's related to the posts above talking about requiring vCenter permissions. For this site, I am connecting to the host directly within Veeam, not vCenter.

[foggy]

Kevin, better contact technical support with that. They will be able to review your configuration more closely.

[kevinnaughton]

Will do, thanks.