v5 : Pre-Release Information

[Gostev]

Below are Q&A sessions from past vPower webinars, with 230+ original questions deduped and categorized.

All webinar recordings are available at: http://www.veeam.com/go/vPower-webinar
Easiest way to see all new functionality in action is to download and watch those webinars!

[UPDATE] We have posted a number of new v5 features walk-throughs in our blog.
Veeam Backup & Replication v5 Preview – SureBackup, U-AIR and Instant VM Recovery
Veeam Backup & Replication v5 Preview – Instant Indexing
Veeam Backup & Replication v5: Unlimited File Level Recovery

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General

Q: When is the v5 release date?
A: RTM is planned for late September, with generally availability in October.

Q: Will there be a beta available?
A: We are not planning for public betas with this release. Closed beta with the most active Veeam Community members has been running since May, and resulted in many additional enhancements to v5.

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Licensing

Q: Is v5 a free upgrade from v4?
A: Yes, customers with active maintenance agreements in effect will receive the upgrade to v5 Standard Edition. In addition, customers with maintenance agreements in effect as of June 18, 2010 will also be eligible for a free upgrade to v5 Enterprise Edition. Please contact your Veeam sales representative for more information about the current promotion that allows for free upgrade to the Enteprise Edition.

Q: What are the feature differences between the Enterprise and Standard versions?
A: Please see the comparison document on our website.

Q: What is the licensing model?
A: Per physical socket (hosts).

Q: Does Veeam enterprise licensing include multiple Veeam 5.0 servers across multiple sites?
A: Yes, you can install multiple Veeam Backup servers across multiple sites, and federate them with the Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager. This is very typical deployment for many of our customers today.

Q: Is there a Veeam Essentials version for VMware Essentials Plus? Like there currently is for v4. If there is, will it have all of these new capabilities in it?
A: Yes, we will have Veeam Essentials Plus (with Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise Edition for 6 sockets).

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System Requirements

Q: What are the recommended and minimum requirements needed to run Veeam Backup?
A: Please refer to the System Requirements section of the Release Notes document for the current release. These will not change significantly.

Q: Does Veeam Backup & Replication work with ESXi?
A: Yes, we fully support ESXi today (with the current version). All new v5 functionality also works with ESXi.

Q: What is the minimum VMware licensing required to use Veeam Backup (e.g., vSphere Essentials or Essentials Plus)?
A: vSphere Essentials. Free ESXi is not supported, because it has vStorage API for Data Protection disabled.

Q: Will v5 be 64-bit only?
A: No, v5 will have both 32-bit and 64-bit packages.

Q: Why would you use the 64-bit version? How many servers are recommended for 64-bit as a minimum?
A: Using 64-bit version does not provide any significant benefits.

Q: Does this backup client exists for Linux?
A: No, Veeam Backup server is Windows-only. We do support backup to Linux servers though.

Q: Is vSphere 4.1 fully supported?
A: Yes, in the current version (Veeam Backup 4.1.2).

Q: Can this software run on a virtual server?
A: Yes, and we provide processing mode specifically optimized for this scenario, called the “Virtual Appliance” mode.

Q: Where can the best performance be gained? With Veeam Backup as a physical or virtual machine? I'm running SAN-based disk, too.
A: About same. Mostly depends on actual Veeam Backup server performance (CPU resources and memory throughput). VM running on modern ESX can be often much faster than older physical server.

Q: Does the product support Fiber Channel drives?
A: Yes.

Q: What requirements are there for direct SAN access? I assume there are changes needed to diskpart, etc. on the Windows server running Veeam Backup?
A: Correct, see the v4 FAQ topic in our forum for more information.

Q: Do the LUN mappings to the datastores for the Veeam Backup server work the same way as with version 4.1?
A: Yes.

Q: Are there any TCP/IP ports required to communicate from the Veeam Backup server to the VMs in order to successfully back up the VM?
A: No.

Q: Is there a limit on the number of VMs that can be backed up with a single Veeam Backup server?
A: No limit.

Q: Is v5 compatible with Windows 2000 Server, and 2000 Pro guests?
A: Yes.

Q: In a small IT environment, can backup and restores be done without a vCenter and onto disk locally attached to the Veeam Backup server?
A: Yes to both.

Q: If the Veeam Backup server is running as a virtual machine, is there a 2TB limit backup target for each backup server?
A: No, we have no limits like that.

Q: What storage does Veeam support for backup targets?
A: Any local or remote storage the Veeam Backup server can read/write files from, plus remote Linux servers. For a complete list, see the System Requirements section of the Release Notes for the current release, the list won't change with v5.

Q: Is it possible to replicate and/or back up VMs running in fault tolerance mode?
A: No, this is a VMware limitation at this time (snapshots of such VMs are not supported).

Q: Is v5 compatible with VMware's Linked Clones technology (VDI)?
A: We have not tested this yet.

Q: Does this work with Hyper-V environments as well as vSphere 4.0/4.1?
A: VI3 and vSphere 4 only at this time.

Q: When will the Hyper-V version be released? You guys have been talking about this for a while...
A: We are working on it. We will announce the release date as soon as it becomes more predictable.

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Upgrade

Q: Can backups from v4 still be restored with v5?
A: Yes.

Q: When upgrading from 4.1 to 5.0, will it be necessary to run new full backups for our existing jobs?
A: No. Moreover, you can immediately use all the new functionality on backups created by Veeam Backup 4.x.

Q: Will a clean install be needed, or will v5 upgrade the old version?
A: It is an in-place upgrade.

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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: Is the “proxy appliance” coming with v5?
A: Yes, this is an integral piece of the vPower engine.

Q: How does the proxy appliance work? How am I able to access the data from a backup? Won’t there be an IP conflict, or is it not done over network interface?
A: The proxy appliance allows us to route requests from the production network to the isolated network. There aren’t IP address conflicts, as different VLANs are used.

Q: Do we have to have an NFS datastore to store our backups on, rather than CIFS in order to use the new vPower features?
A: No, you can keep using whatever backup storage you are using today. vPower engine is backup storage-agnostic.

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

Q: How do you create the NFS datastore for instant recovery feature?
A: You do not. Everything is 100% automated.

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Instant VM Recovery

Q: You mentioned that once the VM is up and running from backup, replication can be initialized. What is the purpose for doing that?
A: Replication or VM copy jobs can be used to move the VM from vPower NFS to production storage in the event you do not have Storage vMotion licensed (which is a smoother way of doing the same thing). In this case, you simply perform failover during the next maintenance window. Alternatively, you can perform hot or cold VM copy (using VM Copy / File Copy functionality of Veeam Backup). Essentially, this allows you to convert unplanned downtime (which is what cost businesses money) into planned downtime.

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: Previously, when file-level restore was running, a backup job could not be run as the backup file was open. With Instant VM Recovery, would this still be a problem?
A: It depends on the backup mode—we have more than one in v5. Backup mode with traditional increments will not have this issue. Backup mode with reversed increments (same as v4 backup mode) will, because the main backup file needs to be locked for updates during each incremental backup run.

Q: What happens if Veeam Backup server fails when you have backup images booted as virtual machines?
A: Just like what happens when your production storage fails. Nothing pretty. Although the chance of consequent failures of 2 different storage devices is very unlikely. It is like getting a hole in your newly placed spare tire

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: 25% boot time difference with our production Exchange server. We have not done more extenive testing yet, but it is safe to say there will be a noticeable difference for high I/O server — as it is not the fastest storage when running a VM from a compressed and deduped backup file However, for all low I/O server (such as DC, DNS, DHCP, WWW, AV, PRN) the difference will be simply unnoticeable.

Q: With the instant restore (and NFS server) why would you replicate?
A: There are 2 reasons: not to have dependencies on Veeam Backup server to run the VM, plus full disk I/O performance in case of disaster.

Q: Will instant recovery work with RDMs that have been backed up?
A: Yes.

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U-AIR (Universal Application Item Recovery)

Q: In order to do an Application Item-Level Recovery, do you need to have all your dependencies virtualized?
A: Yes.

Q: Will we be able to back up Exchange 2010 and restore down to the individual user email message?
A: Yes.

Q: Can you restore Exchange email messages without Recovery Storage Group?
A: Yes, this is the capability our Exchange Application Item Restore Wizard provides.

Q: Does the Exchange Application Item Restore wizard provide the ability to restore individual emails or mailboxes?
A: The first version will provide the ability to restore individual emails only. Subsequent versions will add capability of mailbox restores. Our AIR wizards are standalone downloads, and can be quickly enhanced in parallel with the “main” product development, without having to wait for next release.

Q: Is Exchange DAG feature (clustering) supported when restoring Exchange objects?
A: Yes.

Q: Do you recover SQL databases, tables, records, etc. directly to the original SQL server, to a SQL script, or to an isolated VM?
A: Yes, this is exactly the list of capabilities our SQL Application Item Restore Wizard provides.

Q: Is there a granular recovery option for Microsoft SharePoint?
A: Granular (item-level) recovery is available for any application, on any OS.

Q: Is there a wizard for SharePoint as you have for SQL, Exchange, and Active Directory?
A: Not in v5. SharePoint doesn’t really need a wizard, because it has a web front-end that you can easily access and recover any items. Moreover, users can do this themselves. Since the users are accessing a copy of the production system, all permissions are still in place. Still, we can easily add SharePoint wizard to the product later depending on the number of requests.

Q: Will Oracle or MySQL item restore be possible?
A: Yes, “Universal Application-Item Recovery” means any application. You will be able to connect to backed-up Oracle with native management tools and retrieve the required data (tables, SQL query results, schemas and so on).

Q: What about Lotus Notes database files recovery?
A: This is possible today with Instant File-Level Recovery.

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SureBackup (Recovery Verification)

Q: With SureBackup, the level that it checks the server, is it only server availability or also applications such as databases?
A: Both.

Q: Can you please go over again what Veeam does when it "verifies" backups using SureBackup?
A: Please see the SureBackup “How It Works” video at http://www.surebackup.com

Q: When setting up a virtual lab, I take it that it is necessary to set up the lab on a datastore that your ESX host used for virtual lab has access to?
A: Correct.

Q: Is it possible to enable the "SureBackup" check in the normal backup, instead of creating the task as "SureBackup" job.
A: No.

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. If security is a concern, then read-only DC aka Windows 2008 "branch DC" should do it.

Q: In a busy environment (plenty of backup and replication jobs running as often as each 30 min) is there a smart way to make SureBackup and replication jobs don’t run at the same time?
A: These jobs should not affect each other at all, if you choose incremental backup mode.

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Instant File Level Recovery

Q: What operating systems are supported for instant file-level recovery?
A: Windows, Linux, Solaris, BSD, Unix, Mac (15 file systems all together)

Q: Does the VM have to have indexing enabled when backed up in order to enable the instant recovery feature?
A: No, unlike with other solutions, with Veeam indexing is completely optional and not tied to Instant File Level Recovery or Instant VM Recovery functionality.

Q: Does the indexing functionality require more CPU power on the 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 performed by Microsoft Search Server (we support both Search Server 2008 and 2010). The Microsoft Search Server Express edition is free and sufficient for smaller companies. Note that simply browsing VM files for specific restore point does not require deploying Microsoft Search Server.

Q: Is the Instant Indexing feature only available with Veeam Enterprise Manager?
A: You do not need Enterprise Manager to create the catalog, but you have to install Enterprise Manager server to be able to search for guest files and browse VM backups. Also, please see Standard vs. Enterprise comparison on our website for more information about slight differences in Instant Indexing feature set depending on your Veeam Backup license.

Q: Can users restore their own data files using Veeam Enterprise Manager?
A: This feature is not yet available in v5, but will be added down the road.

Q: Where does the Instant Index database reside?
A: The catalog is stored inside the backup file itself, and also on the Veeam Backup server.

Q: Can you go over the procedure for restoring individual files with an NSS volume on Novell?
A: Please search our forums for existing discussion about various possible approaches.

Q: Can you restore files with correct permissions?
A: Yes, such option is now available in the multi-OS file-level restore wizard.

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Backup Engine

Q: Are there changes to the way in which backup files are created to improve tape archiving of backups?
A: Yes, v5 has a new tape-friendly backup mode with traditional incrementals and selection of synthetic or active (real) full backup.

Q: There has been some talk on the forums about per VM disk selection for backups. Will this be in v5?
A: Yes.

Q: Has the incremental block size changed in this version (meaning the incrementals will be smaller)?
A: Yes, v5 provides the ability to select the block size. Note that a smaller block size reduces backup performance slightly due to additional processing overhead.

Q: One challenge with Veeam has been getting Veeam backup stores off-site due to large file sizes. Is there any relief for that, such as extracted incrementals?
A: Yes, we provide a new backup mode with traditional increments.

Q: Do all these machines remain thin-provisioned during these operations?
A: Yes.

Q: I have heard rumblings about multiple backup targets. Will something like this be included?
A: Multiple backup targets within a job are not supported in v5.

Q: Does Veeam work with non-virtualized servers in the same job, for instance in an environment of 11 servers, 7 are virtualized and 4 are not, can the 4 that are not be included in the backup?
A: No, we only back up virtual servers.

Q: Are there changes in the backup file structure? The current release generates one big file (First-Full-Backup) and then small files for every new backup. But the first big file also changes every time.
A: Yes, a new backup mode provides a different backup file structure. See above questions for more information.

Q: What if I have servers in DMZ and will not open the ports for trust but have to AD instead. Do I need a separate management appliance?
A: No, you do not need a separate install.

Q: Can you delete VMs from backup files? Can you purge old VMs from backup jobs?
A: Yes, this is available in v5. Additionally, data retention is now VM-level, so removed VMs' data will be automatically deleted from backup files according to your retention policy - as opposed to staying there forever until the next full backup is performed.

Q: What about thin-provisioned disks? How are they handled? Can we copy them without issue?
A: Yes, for backup in v4 (today), and also for replication in v5.

Q: Has anything improved regarding rsync? I know that the VBK file took quite a long time to be compared in order to rsync to offsite locations. Has anything improved regarding this?
A: Yes, with the new backup mode the VBK file will not be changing during every backup pass.

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Deduplication

Q: You have built-in deduplication—how does that interact if you’re using a dedupe appliance (e.g., DataDomain).
A: Better together! You get faster backups, portable backup files, and global cross-backup file deduplication this way. By the way, our deduplication can be disabled in the job settings, if needed.

Q: To what level is deduplication done?
A: Block level dedupe. Please refer to the latest white paper about deduplication on our website, it has some real-world testing numbers.

Q: What are the space considerations needed for backups? For example, a 250GB drive requires 250GB available space?
A: Compression and deduplication ratios up to 10x of the original size can be achieved, but this depends on too many factors, of course. Please review our latest white paper about deduplication and compression that’s available for download from our website.

Q: Any particular testing/integration with other vendor's de-dupe technology? DataDomain, Falconstor, Netapp, etc?
A: v5 in incremental backup mode should work equally well with any vendor.

Q: If the Veeam Backup server is on a standalone Windows server, does it allow the deduplication functionality?
A: Yes.

Q: Does deduplication work for replication?
A: With replication, deduplication is only used on the restore points (VRB files) contents.

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Replication

Q: Can you give some highlights of the new replication features in v5?
A: v5 will support replicating thin disks to thin. Additionally, in the new WAN target optimization mode, replication traffic is reduced on average 2 times, effectively meaning 2x faster replication cycles over slower WAN connections.

Q: Currently you can failover to replica, does v5 allow you to failover from the replica back to the original once it has been restored?
A: No, this failback is scheduled for a future release. Right now, we have to replicate the replica back, and failover.

Q: How does the replication compare with tools like Netapp Snap Mirror?
A: Our solution is storage-agnostic (any storage to any storage), granular (per VM versus per LUN), more network friendly, and produces transactionally consistent replica.

Q: Is replica import available in v5?
A: Not yet, but this feature will be added shortly.

Q: Under Smart CDP it states "Replicate onsite for HA, off-site for DR." Does this elude to the fact that we will be able to have multiple replication destinations per job, or will we need to have separate jobs set up?
A: Separate.

Q: What is required for SmartCDP off-site backup?
A: Only the product, and target host.

Q: If we have a production site doing Veeam backups, can we replicate to a remote site without having Veeam at the remote site?
A: Yes.

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Other

Q: How can I back up to off-site storage?
A: Please search our forums for existing discussions about off-site backup, and various approaches different customers take for this.

Q: I have VMs that use multiple datastores. In version 4, it was not possible to restore a VM to the original datastores, and restores had to be done to a single datastore. Has this been addressed?
A: Yes.

Q: Do restores still happen over Ethernet or can we restore over Fiber?
A: Fiber restores may or may not be available in v5 (not sure 100% yet). There are currently issues with the vStorage APIs that make direct SAN restores extremely slow (20x slower than over Ethernet).

Q: Does this work for a physical Exchange server or only VMs?
A: VMs only... you still have physical?

Q: Is or can the recovery be automated? That is, if there is a failure of a VM, can the backup be automatically started up?
A: With scripting, yes. We have a technical whitepaper about this that you can obtain through your Veeam representative.

Q: What choices do you have for the backup output? disk, tape, etc.
A: Disk only, but you can do D2D2T like many of our customers do.

Q: Does the product use VMware Snapshots?
A: Yes.

Q: Will there be a command line interface available?
A: Yes, it’s available today (since 4.0).

Q: How well does Veeam handle multiple large VMs of 4.5TB in size? Time to backup, time to recover.
A: Linear dependency from VM size.

Q: Will all the functionality be scriptable through PowerShell?
A: Yes it’s available today (since 4.0).

Q: Have there been any advancements in backup/replication reporting?
A: No.

Q: This question isn't Veeam version specific. What are others doing for data archival? Can Veeam backups being easily transferred/copied/backed up to tape for offsite storage, etc.? Can this archived backup data then be "re-cataloged" into Veeam to restore?
A: Yes and yes. This is what most of our customers are doing today.

Q: Have there been any advances on backing up the Veeam server itself, or should we just install another Veeam instance to back it up?
A: No changes here comparing to v4. The recommended approach to protect Veeam Backup configuration is to use remote SQL to host Veeam Backup database, and back it up with Veeam. Remote SQL is especially good option when you are using more than one Veeam Backup server in your environment.

Q: In addition to the new features described on webinar, are there any other “small” features or enhancements?
A: Yes, I have 2 pages long list of bullets on those, and it keeps growing.