Best backup location

[boe]

Hello,

I have a production server (hostp) with all of the live hyper-v machines on it with 2 nics - one for the host and 1 for all the VMs. I have a replication server (HostF) with a replica copy of all of the VMs on it with 2 nics - one for the host and 1 for all the VMs. The replication server HOSTF has a partition on the array for the backups. For optimal performance is there any difference between between installing VEAM on a dedicated VM on either host or directly on one of the hosts?

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Boe,

I certainly would not install Veeam on a HOST directly. Microsoft is pretty strict about keeping the hypervisor host clean from third-party solutions

In your case, I would opt for a VM. If it is sized correctly and has the necessary network connections to hosts and VMs, I foresee no issues

[boe]

Thanks for verifying.

[WORKS2019]

I have a 2016 Server Standard with one VM as the PDC. There was an Exchange VM which was turned down after migrating to Office 365. There was a BDR server that ran all the backups from StorageCraft which is in the process of being replaced. My question is can I run Veeam on the Host and also backup the VM (Hyper-V) to a NAS device while the BDR is being ordered. Or will it cause the server to have performance issues and/or backups to fail.

Worth mentioning Active Directory has less than 8 users so at this point backing up data to the NAS is the most important concern. However, if it's possible to backup the VM/PDC this would be nice too.

[PTide]

Hi,

Please see Mike's response.

Overall, technically you can do that. Speaking about performance - as long as you ensure that the host meets combined system requirements for both hypervisor and a backup server roles it should not affect performance.

Thanks!

[tomnewman]

If you have B&R on a VM, can it backup itself?

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Tom,

No, it can't protect itself. You can use the Configuration backup & restore functionality for DR of your Veeam server (see here: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... l?ver=95u4) Will that help you?

[tomnewman]

As a relatively new user, we are constantly striving to improve out practice. Coming from other other backup products we assumed B&R would have to be installed on the host and that is how we currently run it. As I've learnt more about the product I've become aware that it is possible to run it on a VM.

To be fair, our current setup works without any issues and the whole system is extremely reliable. However, in about six months we will probably upgrade the host to 2019 and at stage will consider moving B&R to its own VM. We do use configuration backup which is a good fallback but for DR we want a quicker solution. Yes you have the data but it still takes a few hours to just a copy of 2016 installed and updated (those updates take forever!)

We use an imaging solution for the host which we could also use for the B&R VM but it will increase the cost, hence the question.

If B&R is installed on a VM, can it utilise a tape drive physically attached to the host (single tape drive attached via SAS)?

[PTide]

Yes, you can attach a tape drive to Hyper-V server as long as it meets the requirements.

Thanks!