HyperV Server vs HyperV as Role - Veeam Considerations

[mythumbsclick]

Hi

Wondering if I can get some input on technical consideration (and licensing) for a hyper-v host I am planning to setup.

I already have:
• Veeam Availability Suite that I use to backup our ESXI hosts and I have some Agent/Instance licenses for backing up remote physical servers
• A new branch server - Dell Poweredge server with single socket/6 cores which I intend on hosting 2 VMs only

I am pondering over 2 options:
Option 1: HyperV Server (hypervisor as base OS)
• This would require me to purchase 1 socket license?
• Does this backup the HyperV server as well?
• I would get all the usual VM backup functionality as I would backing up the ESXI hosts/vms

Option 2: Server 2019 (with HypverV as role)
• I would backup the physical server via the agent/instance therefore only requiring an instance license? There wouldn’t be any licensing compliance issues?
• The backup would include the backup of the VMs inside of the hypervisor role
• Veeam wouldn’t be aware of the VMs but in the event of a disaster, I could restore from backup with the vms/files?

Is my understanding correct and is there anything obvious I have missed from my considerations? Any input would be appreciated!

[Egor Yakovlev]

Hi!

Option 1:
- yes, additional socket license will be needed since you are already on per-CPU model with production site
- No, it backs up VMs only
- Pretty much so, there are minor differences between Hyper-V and ESXi feature set we provide, but generally they are almost identical

Option 2:
- To backup a windows server you need a license instance, no matter of roles it hosts.
- Yes and No: You cannot backup VMs with agent when using CPU to protect VMs at the same time. However, when you backup Windows Server(with HV role) we can backup entire machine, including .vhdx (say, virtual machine files it hosts)
- Correct, same as above.

As for obvious things:
- With Option 1 you can still use Veeam Agent to backup host itself, it must be in Managed by VBR mode.
- Option 2 will be unaware of VMs, which leads to missing feature set, no granular recovery, no instant restore, no application level recovery, lots of manual work to restore, possible corruption at guest level depending on settings...
- Can I suggest an Option 3? Convert your company to VUL, and protect any workload in any location with any method you like, without care about license\feature set

/Cheers!