Update 3 - Agent integration unanswered questions

[mcz]

Hello!

I've installed update 3 and started to take the next step in our agent integration. I'm quite familiar with the agent installation itself so I know what we've got and now it's just about the integration into B&R console and centralized deployment and management (using active directory). Currently we have a free license for Workstations. There are some unanswered questions at the moment I would like to share:

• Where are the settings for the backup-cache, I cannot find them within the settings for protection groups or backup jobs

• Where can I configure if the tray and application on the client side is shown or not

• Please give us a clarification on the used ports

I have already found the documentation about the needed ports https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95 but I got the feeling that something is missing. e.g. agent deployment: wireshark told me that backup server tries to connect via smb to the client on port 445, but I cannot see a explicit line in the mentioned documentation where it says: "FROM Backup Server TO Veeam Agent TCP PORT 445". You see some communication ports but I guess that are the used ports AFTER the installation, that is what I have found out so far.

Documentation also tells us that the data is transferred directly from the agents to the repositories without touching veeam server, using dynamic RPC. That means agent first of all communicate via port 10005 with the backup server and backup server returns a valid port number which will then be used by the client to start the connection (SYN) on the new port? Are my assumptions right?

Thanks for the clarifications!

[Dima P.]

Hello Michael,

Where are the settings for the backup-cache, I cannot find them within the settings for protection groups or backup jobs

We don’t have this functionality for agent jobs in Veeam B&R now, but we plan to add it in next versions.

Where can I configure if the tray and application on the client side is shown or not

Agent added to ‘managed by backup server’ job does not provide a local UI to the client (basically it’s a lightweight agent completely operated by Veeam B&R server without UI and local database). However, if you want local control panel to be displayed, you can assign host to ‘managed by agent job’ (or Policy). Such agent will be updated with local database and UI in read-only mode.

FROM Backup Server TO Veeam Agent TCP PORT 445"

Good catch, thank you! 445 port is used to upload agent package from distribution server (which, I believe, is installed on Veeam B&R in your case) to the client computer. I’ve asked technical writes team to update the Help Center page.

agent first of all communicate via port 10005 with the backup server and backup server returns a valid port number which will then be used by the client to start the connection (SYN) on the new port? Are my assumptions right?

Sounds right.

[mcz]

Hi Dmitry,

thank you for your quick reply! Looks like that not only port 445 is missing in the documentation, because veeam backup server tries to connect to the client side on a higher port (in my case 54035 -> 62421). Interestingly, the installation works fine in the end...

[mcz]

One last question about the used ports documentation: You can see the ports 9395 and 6183 listed and it tells us "Veeam Agent -> Veeam Agent - Ports used locally on the Veeam Agent computer for communication between Veeam Agent components and Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Service.". I'm afraid I haven't understood it correctly. Are these ports used for communication between the agents? What is the purpose? Is this for auto-updates or configuration deployment for not needing a reliable conection to a veeam-server?

Thanks!

[Dima P.]

Michael,

Communication between agent service and agent tray app is served via network socket. That’s the reason we provide Agent to Agent port requirements in Help Center. I agree that this might be a bit confusing and deserves a good explanation. Will work with Technical Writers on it.

[mcz]

Communication between agent service and agent tray app is served via network socket.

Aaah, this makes sense to me - I haven't thought about it. Would you please let me know when the documentation is updated?

[Dima P.]

Sure! I'll update this thread once I hear back from Technical Writers.

[mcz]

Where are the settings for the backup-cache, I cannot find them within the settings for protection groups or backup jobs?

We don’t have this functionality for agent jobs in Veeam B&R now, but we plan to add it in next versions.

Dmitry, any news regarding this feature? Will it be part of the next release/update?

[Dima P.]

Hello Michael.

Plan remains the same but, unfortunately, I cant provide the details.

[mcz]

Hi Dmitry, thanks for your response. I understand that you cannot provide any details of the roadmap. But what really annoys me is the fact that the cache-functionality has been applied by veeam a long time ago. e.g. when you are comparing the functionalities, you will see that the workstation edition has the cache- functionality, while the free one doesn't. https://www.veeam.com/de/veeam_agent_wi ... son_ds.pdf We purchased the workstation edition because we needed the cache-functionality for our mobile users (notebooks) and now even after nearly 4 month after update 3 this functionality is still missing (when using policy mode).

I know that you could use the product without being managed by B&R and then you would have the functionality but does that make sense? I didn't expect that the endpoints would miss functionalities only because of the integration into B&R. Nobody mentioned that. We paid for certain compontents which cannot be used at the moment and that is the point.

I really hope that the next update provides many of them.

Thanks.

[Vitaliy S.]

Let me chime in here.

Michael, if you have Microsoft EA or vSphere ELA, then you might also consider using Veeam Availability Console in your infrastructure given that this option is critical in your scenario.

[mcz]

Thanks for this hint, Vitaliy, but unfortunately, we are not a service provider and veeam availability console is only available for them?

[Vitaliy S.]

Not exactly, VAC can be used by end customers as well, given that your company meets the requirements I'v mentioned above.

[mcz]

yeah, unfortunately we haven't got such a situation... Any way to achive this cache-thing manually (e.g. editing xml or updating database records)?

[Vitaliy S.]

You can try to export the current config and locate this option in the xml file. It should be there, since VAC is using it. After that import to all Agents you want to enable this option for.

[mcz]

Hi Vitaliy,

some month have passed now, update 4 is available (which is great) but I'm still missing the cache functionality. What are the reasons that I cannot use a backupcache when managing agents via b&r?

Thanks!

[Dima P.]

Hello Michael.

Indeed it's not in Update 4. The plan is to provide this functionality in next versions.

[mcz]

ok thank you Dmitry, that are good news
BTW: Since the new forum is in use, I cannot find the link on the bottom to subscribe the thread. I haven't found it anywhere else. Was this change made intentional?

[Dima P.]

You are welcome. The subscribe option should be on the top of the page near the search (click wrench icon to see the menu). Cheers!