Deploying Endpoint Backup with config

[FabianSch]

Hello,

im new to veeam because we recently switched from EMC Networker to veeam.
We've got 3 ESX Servers in our environment which we backup with veeam Essentials.

Now we also want to backup the notebooks and desktop clients (~100 Clients) with veeam Endpoint Backup.
Is it possible to deploy the installation WITH configuration, so we dont have to do the configuration on each client manually ?

Thanks
Fabian

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Fabian, this feature currently is only available via integration with LabTech platform.

[FabianSch]

Will it be a planned feature for future versions ?

Where does VEB store its configuration on the client ?
Registry, Windows file?

Thanks

[Vitaliy S.]

All settings are stored in the SQL database. Yes, we are monitoring the feedback coming for Veeam Endpoint Backup product.

[FabianSch]

Okay thank you

[brandon.patton]

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been posted somewhere else - having trouble finding if it is.

We are a company of all laptop users - and we're currently using Druva InSync as our backup solution (company-wide deduplication to central server). I would love to utilize VEB and have each device point to our B&R server. However, I can't seem to locate a way to automate the distribution to everyone's machines - whether through .reg settings or preferably, MSI arguement silent installation.

My goal would be to silently install and configure the device with it's policies and credentials for accessing the repository, along with controlling what gets backed up and how often. Basically use VEB as a full backup solution for our traveling backup users.

Has anyone done something similar?

[PTide]

Hi,

There are options to perform unattended installation and create custom Windows system image. Also you may want look at command line to perform backups. There is also an option to do an auto-configuration

I hope that helps.

Thank you.

[jkarl@lumino.de]

We have the same problem. We use a software distribution system and I wan't to send a ready to use version to our devices. The users using the pcs are no administrators, so they are not able to configure the backup. I wan't them to use our Veeam Backup & Replication v8 server.

@PTide: the solutions you told does not fit in this scenario. Thanks anyway

Greetz Johannes Karl

[brandon.patton]

JKarl, in the same boat and I agree, the solution from PTide unfortunately doesn't work for us.

In an ideal situation, I would love to be able to pass arguements via the unattended installation to install the software, input the credentials, and effectively have it just show up on the users machine and begin backup. Maybe allowing a method of 'policies' so VEB checks in with VBR to know what it's configuration should be, including what to and not to backup. That's a pie in the sky scenario.

I understand VEB was really meant to fill the gap regarding physical servers - but we some refining, this could definitely be a power 'user' enterprise endpoint solution.

[jkarl@lumino.de]

I totally agree with you. Using a Veeam Backup & Replication Server for company features like this would also be a great option.
I tried to find the settings for the VEB and found a sql database. It's fully readable when I attach it to a sql server 2012. I'll post an update if I find a easy solution for deploying the backupjob.

Greetz

[Dima P.]

Hello guys,

We definitely have this feature request on our radar, so it’s good to hear the real world’s use cases. Thank you for the provided this feedback – it’s highly appreciated!

[billou81]

Hi,

I'am currently testing Veeam EndPoint Backup, and it work very well...

In CMD Mode :
Deployment = OK
Configuration = BAD
Execution = OK

In the future I want to configure it automaticly.

Exemple, Auto set : (CMD, Registry or SQL request...)
- path SMB (I have lot of site.) and the credential user and password.
- number of restore point.
- peridically

Do you have doc for this or idea ?

Thank you

[PTide]

Hi,

Please review an existing topic you've been merged to for possible workarounds. If none of them seems feasible please leave a feature request in this topic.

Thank you.

[Vitaliy S.]

Guillaume, for how many Endpoints would you like to push the configuration? Is this for internal usage or you would like to provide backup as a service to your clients?

[kaushik1]

Hello Guys,

I want to install and setup Veeam endpoint backup client in 1200+ machine without user interaction, is that any scope ?

[Vitaliy S.]

Please review the existing topic for available options. On a side note, can you please answer my question in the post above?

Is this for internal usage or you would like to provide backup as a service to your clients?

[humannate]

Here's what's needed:

Ability to remotely or via command-line PUSH a backup destination and schedule to an endpoint that only has Veeam Endpoint Backup installed (via /slient).

Simplest way would be to just extend the existing command line options to add switches to configure the backup destination location, credentials, included backup items and set the schedule. This would be simliar to the built-in wbadmin.exe command-line tool for configuring and scheduling Windows Backup:

wbadmin enable backup
[-addtarget:<BackupTarget>]
[-removetarget:<BackupTarget>]
[-schedule:<TimeToRunBackup>]
[-include:<VolumesToInclude>]
[-nonRecurseInclude:<ItemsToInclude>]
[-exclude:<ItemsToExclude>]
[-nonRecurseExclude:<ItemsToExclude>][-systemState]
[-allCritical]
[-vssFull | -vssCopy]
[-user:<UserName>]
[-password:<Password>]
[-quiet]

Obviously this is possible with the LabTech and Kaseya add-ons, but there doesn't seem to be any documentation on what APIs these add-ons are using. Plenty of people use other RMM tools besides these two, or just manage everything via command-line scripts using Chef/KixTart/Ansible etc.

Another option would be to use Veeam B&R to be able to centrally manage and push out new configurations to endpoints in batches. This option would need to support the ability to limit the number of backup jobs running to a single repository, though. (Command-line options can be scripted to stagger the job schedule when pushing out to lots of endpoints).

[Dima P.]

Hello Nate,
Thank you for the priceless feedback!

other RMM tools besides these two

I wonder what RMM tools are in your list?

P.S. There is no VEB plugin for Kaseya – only for LabTech.

[humannate]

Hi Dima,

We still have some break-fix clients where all we have is batch and powershell scripts available to us, so some kind of command-line interface to set a veeam repository as the backup target and some kind of daily schedule would be ideal, as this we could guarantee would work for all clients, particularly if we change RMM tools down the road.

We've used Labtech before but found it buggy and clunky. We currently use a combination of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and Ansible for configuration management. Currently we use LogicNow MaxRemote, and have used LogMeIn for some clients. There's just so many RMM tools out there (even LogMeIn and Comodo have "RMM" tools now), it would be hard to have plugins for all of them. MaxRemote pretty much *only* supports scripts for management, and obviously Chef and Ansible are script-only.

Reporting of failed backups via SMTP (with SSL/TLS authentication) is pretty important as well, though it looks like that's already handled via the Veeam B&R v8 Console, which is great.

[john.willis]

If its SQL based, sqlcmd with a configuration.sql file?

If we knew or understood how a backup job configuration is stored. I presume we could export the changes and use the SQL server cmd line tool to export and import those to a desktop.

[Vitaliy S.]

John, It is indeed stored in the SQL database, but we don't have it documented.

We've used Labtech before but found it buggy and clunky. We currently use a combination of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and Ansible for configuration management. Currently we use LogicNow MaxRemote, and have used LogMeIn for some clients. There's just so many RMM tools out there (even LogMeIn and Comodo have "RMM" tools now), it would be hard to have plugins for all of them. MaxRemote pretty much *only* supports scripts for management, and obviously Chef and Ansible are script-only.

Out of curiosity, what version of LabTech RMM did you use?

[john.willis]

Thank you for the confirmation it is stored in the .sql database, that is useful to know.

That it is undocumented makes sense, unfortunately, database development tends to proceed with little or no documentation on many projects in the real world.

But the good thing is its simply an .sql entry and a commandline parser already exists, so its merely a matter of developing a template in a flat file. Low effort and low cost.

If or when that comes around, I'm sure many users will find it quite useful.

[Vitaliy S.]

Not sure that pre-setting configuration via SQL query would be enough for remote configuration, but we are keeping this feature in mind (central management and remote configuration for VEB).

[humannate]

We used LabTech from 2011 through 2015, with most of the versions that were released. The Veeam Backup plugin was okay for viewing status of jobs, but actually changing anything never worked, like most of LabTech's "advanced" integration features, including their ShadowProtect plugin, VNC, and remote command-line. I have little faith the Veeam Endpoint Plugin will work to configure backups if the server-level plugin doesn't even work.

It seems nearly always easier to simply script these kinds of integrations, as you can be much more precise in what you want things to do rather than relying on a third-party's interpretation, especially with LabTech as features are very commonly non-functional or break version-to-version.

[Vitaliy S.]

The Veeam Backup plugin was okay for viewing status of jobs, but actually changing anything never worked, like most of LabTech's "advanced" integration features, including their ShadowProtect plugin, VNC, and remote command-line. I have little faith the Veeam Endpoint Plugin will work to configure backups if the server-level plugin doesn't even work.

It's quite surprising to hear that VBR plug-in didn't work in your case. It works quite well for 2500 partners and current solution for central management of VEB is very well adopted. If you still have an option to return to LabTech, our support team would be able to assist you with proper configuration and deployment. Let me know if you need that help!

Anyway, your feedback on having central management (deploying with config) for VEB is appreciated.

[jeff_the_IT_guy]

Thanks for the great info thus far. We are currently working with AutoTask AEM for an RMM solution. It does support scripting to deploy software packages and I intend to see if the above-mentioned commands can help me with the configuration. I'd love to put in a request for full integration with Autotask. I love the ability to provide our managed customers with a bare metal backup solution for their critical workstations. Thanks!

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Jeffrey, there are no short-term plans for integration with Autotask, but thanks for your feedback!

[Astorian]

Hello,
it is possible to connect to the veeam endpoint backup database VeeamBackup.mdf (located in %windir%\system32\config\systemprofile\) with SQL Management Studio.
You can find the connection SqlInstancePipeName, username and password in registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Endpoint Backup
The VeeamBackupDatabase has lots of tables, but it seems it will be possible to reverse engineer the values. For Example dbo.BJobs schedulle value is a XML structure:

Code: Select all

<RepeatTimeUnit>hour(s)</RepeatTimeUnit>
  <RepeatTimeUnitMs>3600000</RepeatTimeUnitMs>
  <RetryTimes>3</RetryTimes>
  <RetryTimeout>10</RetryTimeout>
  <RetrySpecified>true</RetrySpecified>
  <WaitForBackupCompletion>true</WaitForBackupCompletion>
  <BackupCompetitionWaitingPeriodMin>180</BackupCompetitionWaitingPeriodMin>
  <OptionsDaily>
    <Enabled>true</Enabled>
    <Kind>Everyday</Kind>
    <Days>
      <DayOfWeek>Monday</DayOfWeek>
      <DayOfWeek>Tuesday</DayOfWeek>
      <DayOfWeek>Wednesday</DayOfWeek>
      <DayOfWeek>Thursday</DayOfWeek>
      <DayOfWeek>Friday</DayOfWeek>
      <DayOfWeek>Saturday</DayOfWeek>
      <DayOfWeek>Sunday</DayOfWeek>
    </Days>
    <Time>2016-03-17T10:45:00</Time>
    <CompMode>Normal</CompMode>
  </OptionsDaily>
  <OptionsMonthly>
    <DayOfMonth>
      <Day>1</Day>
    </DayOfMonth>
    <Enabled>false</Enabled>
    <Time>2016-03-17T22:00:00</Time>
    <DayNumberInMonth>Fourth</DayNumberInMonth>
    <DayOfWeek>Saturday</DayOfWeek>
    <Months>
      <EMonth>January</EMonth>
...

So it should be possible to deploy a sql command to insert the required rows into the DB.
What do you think?

Astorian

[Vitaliy S.]

Astorian, you can definitely reverse engineer it, but this kind of deployment/configuration will not be officially supported in case of any issues.

[yosemity]

Astorian,
I have found out the following.

First of all, i suggest to try to deploy email alerts. As far as i understood, nesessary settings are stored in dbo.Options and dbo.Credentials, e.g:

dbo.Options, field "email_notification":

Code: Select all

<CMailOptions>
  <Bcc />
  <Cc />
  <CredentialsId>{6FA18A59-4912-447B-81F4-B1FF262DC2C1}</CredentialsId>
  <Enabled>True</Enabled>
  <From>VeeamEndpoint@domain.ru</From>
  <OnFailure>True</OnFailure>
  <OnSuccess>True</OnSuccess>
  <OnWarning>True</OnWarning>
  <OnLastRetryOnly>True</OnLastRetryOnly>
  <Port>587</Port>
  <Server>smtp.yandex.ru</Server>
  <Subject>[%JobResult%] %ComputerName% - %CompletionTime%</Subject>
  <Timeout>180000</Timeout>
  <To>VeeamEndpoint@domain.ru</To>
  <UseSsl>True</UseSsl>
</CMailOptions>

(pay attention to two setting "FROM" and "TO", may be it is possible to set different values)

dbo.Credentials contains fields "id" (conforms with "CredentialsId" from "email_notification), "username", "password".