Comprehensive data protection for all workloads
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l4k3k3m4n
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Hardware recommendation

Post by l4k3k3m4n »

Hello,

we need to buy a new veeam server and I need some hardware recommendations.

Environment:
veeam essentials, 2 esx hosts with local storage, 10gigabit network connection. 20-25 VMs, ~4TB data size, 2,5~TB backup size, incrementals ~100GB.

The veeam server will be a physical server standalone for all veeam roles (local disk repository).

1) CPU XEON E3-1230V5 vs E5-2620V4
Will the small E3 with 4c/8t be ok or do I need the E5 with 8c/16t ?

2) We will use 8x NL-SAS HDDs
We are undecided if we use RAID6 with 4TB disks and a LSI 9361 Controller (1GB Cache) OR RAID10 with 6TB disks and a LSI 9341 Controller (no cache).

What will be the best solution for the Backup Repository?

Thanks a lot!
csinetops
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Re: Hardware recommendation

Post by csinetops »

I would go with the E5 processor. since that will be your only Veeam machine it will be running all tasks. From what I recall Veeam requires a core for each task it runs so a 4c would get overwhelmed quickly, especially if its taking on all roles.

Double check the specs on the 9361, from what I am seeing it can do raid 10 which IMO would be a better choice than raid 6. That being said, Raid 10= 16TB usable, Raid 6=24TB usable so your retention policies may dictate which raid level you use. Do you have a set number of restore points you need to keep?

What about a secondary copy as well as a off site copy?
l4k3k3m4n
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Re: Hardware recommendation

Post by l4k3k3m4n »

We want 24TB usable, so we consider:

-9361 (ROC with 1GB cache) with 4TB disks in RAID6
OR
-9341 (no cache!) with 6TB disks in RAID10

Both combinations cost about the same, but the question is which is the faster option for a backup repository.

The backup server itself is off site and we do an additional copy to a NAS unit.
Thanks
ACC
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Re: Hardware recommendation

Post by ACC »

Given the choice i would take raid10 over raid6 as it has a better and more predictable performance. In my experience controller cache makes little difference in the performance in raid10, for raid5/6 the difference in performance is quite noticeable with the right controller configuration.

You might want to reconsider the proposed setup, Veeam will use network transport mode to get the data from production hosts to Veeam. In essence the raw data transferred over the network before Veeam can do its magic, if you deploy a proxy VM (which is Windows with some Veeam components installed) on each host it can use hotadd and the Veeam magic will happen before the data is send over the network. The disadvantage is that those Proxy VMs will use resources of the production hosts during the backups and are usually idle the rest of the day.

Regarding your question about the CPU, if you use network transport mode can the two production hosts pump enough data to the Veeam host to saturate all 8 cores of the E5? If you use my suggestion with hotadd a part of the cpu load is offloaded to the proxy VMs which makes Veeam host less Dependant on CPU power. Considering the two options, the E5 has more CPU power, but i would rather take the E3 with the high clockspeed in this situation as its less depending on having all cores saturated to develop that cpu potential from the E5.
Delo123
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Re: Hardware recommendation

Post by Delo123 »

You could probably do Raid 10 if you use Dedupe or even ReFS in upcoming 9.5... Always a better choice...
l4k3k3m4n
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Re: Hardware recommendation

Post by l4k3k3m4n »

You are right, I could deploay a proxy VM on each esx host.
This way the veeam server could easily do with the E3 xeon I think.

My esx hosts are a bit older 2x6c E5, so I have to check if they can take the additional load.

I am planning to use ReFS on Server 2016.

Thanks for your suggestions.
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