Backup Server VS Proxy

[jochot]

Hey,

So I don't really understand which I should use for my Environment.
As I understand it, the backup proxy is just a data mover and the backup server is a data mover + managing?

My Environment:
6 backup servers, 3 are in the 3 buildings in our headquarters (germany), 3 are in remote offices (spain, netherlands and another one in germany).

This is the environment I got from the former admin, but I question that setup.
Every backup traffic passes through the backup servers, so the backup traffic from Spain goes through the backup server from Spain to the storage in Spain.
From my viewpoint, it would make more sense to install a proxy in Spain (also all other offices except for one) so I have one backup server where I see all the backup jobs and distribute the licences and so on, and the data is moved by the proxies in the different offices.

What are the pros/cons for having backup servers instead of proxies in remote offices?

Thanks in advance for the help

[nitramd]

Hello jochot.

You're correct about a proxy being a data mover. An important aspect of a proxy is that it takes the load, or burden, off of the backup server. The backup server will then have more resources (RAM, CPU, Disk, Network) to manage other jobs, etc.

You can use task manger to monitor your resource usage on your backup server to see what percentage of RAM, CPU, Disk, Network is in use while a backup job is running. A better option would be to use Resource Monitor to collect this data.

The data you collect from monitoring your backup servers will help you determine if you need a proxy or not. Veeam strongly recommends using at least one proxy per backup server; this applies to both VSphere and HyperV; you can also use a physical server as a proxy. You can also use VeeamONE to assist in the analysis of what's happening with your backup servers and proxies as well as your environment in general.

It seems to me that you might be able to have one backup server at your headquarters instead of three but this is just a guess.

Where are your backup repositories located? Do you have a repository per site, that is at least one in Germany (headquarters), one in the Netherlands, and one in Spain?

A disadvantage with using a proxy is that you'll need to purchase a Windows server license which are expensive. Fortunately, a cheaper option exists in that you can using Windows 10, 8, or 7 as the operating system for your proxy server. It's a shame that we can't use Linux as a proxy server

Hope this helps.

-MD

[DGrinev]

Hi,

Your understanding is right, backup server is for management and backup proxies act as data movers.
The recommended approach is to have at least one proxy on each site as it allows to move data and use resources in a more efficient way.
There are a few scenarios for deploying remote backup servers, for example, replication job that will allow you to run failover of business critical machines at offsite location in case of disaster at the headquarters.

Please review existing discussion for additional information about backup proxy. Thanks!

[jochot]

Hey,

first of all, thanks for the perfect reply, really nice

For my environment:
We have 3 Buildings in Düsseldorf, Germany (Headquarters)
Here we have 3 Backup Servers, for each building one backup Server.
Each Building has 2 serverrooms, so we backup the Servers from room 1 to room 2.
Repos are in every serverroom to backup the other server room.

Then we have 3 more offices.
One in Amsterdam, here we have one backup server and one Repository where this office is being backed up.
One in Palma and one in Leipzig. The setup is the same for every remote office.

So for now I'm working on one Building, then the next and so on.
I installed a Proxy on the 11th floor and have the backup server on the 6th floor, like this: (behold my paint-censor-skills)
http://imgur.com/a/6a8RO
For the servers in 11th floor, I use the proxy on 11th floor to backup to the NAS in 6th floor.
Is this right, or should I use the backup server on the 6th floor to backup the 11th floor servers to the NAS in 6th floor?
(basically: Should the proxy/backup server be near to the Servers or the Repos)

For the 2nd and 3rd building in the Headquarters, I will remove the backup Servers and install 2 proxies instead(in every serverroom one), so I have one backup server which manages all the proxies.

Then I can think about removing the backup servers in the remote offices and install proxies there, so I can manage all the offices from one backup Server. Does that make sense or am I missing something here?
Should I keep the backup servers in the remote offices? They all backup like 3 VM's so I don't see the point of having a backup server there.

That would make one backup Server (headquarters) and 8 proxies (5 in Headquarters, one in Palma, one in Leipzig and one in Amsterdam).

[nitramd]

Hi jochot.

Sorry for the slow reply.

First, excellent skills for paint-censor!

I think you need to determine how many Veeam Backup and Recovery consoles you want to have. You can have one console or you can have, in your case, one per site; it depends on what you want; logging into one console and controlling all jobs is simple.

As far as proxies go, and since you're running Hyper-V (nicht wahr? Mein Deutsch ist nicht gut ), the recommendation is to run a physical proxy and to not use the host Hyper-V server as the proxy since you will experience a degradation in performance on the Hyper-V host.

So, I believe you can run a physical proxy for each site (Amsterdam, Leipzig, etc.) and have only one Veeam Backup and Recovery console.

Please see the specifications for a proxy server: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... r=95#proxy . More CPUs on a proxy means that you can process more virtual machine hard drives in a job. For example, if your proxy server has 6 physical cores on the CPU then you can process 6 physical disks at one time.

Hope this helps.

-MD

[jochot]

Hey nitramd,

thanks for the reply!

Right now I'm wondering how to connect the ressources to each other.
I'm about to install a proxy (this will be a NUC, Tarox G6, i5 and 8GB RAM but can be up to 32GB) in the 6th floor as well (see image above).

Now I'm wondering, I use the Proxy in 11th floor as "Guest interaction Proxy"(in properties Guest Processing) and as "Backup Proxy" (Storage) for the 11th floor VM's right?
and the Proxy in 6th floor as "guest interaction Proxy" and "Backup Proxy" for the VM's in 6th floor.
First of all, why would I use different ones here?

There is also the possibility to use the proxies as Gateway Server for repositories.
Which should I use here?
So I back up the VM's from 11th floor to 6th floor NAS, the proxy used here is the one from 11th floor.
Should the Proxy from 11th floor be my gateway server?

On this page for gateway servers: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95
"In the common case, a machine to which you assign the role of a gateway server must be located as close to the backup repository as possible. "
The closest proxy is on the 6th floor, but why would I install another gateway point between the proxy on 11th and the Storage?
And wouldn't this put load on the Proxy on 6th floor?

[jochot]

Hey nitram, I just tried to install a NUC as proxy server with Windows10 installed ( as you said: Fortunately, a cheaper option exists in that you can using Windows 10, 8, or 7 as the operating system for your proxy server. )
I get the error "Infrastructure item save failed Error: Windows 8/10 are not supported as off-host backup proxy."
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... host_proxy
here Windows 10 is not supported, do you have any tricks to get this to work or doesn't Windows10 work as a Proxy?

[foggy]

Provided everything is on the same network, you can set proxies, repository gateways, and guest interaction proxies to automatic selection (unless you have reasons to explicitly specify them), should work fine. In case of Hyper-V, the proxy role is performed by the host itself, if you'd like to offload processing to a dedicated proxy, you need to set up an off-host one (requires Hyper-V role, so Windows 10 is not an option).

[jochot]

So basically, the NUC idea was nice but didn't work out (seems they don't support Windows Server, it won't install)
So I use a Server now.
I don't want to set everything to automatic because then I don't know what is happening to my environment and I want to monitor everything.
(on top of that it's not the same subnet/network)
Is the load on the Gateway server high? The whole data from the backup is going through it, right?

[foggy]

Gateway is the server that gets data from the proxy and writes it to the repository. You can use system requirements of a Windows repository for it.