Standalone backup agent for Microsoft Windows servers and workstations (formerly Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE)
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Darkschneidr
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Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by Darkschneidr »

I apologize if this has been asked before, but is it intended that there is not an option to set a proxy for backup in the Windows Agent for servers (used in conjunction with B&R Enterprise Plus and DDBoost repository)?

Right now all of my backups proxy through a mount server, except that I can't seem to do this with the agent. This forces all network traffic for backup through the management server instead.
Dima P.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by Dima P. »

Hi Darkschneidr,

VAW does not use backup proxy. However, if you have a gateway server assigned to your repository it will be used by agent as a connection point instead of Veeam B&R server.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by Darkschneidr »

Thanks for the response, that confirmed what I was seeing then. I could only target locally mounted drives on the backup server, or the data domain itself via network proxied through the management server.

Can you elaborate on "adding a gateway server"? Right now the agent only gives me the options to point to the backup server, then pick the repository. There isn't an option to bypass that path for data transfer. I looked through the guide for adding a gateway server, and this states, explicitly, that for dedupe appliances (data domain is what we're using) you have to use fiber channel. I didn't plan on a fiber channel deployment for this location since the core is plenty fast enough, but if fiber is the only way to prevent that traffic from bouncing across the VM hosts, then I'm going to have to add HBAs and connect it.

I'm curious why Veeam is so restrictive in this sense - simply adding a proxy option would seem much less complicated, the same way backups work now with fiber fail-back to network. The ability to target that traffic if it needs to go across the network would be much more flexible than forcing HBAs into the server to accomplish the same task. I couldn't target my mount server to setup the job (I tried), so it makes it a little tough to work around.

Also, I'm curious about one other thing, perhaps you know the answer. If ddboost is intended to move the workload of backup from client to appliance in a direct manner, why does it actually have to pass all that traffic through the mount server anyway? Couldn't it just send metadata to the server and backup directly to the appliance itself as long as there is a route?

Apologies for the questions, but I'm new to the product (but, most definitely not new to backup and recovery) and just working out the kinks in a test deployment and need to have it done quickly. I'm still working my way through the post history for similar questions/issues as what I am seeing.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by stewy »

Same boat here.
Many remote VPN sites without servers, and no way to proxy/gateway the connection to the repository without going to and back from the hub site. Left with setting up the agent with no visibility in the B&R Console.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by stewy »

Since there hasn't been an update to this in some time (nor with product updates either), i find myself needing to investigate other options for workstation backups. Veeam Configurator is just not on the level with other paid backup solutions, exporting/importing xml configurations means that centralized configuration is an after-thought.

I was curious however, if the B&D console can be installed with ONLY licensing the Agent for Windows Workstation so that there is some semblance of central management? This would only work for my remote sites that have servers instead of NAS's, but worthwhile asking for the sake of others.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by Dima P. »

B&D console can be installed with ONLY licensing the Agent for Windows Workstation
Yes, Veeam B&R can work in 'agent' only mode when Agent license is installed. This behavior remains in upcoming U3 which can centrally deploy and manage backup agents.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by shaun_ec »

We have multiple remote sites around the world each with it's own physical server and a central datacentre which houses our VEEAM Backup & Replication console and does all DC backups.

I would like to add the remote sites storage to the VEEAM Backup & Replication console and also install a VEEAM proxy server on each of the remote sites servers. I'll set the gateway server to the storage as local site servers as well.

If I install VEEAM endpoint on each of the local servers and set it to backup to the VEEAM Backup & replication storage I setup above. (In order for a local backup) Then use a backup copy job to backup to the Datacentre. What proxy will it use and is this a viable solution?
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by vClintWyckoff »

shaun_ec wrote:What proxy will it use...
As you probably already know, Veeam operates in a source / target data mover operation. In the agent solution the source data mover is the physical device where the agent is installed and the target its the repository. So for your situation, the proxy servers you mentioned have no relevance, unless they're serving the role of Proxy & Repository in one box.
shaun_ec wrote:is this a viable solution?
When you create the protection groups for each location you will specify a distribution server. This leaves each local site with their protection group and their own dedicated software distribution point, this prevents the agent bits from being pulled over the WAN. When you create the backup jobs for those protection groups, specify that local repository and you'll be good to go.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by shaun_ec »

I'm not familiar with protection groups or distribution points. How do you set them up? Is this from within the VEEAM console?
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by Dima P. » 1 person likes this post

Hello shaun_ec,

Clint was talking about upcoming agent management functionality of Veeam B&R U3.
We have multiple remote sites around the world each with it's own physical server and a central datacentre which houses our VEEAM Backup & Replication console and does all DC backups.
I recommend you to take a look at the concept of Veeam Cloud Connect and Veeam Availability Console (VAC). These solutions may help you to protect multiple sites with agents while management remains centralized.
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by Vitaliy S. »

And a bit more details on Agent management in VAC > Centralized Management of Veeam Backup Agents
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by Iain_Green »

Hi,

Could you please confirm that I have read the above correctly and that with agents the client it's self is the data mover (aka proxy)?
Many thanks

Iain Green
Dima P.
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Re: Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 - no proxy option

Post by Dima P. »

Hi Iain.
Iain_Green wrote:Could you please confirm that I have read the above correctly and that with agents the client it's self is the data mover (aka proxy)?
Yes, that's correct.
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