"immutable backup" Veeam vs. Exagrid??

[tommls]

I know Exagrid now has an 'immutable backup' feature...and that Veeam apparently has something similar??
In Veeam 10 or Veeam 11??
Could someone please compare and contrast??
Thank you, Tom

[Gostev]

I can't comment on the Exagrid implementation simply because I don't know anything about it.

Veeam 10 has the immutable backups feature on S3-compatible object storage that implements Object Lock API.
Veeam 11 also has the immutable backup feature with the new "Hardened Linux Repository" (the new type of Linux server based repository).

Thanks!

[tommls]

I wanted to upload the PDF Exagrid sent me but I can't add documents to a forum post, only URLs and pictures.

Yes, any kind of information will be helpful, particularly Veeam links about this feature, as well as whatever is a 'hardened Linux repository,' which could be done with a re-purposed HPE server??????????? We have two old Gen8 HPE DL380s at one site, could they be repurposed this way??

Thank you, tom

[Gostev]

Yes, any server at all can be repurposed for this, as long as it can run a minimal Linux install.

[sfirmes]

@tommls ExaGrid's "immutable" offering is their Retention Time-Lock feature. This a new feature announced on April 8, 2020 and was generally available on September 18, 2020. The press release is available via: https://exagrid.com/press-release/exagr ... rsion-6-0/.

ExaGrid Retention Time-Lock will maintain backup files on an ExaGrid Tiered Backup Storage system in a protected zone on the appliance for a period of time after VBR requests the file to be deleted. The primary use case for this feature is if ransomware or personnel with access to Veeam Backup & Replication maliciously deletes backup jobs, data would be retained for a period time and could be recovered by moving it back from the protected zone to the regular backup zone.

Retention Time-Lock from ExaGrid does not integrate with Veeam Immutability for Object Storage, which Anton mentioned, nor does it leverage S3 object lock. For ExaGrid and Veeam customers, Backup & Replication will continue to ask for a backup to be deleted and ExaGrid storage will acknowledge that the files were deleted. Except ExaGrid storage won’t delete the files until the defined period of time has been reached.

How does this work? When backup files are created on the ExaGrid they initially get created in the Disk-cache Landing Zone. The data is then deduplicated and moved to the Retention Tier. The Retention Time-Lock gets invoked when a backup file is requested to be deleted by VBR. When this happens the backup files stay in the retention tier. The ExaGrid basically uses more metadata to track "pending deletes". So the backup files start off just like any others, then when they're marked for deletion, the ExaGrid updates the backup file metatdata indicating the object is in a "pending delete" state for some time period and the object is moved to a protected area on the ExaGrid storage. When the retention time-lock date is reached, the ExaGrid finally performs the deletion.

Hope this help explain what the Retention Time-Lock feature is.

Steve

[tommls]

Ah, thank you, I didn't think to look at/for the press release, which I received centuries ago...
Your explanation is quite good.
Exagrid says it uses up to 10+% additional storage and they work with customers to ascertain duration and storage...
Veeam probably has information about protecting its servers, including setting them up to "not" be domain-joined etc.
Thank you, tom

[tommls]

Yes, any server at all can be repurposed for this, as long as it can run a minimal Linux install.

Could someone provide a Veeam reference I can start with??

Thank you, tom

[Gostev]

This functionality is not released yet, so there are no references or documentation at this time. But you can find some info in this thread. Thanks!