Backup TO a large Bitlocker Encrypted Volume

[MaxDes]

I was told this is supported by agent, but backing up to a Bitlocker encrypted volume NOT using agent is not. Can this be elaborated on? I would figure that the volume being bitlockered is transparent to veeam repository as it just knows it's on a drive. Any clarity would be great!

[HannesK]

Hello,

but backing up to a Bitlocker encrypted volume NOT using agent is not

can you maybe link to the source?

As you said... BitLocker is transparent if we write to it. Whatever disk encryption you use below the filesystem is irrelevant for us.

Best regards,
Hannes

[MaxDes]

This was in a phone call with veeam people yesterday. Was there maybe a misunderstanding?

[HannesK]

Probably a misunderstanding, yes. If you PM me the name, then I can reach out directly.

[PTide]

If you back up a VM which has a bitlockered in-guest volume then dedupe won't work with that particular volume. Also FLR will get trickier for such backups. Other than that, there are no limitations (especially if BitLocker is on the target volume)

Thanks!

[MaxDes]

That's much better news!

[DamienL]

Hello,

We use ReFS repository from our storage array and we plan to harden this one. We are thinking to do it with Bitlocker (Win 2019) as Veeam is only able to encrypt repository for Veeam Agent (maybe in the next version it will be possible for VMs?)

Job encryption is already activated.
Is Bitlocker Volume as backup repository is compatible with Veeam ?

What will be the impact on backup and restore ?
I don't find any info on the official site.

Thanks

Regards,

Damien

[HannesK]

Hello,
please see the answers above (and use forum search )

No impact. And we don't document it because we cannot document every kind of 3rd party disk encryption tool.

Best regards,
Hannes

[DamienL]

Hello Hannes,

Thnaks for the feedback.

So i i sum up we can use job backup encryption + target repository with bitlocker with no issue ? (perf, backup, restore...).
Do we need to setup auto-unlock for this case ?

[HannesK]

Hello,
as said earlier: whatever is done on the layers below Veeam is irrelevant for us.

I'm not sure how I could decide how much performance impact is an issue for you because of encryption. At least I see no issue.

Same for auto-unlock... not sure how I should make the decision for you. The question is the same for every kind of disk encryption and not really bitlocker specific.

Best regards,
Hannes

[DamienL]

Thanks Hannes for the clarification!