[IMPORTANT] vSphere support

[Gostev]

Please note that current version of Veeam Backup 3.0.1 does NOT support vSphere

We have been working on Veeam Backup 3.1 release past few month to make it vSphere-compatible, we expect to release this version within the next 2 weeks after we perform the final testing on the RTM vSphere code.

Thank you!

[MadDog2K]

Any option for people wanting to test with a beta version ?

[Gostev]

I'll see if we can make some latest build available after we perform some smoke tests on vSphere RTM code.

[MadDog2K]

That would be awesome

[TrevorBell]

Hi All,

I have installed only the Vsphere VI and not upgraded the esx cluster yet, my backups are fully being backedup as we speak apart from a DC which has an error -:

Warning:
Releasing VM files
Failed to perform Veeam VSS freeze: guest OS "winLonghornGuest" is not supported

This dc is only to completment the 2 physical boxes we use so im not entirely too bothered, Just letting you early birds who are installing it know if you rely on your VM of a DC you get this warning

(This VM is windows 2008 32bit )

Trev

[Gostev]

Trev, actually there are other issues too that you may have not run into yet. And yes, I've just seen this issue you are talking about above in the list of fixed issues for the current Veeam Backup 3.1 build this morning

[davidshq]

So is free ESXi 4 currently supported? Or do we need to wait for 3.1 as well.
Dave.

[Gostev]

No, free ESXi 4 is not supported with the current Veeam Backup version, and unfortunately it will not be supported with Veeam Backup 3.1 either due to some significant changes around free ESXi with vSphere. I will provide more extensive information about this in a few days (I will dedicate separate topic to this so that this information is not confused with licensed ESXi support).

[TrevorBell]

If you need someone to test the code you have my email adress We run around 30 vm`s with one test DC split into 15 production and 15 test machines.

Trev

[Gostev]

Trev, sounds good. I will upload the latest build for you, and send a link to your forum registration email later today. The build is not RC yet, but most of the vSphere-related issues I know of are already fixed.

[nelsonbd]

Are you saying that Veeam will not support Esxi v4 free but will support Esxi v4 Paid??
Whats the difference other than support cost?

I am disappointed to hear this as I have just found your software for a ESXi v3 and I am just about to upgrade our infrastructure to Vsphere/Esxi V4 but now you are saying I cant use your software??

Regards

Barry

[Gostev]

Barry, that is correct, free ESXi 4 will not be supported. What new functionality are you looking to get by upgrading free ESXi 3.5 to free ESXi 4? Also, did you have a chance to check out the vSphere Essential bundle pricing yet? It has very compelling pricing ($995 for 3 physical ESX(i) hosts, up to 6 sockets).

[nelsonbd]

I am just about to get vsphere (as we need the High availability facility), so to me it makes sense that I run the latest ESxi version as I assume Esxi v3.5 will become unsupported at some point... There are meant to be several improvements in Esxi 4 over v3 too...

What is the difference between esxi v4 free & paid? Why are you supporting one & not the other??

thanks

Barry

[Gostev]

The difference is that ESXi 4 free has some new technical restrictions in place which specifically prevent 3rd party products from working with it. Although this restrictions are easy to overcome, the updated EULA specifically restricts this. And licensed ESXi 4 version does not have any of these technical restrictions.

Yes, ESXi 4 has many improvements, but you are not getting this functionality with free version anyway...

Hope this helps.

[nelsonbd]

Thanks for the info, I did not know that & Vmware dont make that clear anywhere.

Yes the essentials pack is quite good value (3 hosts + 1 year subscription + no support I assume) but what happens after the 1 year subscription runs out? Can you take another subscription somehow or do you have to go onto their gold support?

Do you know how long they are intending to support V3 if I was to stick with that??

You mention no tangible improvements for ESXi v4 but I read it would hold 30% more VM's & was quite a bit faster that v3...

Thanks

Barry

[Gostev]

Barry, it would be better to address questions on vSphere Essentials to VMware. I am not sure how "subscription" works.

As for support for VI3, since VMware still supports very old ESX versions, I would assume VI3 will be supported at least 5 more years.

Yes vCenter 4.0 is much more scalable (almost 2 times - they've done great job here), but again you are not getting it with free ESXi version. Also, you will not notice scalability improvements unless you have more than 100 ESX hosts on vCenter.

[zed999]

Just received this email from Veeam, thought I'd be first to say it

We're pleased to let you know that Veeam Backup & Replication 3.1 is now available for download at http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-backup.html.

This new version is compatible with VMware vSphere 4, and unlike competing products, also provides 64-bit OS and Windows 2008 support.

The official announcement will be on Tuesday, but we wanted you, our customer, to have it right away.

Thank you for using the #1 VMware backup solution.

Veeam Team

[Gostev]

Zaher, you beat me

Anyway, just wanted to post direct link to Release Notes for complete list of New Features, as well as bugfixes from the previous release (3.0.1)
http://www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_release_notes_rn.pdf

[beckhamk]

The pdf is not being displayed. Even when i login and goto the download page i can see the list of all release notes for all products and all seem to come back blank.

[Gostev]

Kyle, try to downloading the file and opening it locally, instead of opening it within web browser.

[davidshq]

Not working for me either. :/
Dave.

[Gostev]

May be this is browser-specific, works for me in the Internet Explorer, but I remember having such problems with PDF files before.

Try this instead:
1. Go here http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-backup/download.html
2. If not yet logged on, enter your credentials and click Submit.
3. On Download page, right-click Release Notes link, choose Save Target As..., save PDF to desktop.
4. Open the document by double-clicking it.

[zed999]

I also get this with PDFs from time to time- I think this something to do with adobe updater holding back until you have acknowledged the update.

Opening PDFs saved locally has never been a issue.

[davidshq]

Yeah, it doesn't work in Firefox for me (though I can open plenty of other PDFs in Firefox), but does work in IE.
Dave.