vSphere Virtual machines backup with Veeam B&R question

[srmvel]

I have a 3 node VSAN cluster(running 100 VMs) the below are the 3 different NICs we use for our environment.

vCenter server also sits in the same 3 node VSAN cluster and it is under 2*10G NICs.
vCenter server IP is 10.192.10.10(Only management IP is there)
Veeam also VM and it sits the same 3 node VSAN cluster and it has 2 vNIC's.The management IP is 10.192.10.20 and the storage IP is 10.10.10.20

Physical NICs for each ESXi servers.
1) 2*10G for ESXi management(10.192.10.x)
2) 2*40G for VM network traffic
3) 2*40G for storage traffic(VSAN) and backup traffic(Veeam)(10.10.10.x for both VSAN and backup traffic)
4) Linux backup repository physical server.It has 2*10 G & 2*40 NICs.The management IP is 10.192.10.21 and the storage IP is 10.10.10.21
5) Multiple Linux Veeam proxy servers(They are also sitting in the same 3 node VSAN cluster) are there and each Proxy have management IP is 10.192.10.x and the storage IP is 10.10.10.x


Question->
1) When I try to take VMs backup, how the traffic flow will be?
2) As per my understanding,
Veeam server will contact fist to vCenter server(its under with 2*10G NICs)-->and then it will take backup and all the communication will use 2 *10G physical NICs only?
3) If we want to route the traffic to storage NICs(2*40G) instead of 2*10G(ESXi management),what we need to do?

Thank you,
Srmvel

[PetrM]

Hello,

You need to route the traffic over 2*40G 10.10.10.x network, right? If my understanding is correct, use the Virtual Appliance mode and the preferred network rules where you can simply choose the backup network (10.10.10.x in your case).

Thanks!

[srmvel]

Yes Petr. I have not received any answer from Veeam support and got confused.
I like to use 2 *40G end to end instead of 2*10G ( from the VM backup starts to sending out the backupo data to backup repository).

Detailed information here,
Example ->I have a 3 node VSAN cluster(running 100 VMs) and the below are the 3 different NICs we use for our environment.

Physical NICs for each ESXi servers.
1) 2*10G for ESXi management(10.192.10.x) Created a vswitch0.
2) 2*40G for VM network traffic
3) 2*40G for storage traffic(VSAN) and backup traffic(10.10.10.x for both VSAN and backup traffic) VDSswitch1

1.vCenter server also sits in the same 3 node VSAN cluster and it is under 2*10G NICs(vSwitch0).It has only one vNIC(10.192.10.10).vCenter server IP is 10.192.10.10(Only management IP is there)

2.Veeam also VM and it sits the same 3 node VSAN cluster and it has 2 vNIC's.The management IP is 10.192.10.20(vswitch0) and the storage IP is 10.10.10.20(VDSswitch1)
3.Veeam proxy1 also VM and it sits the same 3 node VSAN cluster and it has 2 vNIC's.The management IP is 10.192.10.21(vswitch0) and the storage IP is 10.10.10.21(VDSswitch1)
4.Veeam Proxy2 also VM and it sits the same 3 node VSAN cluster and it has 2 vNIC's.The management IP is 10.192.10.22(vswitch0) and the storage IP is 10.10.10.22(VDSswitch1)

5.Linux backup repository physical server. It has 2*10 G teaming NIC & 2*40 teaming NICs.The management IP is 10.192.10.201 and the storage IP is 10.10.10.201


Question:

1. When I attempt to back up VMs, how will the traffic flow?
2. As per my understanding:
o The Veeam server will first contact the vCenter server via a 2x10G connection -vSwitch0.
o The backup will then be performed using Veeam B&R/Veeam proxies. Once the VM snapshot (VM backup) is taken, the Veeam proxy will send the VM backup data to the Veeam backup repository over a 2x40G physical NIC connection.
3. To achieve end-to-end traffic over 2x40G (from the vCenter server to the backup repository), the vCenter server would need to have an additional vNIC configured on the backup subnet (e.g., “10.10.10.10”).

Is this correct?

[PetrM]

Hello,

Answering your questions:
1. Please have a look at the diagram on this page of our user guide to get a better idea of data flow
2.
a) Veeam server will contact vCenter, but it is used for management traffic (f.g. API calls to create a snapshot) only, it has nothing to do with data traffic
b) Data traffic goes from a backup proxy to a repository
3. You don't need to add vNIC to vCenter in 10.0.0.0 subnet, there is no data traffic from vCenter (see 2 - b)

Thanks!

[srmvel]

Ok thanks Petr for confirmation