[V13] System Requirements for our 2025 release

[Gostev]

Dear all,

I want to share all changes to the Veeam Backup & Replication system requirements in our next major release (V13 in H2 2025) well in advance for your long-term planning purposes.

Dropping support for older platform and software versions is important so we don't spread our QA resources too thin as new OS versions come out. In addition, this simplifies the implementation of new features and enables us to create more efficient and secure code. Finally, this improves overall platform security by disabling the ability to connect to outdated and long unpatched OS and applications.

While we strive to drop support only for versions of 3rd party software which are well past EOL and out of support by the vendor itself (no security updates), we also consider actual usage according to our support big data and R&D costs of continued support of certain versions.

Considering significant architecture changes in V13, which mean many of our customer will want to take time adopting it, as well as to compensate for significant pruning of system requirements from oldest OS/platform/software versions, we have already extended V12 support to 4 years from its release date (instead of usual 3 years). This includes support for all Agent and Application plug-in versions that correspond to V12. As such, if some changes in system requirements don't yet work for you, you will be able to stay on V12 until 2027.

The changes in System Requirements listed below are all in comparison to V12.

Thanks!

Global

Dropping 32-bit OS support in all features and functionality.

Protected Infrastructure

Application-aware processing for virtual machines
Application-consistent backups with application-aware processing will be supported for 64-bit guest OS only (crash-consistent host-level VM backup remains possible regardless of guest OS type).
Windows Server: dropping support for Windows Server 2008 and 2012. Minimum supported version for application-aware processing is 2012 R2.
Windows Client: dropping support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.x. Minimum supported versions for application-aware processing of Windows 10 are 1507 for LTSB/LTSC channels and 22H2 for GA channel. Minimum supported version for Windows 11 is 22H2.
Linux: same as Veeam Agent for Linux below.

VMware vSphere
vSphere: dropping support for version 6.x; minimum supported version is 7.0 for both ESXi and vCenter.
vCloud Director: dropping support for versions through 10.3; minimum supported version is 10.4

Microsoft Hyper-V
Hyper-V: dropping support for 2012 and 2012 R2 ; minimum supported version is 2016.
SCVMM: dropping support for SCVMM 2012; minimum supported version is 2016.

Nutanix AHV
AHV: dropping support for versions 5.x, 6.0 and 6.1; minimum supported version is 6.8.

oVirt KVM
No changes.

Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows
Windows Server: dropping support for Windows Server 2008 and 2012, minimum supported version is 2012 R2
Windows Client: dropping support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.x. Minimum supported versions of Windows 10 are 1507 for LTSB/LTSC channels and 22H2 for GA channel. Minimum supported version for Windows 11 is 22H2.

Veeam Agent for Linux
CentOS: dropping support completely.
Debian: dropping support for Debian 10; minimum supported version is Debian 11.
Fedora: dropping support completely.
openSUSE Tumbleweed, Leap: dropping support completely.
RHEL: dropping support for RHEL 7, RHEL 8.0 through 8.3; minimum supported version is 8.4.
Oracle Linux: no changes; minimum supported version remains Oracle Linux 7.
SLES: dropping support of older SLES 12 service packs; minimum supported versions are 12 SP5, 15 SP3 or later.
Ubuntu: no changes; supported versions are 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS.
Rocky: 8.10 support remains. Dropping support for 9.0 to 9.3; minimum supported version is 9.4
Alma: 8.10 support remains. Dropping support for 9.3; minimum supported version is 9.4

Veeam Agent for Mac
Dropping support for 10.13 through 10.15 ; minimum supported version is 11.

Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris
Dropping support for 11.0 through 11.2 ; supported versions are 10, 11.3, 11.4

Protected Applications

Microsoft Exchange Server
Dropping support for Exchange 2013; minimum supported version is Exchange 2016.

Microsoft SharePoint Server
Dropping support for SharePoint 2013; minimum supported version is SharePoint 2016.

Microsoft SQL Server
Dropping support for SQL Server 2008; minimum supported version is SQL Server 2012.

Oracle
Likely no changes; will keep 11gR2 as a minimum supported version (customers are always very slow to upgrade Oracle).

SAP HANA
Dropping support for version 1.0; minimum supported version is 2.0.

OS distributions for application plug-ins
Minimum supported OS versions:
IBM Db2: RHEL 8.4, SLES 12 SP5, SLES 15 SP3, Ubuntu 16.04, CentOS 8
Microsoft SQL Server: Windows 2012 R2
Oracle RMAN: Windows 2012 R2, RHEL 8.4, Oracle Linux 7, SLES 12 SP5, SLES 15 SP3
SAP HANA: RHEL 8.4, SLES 12 SP5, SLES 15 SP3
SAP on Oracle: RHEL 8.4, SLES 12 SP5, SLES 15 SP3, Oracle Linux 7

Backup Infrastructure

For backup infrastructure components, we always required more modern OS than for protected machines, so the trimming here is more aggressive. The main reason is security, however this also allows us to achieve better performance by leveraging modern technologies and optimizations not compatible with earlier OS versions.

Backup Server, Backup Console and Enterprise Manager
Windows Server: dropping support for Server 2012 and 2012 R2; minimum supported version is Server 2016.
Windows Client: minimum supported versions for Windows 10 are 21H2 for LTSC channel and 22H2 for GA channel. Minimum supported version for Windows 11 is 22H2.
Linux: special version of Rocky 9.2 (provided and managed by Veeam)
SQL Server: dropping support for SQL Server 2012 and 2014; minimum supported version is SQL Server 2016.
PostgreSQL: no changes
Browsers: no changes

Backup Infrastructure Components (proxies, repositories, gateways, accelerators etc.)
Windows Server: dropping support for Server 2012 and 2012 R2; minimum supported version is Server 2016.
Windows Client: minimum supported versions for Windows 10 are 21H2 for LTSC channel and 22H2 for GA channel. Minimum supported version for Windows 11 is 22H2.
CentOS: dropping support completely.
Debian: dropping support for Debian 10; minimum supported version is Debian 11.
RHEL: dropping support for RHEL 7, RHEL 8.0 through 8.5; minimum supported version is RHEL 8.6 (excluding expired non-LTS releases).
Oracle Linux: no changes; minimum supported version remains Oracle Linux 7 .
SLES: dropping support of older SLES 12 service packs; minimum supported versions are 12 SP5, 15 SP3 or later.
Ubuntu: dropping support for 18.04 LTS; supported versions are 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS.
Alma: dropping support completely.
Rocky: special version of Rocky 9.2 (provided and managed by Veeam); for vanilla Rocky minimum supported version is 9.4 or later.

Backup repositories
Integration through run-time data mover is discontinued, only persistent data mover (a V11 feature) is supported going forward. This discontinuation was previously scheduled to happen in V12 but the impacted vendors asked for more time to solve integration challenges with the new approach. There will be no extension in V13 due to high cost of maintaining and supporting two completely separate "tunnels". This impacts integration with the following backup targets:
Exagrid
Quantum DXi
Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800
Infinidat InfiniGuard

Primary Storage Infrastructure

Dropping legacy storage families and OS versions due to EOL/EOS by vendors and in coordination with them:
Dell: dropping support for all VNX, VNX2, VNXe versions.
NetApp: dropping support for all ONTAP 7-mode versions.
NetApp: dropping support for ONTAP cluster-mode versions 9.1 through 9.6; minimum supported version is 9.7.
Cisco: minimum supported version is 5.0(2x).
HPE: dropping support for all StoreVirtual (formerly LeftHand/P4000 Series) and StoreVirtual VSA versions.
IBM: dropping support for Spectrum Virtualize OS versions 8.2 through 8.3; minimum supported version is 8.4.

Deprecated and Discontinued Features

You may also want to review deprecated and discontinued features.

[karsten123]

sounds good to me.

[Spex]

Backupserver on Linux only on Linux provided and managed by Veeam sounds not that great.

We have a standardized RHEL installation (including hardening, config managment using ansible, windows defender, monitoring using checkmk, integration in management domain ....). Why is this only for infrastrucure components still allowed? I'm not a fan of appliance solutions that often are behind regarding security patches and feel like foreign objects.

[dabrigo]

I think you will still be able to install on your preferred Linux flavor, as long as it's in the list of supported distros.

[Gostev]

No, we will not support that - specifically because we cannot validate our product against every possible combination of the following settings:
(including hardening, config management using ansible, windows defender, monitoring using checkmk, integration in management domain ....)

[dabrigo]

Sorry Anton, i've misread the two paragraphs about Backup Server and Backup Infrastructure Components

[Spex]

No, we will not support that - specifically because we cannot validate our product against every possible combination of the following settings:
(including hardening, config management using ansible, windows defender, monitoring using checkmk, integration in management domain ....)

This is normal business in windows environments where you have to deal with all kinds of configurations. Linux is not only a os for appliances....

[dabrigo]

Maybe it's time for a VeeamOS distribution

[DonZoomik]

Does dropping 32-bit support also affect agents? I have a bunch of 32-bit Windows 10 LTSC machines... for reasons.
I'm asking because I did not see a thread for agent vNext and new agent versions are released usually with BnR.

[Dima P.]

Hello Mihkel,

Yes, this change affects backup agents too. However, we plan to longer support existing build of Veeam Agents operating in standalone mode running on x32 systems.

I have a bunch of 32-bit Windows 10 LTSC machines... for reasons.

Mind me asking what type of workload is that and how you back it up (i.e. entire computer backup, volume level backup or specific files only)? Thank you!

[nd39475]

re: `RHEL: dropping support for RHEL 7, RHEL 8.0 through 8.3; minimum supported version is 8.4.`
do i read this as, "cannot open a support ticket nor install veeam-services onto RHEL8.3", or do i read this as "Backing up RHEL 8.3 VM's will fail"?

[Gostev]

Can't say yet at this level of details. Often enough it's blocked in the actual product to avoid data losses while protecting untested/unsupported versions.
RHEL 8.3 is a strange version to remain on though? https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata

[RubinCompServ]

This is normal business in windows environments where you have to deal with all kinds of configurations. Linux is not only a os for appliances....

When you install VMware ESXi on a host, do you expect VMware - sorry, I meant Broadcom - to provide you with the code so you can build it on the Linux distro of your choice? This is no different than any other application that comes as an appliance rather than as an application.

[RubinCompServ]

When you say that the Rocky Linux "appliance" will be managed by Veeam, does that mean that we will get no visibility into the server and no options to customer-config it (multiple NICs, additional datastores, etc)? Or just that we won't have the ability to perform any type of system updates or application installations on it?

[Gostev]

I meant the latter. The former might be limited and/or hard to do, but still possible.

[scott.anderson]

Is there any indication on the storage requirements for install/upgrade yet?

It has been getting more difficult to upgrade existing VBR installations with the ever-increasing storage requirements for VBR.

Are the optional components (all the add on plug-ins and agents etc) going to be optional or at least redirectable to different locations/drives rather than all on the C:?

We don't have all that many customers that have all of the cloud providers active in there infrastructure for example, so having to install all of the plugins for them on the C: seems very unnecessary and space wasting.

Would have thought it would not be too hard to have them as check box optional installs or at least be able to redirect their install to another location/drive.

[Gostev]

I don't expect any significant changes from V12 in this regard.

[DonZoomik]

Hello Mihkel,
Yes, this change affects backup agents too. However, we plan to longer support existing build of Veeam Agents operating in standalone mode running on x32 systems.
Mind me asking what type of workload is that and how you back it up (i.e. entire computer backup, volume level backup or specific files only)? Thank you!

Some physical systems running ancient Win16 (eg Windows 3.11) applications and talking to devices over serial ports. Industrial stuff, that will run until heat death of universe.
Entire computer backup.

[Spex]

When you install VMware ESXi on a host, do you expect VMware - sorry, I meant Broadcom - to provide you with the code so you can build it on the Linux distro of your choice? This is no different than any other application that comes as an appliance rather than as an application.

You are talking about host operating systems - I'm talking about a backup application.
An appliance is a "closed host os" + "application" - eg vcenter.

[AlexComputerGuy]

> oVirt KVM

So this includes Proxmox?

[Gostev]

No, Proxmox is not oVirt based.

[RubinCompServ]

You are talking about host operating systems - I'm talking about a backup application.
An appliance is a "closed host os" + "application" - eg vcenter.

And now the Veeam application will also be available as an appliance, the same way Zerto and vCenter are.

[SnakeSK]

Please clarify what you mean with extended support when I see End of Fix will be when V13 drops, following recent CVEs, and Veeams forced nature of upgrading to the latest version even to be secure, thats not a support, thats just the support wont immediately close a ticket, nothing else.

[Dima P.]

SnakeSK,

End of Support for V12 was prolonged to February 2027.

We release security patches even after the End of Fix date, for example lastest patch for v11a was delivered a year after its 'End of Fix' date.

[olafurh]

In Backup Infrastructure Components, can I read that the mount server role will finally be available on linux?

[tyler.jurgens]

First off, I applaud Veeam providing this kind of information far ahead of the release. It will definitely be useful to plan for the future.

Given we are now seeing Veeam available on Linux, would it also be possible to see a docker version of Veeam Backup and Replication become available? You get to closely control the image, we get the flexibility of deploying to whatever container host we want.

[Dima P.]

In Backup Infrastructure Components, can I read that the mount server role will finally be available on linux?

Yes.

Given we are now seeing Veeam available on Linux, would it also be possible to see a docker version of Veeam Backup and Replication become available?

Counted as a feature request. I wonder if you really want to run B&R inside a docker container for production use or you see it as an easy / faster way to get it to the lab for test purposes before deploying to production?

[tyler.jurgens]

Yes. Probably wouldn't do it as production most of the time, but it could be used for quick or scripted deployments. Also demo/lab purposes it could be a quick win.

I'd probably use it in production far more readily if its not being used as an AIO deployment.

[CaptainTightPants]

Are the optional components (all the add on plug-ins and agents etc) going to be optional or at least redirectable to different locations/drives rather than all on the C:?

We don't have all that many customers that have all of the cloud providers active in there infrastructure for example, so having to install all of the plugins for them on the C: seems very unnecessary and space wasting.

Would have thought it would not be too hard to have them as check box optional installs or at least be able to redirect their install to another location/drive.

+1 on wanting the plug-ins (Google Cloud, AWS, Kasten, Nutanix, etc.) to be an optional checkbox during upgrade/installation. We're not currently running into space constraints on our VBR server's C drive, but it would be nice to skip installing/upgrading plug-ins for services that we don't use. Could probably also cut down the install/upgrade time if it can skip those components.

[akops]

Hello

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VMware vSphere
vSphere: dropping support for version 6.x; minimum supported version is 7.0 for both ESXi and vCenter.
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What does exactly this means?? Backuping up VMs on old esxi 6.x hosts will stop working ?? or you just will not support any problem with this kind of hosts??.
In our environment we currently use a number of old esxi (6.x) hosts for "mostly" non production usage. Unfortunately we cannot upgrade them to esxi 7, due to vmware compatibilities restrictions.

akops