Agent backups from EC2 to S3 repo - direct connection or gateway server?

[mike7891]

Hello, I am configuring Veeam agents to back up Amazon EC2 instances to an S3 bucket. Our Backup and Replication server is in our on premise location with a Backup Copy job that copies these backups from S3 to our on premise repository. I am unsure which connection type for the S3 repository would be best in this configuration. Would it be better to use direct connection, or to deploy a gateway server as another EC2 instance? My understanding is the gateway server may be unnecessary since the agent installed on our EC2 VMs could back up to S3 directly but I would like to confirm if this is the case. Thank you.

[Mildur]

Hi mike7891,

The agent can back up directly to an S3 bucket on AWS. This option is useful if your organization has multiple locations with dedicated internet connections. Each agent can directly communicate with his <backup folder> on the AWS S3 bucket repository.
By using a gateway server means that all backup data traffic must be sent between the agent and gateway server first before being uploaded to AWS.

Our Backup and Replication server is in our on premise location with a Backup Copy job that copies these backups from S3 to our on premise repository.

Have you considered the other way around? I'm asking because copying backups from AWS S3 to on-premise storage incurs costs for egress traffic and GET-API calls. It is generally recommended to back up to an on-premise repository first for faster backups and restores, and then copy your backups to an off-site repository such as AWS S3.

Best,
Fabian

[mike7891]

Hi Fabian, I figured it would have been better to back up to S3 first since the VMs themselves are already in AWS EC2, but if this is not the case and I should back up directly from EC2 -> Onprem we can look into that as an option. My understanding is there would be egress charges either way because the data is still leaving AWS and being placed into our onprem repository one way or another. Let me know if I am understanding correct, thank you.

[Mildur]

Hi Mike

Yes, I apologize. I must have missed the info about EC2.
If you are protecting EC2 instances, then pointing your backup job to AWS S3 is better than on-premise storage first.

Have you also considered using Veeam Backup for AWS to protect your instances?

Best,
Fabian