[V13] Question regarding Veeam B&R 13.x

[Didi7]

Hi guys,

I would like to give Veeam B&R 13.x a try. I suppose internal internet proxies should provide access to veeam.com at minimum (or only) to be able to upgrade JeOS appliance, proxies and repositories, right?

Regards,
Didi7

[Gostev]

Hi, the actual repository is repository.veeam.com as far as I remember, however there are some other endpoints involved in the check for updates on veeam.com too, so either allow veeam.com or you will need to allow a few endpoints granularly according to the documentation, like a few under *.butler.veeam.com or autolk.veeam.com

[Didi7]

Great and thanks for replying so fast.

Deployment here will start soon ...

Regards,
Didi7

[Didi7]

Ok, this is what i get, when deploying the *.ova VBR Software Appliance ...



Is this expected behavior, when deploying this on a StandAlone ESXi 8.x build 24859861 host?

Regards,
Didi7

[Dima P.]

Hi Didi7,

Checking, stay tuned...

[Didi7]

I am missing the license file for v13 within my accounts to activate the VBR Software Appliance as well? Am I to early?

And what about the Veeam B&R 13.x full Windows build? Is this released later?

Regards,
Didi7

[Gostev]

1/ There's no special V13 license file in principle, use the same one you're using for V12.
2/ This is covered in the sticky FAQ topic.

[Didi7]

Allright Gostev, acknowledged!

Currently I am experiencing login problems and I am sure the password I enter is correct! During installation I was asked several times to provide a recommended password and to activate MFA, everything was good. Now I struggle to login.

Furthermore a reboot problem of the Software Appliance after installation, it was hanging in a screen with something mentioning ...

Rebooting or Booting Veeam Software Appliance but nothing happened, so I had to reset the VM.

[Gostev]

We're happy to answer product questions here but for help troubleshooting any technical issues, kindly contact our Customer Support directly.

[Didi7]

No problem, I just mentioned what I discovered here today.

Well, I will again deploy the Appliance (*.ova) using our vCenter later and otherwise use the ISO instead, if I should get the above message again.

Maybe password problems will vanish as well.

I might deploy a fully Linux based VBR-environment into our production network very soon to get rid of Windows here.

[Gostev]

Meanwhile I have some updates from QA @Didi7

They managed to reproduce the original error about extra disk image, this is caused by standalone ESXi being unable to process a signature file. This appears to be a known limitation of standalone ESXi, for example they found an HPE KB article about this issue. You will not encounter this error when using vCenter.

However, the error does not affect VSA deployment and can just be ignored. So your password problem is unrelated.

[Didi7]

Good to know!

To be honest, I did not expect that the error deploying the *.ova in StandAlone ESXi was somehow related to the password problems

Thanks
Didi7

[Didi7]

Ok, I spend some more time in helpcenter.veeam.com to get a slight idea how things are working in or with VBR 13.x and there are some further questions arising ...


*** I really plan to get VSA working asap in our production environment, it's awesome ***


1) Instead of deploying VSA with the *.ova file, I suppose alternatively we could create e.g. a VMware virtual machine with 8 cores, 16GB RAM, 2 hard disks (each with 240GB at minimum) and configure the VM OS type to 'Rocky Linux 64-bit', correct? That's at least, what I did and so far it works.

2) Browsing through all the options in the VSA, so far I see no option to deploy a Veeam Proxy or Repository Linux VM from the appliance, just as I can do e.g. with the Nutanix Proxy Appliance in VBR, as long as the plug-in is installed. Instead we need to download the Veeam Infrastructure Appliance ISO file, create e.g. VMware VMs with OS type 'Rocky Linux 64-bit' and deploy a VM with the VIA ISO file, correct? Finally, those deployed VMs can be added as a Veeam VMware Proxy or Veeam Repository within the VSA appliance, right?

3) Are there plans to add the full deployment of those JeOS 'Rocky Linux 64-bit' infrastructure appliances to the VSA? I understand that the VSA is in an early stage and more features will be added later.

As we already planned to use Veeam Hardened repositories on physical servers, this VIA ISO file is already a big improvement, as things get more and more automated.

Congrats Veeam!

@Gostev:
Btw, it was no password problem, sorry my bad!

[Gostev]

Thank you for your kind words, I'm very happy to hear that you're enjoying my baby

1. Yes, that's works if you want to install from ISO instead of OVA.

2. Correct.

3. It's a possibility. It was simply easier to keep VSA and VIA separate as a first step. Besides, it keeps VIA ISO size much smaller, and considering VIA can be used with VBR V13 on Windows as well, small ISO makes it easier.

[Didi7]

If things like that turn out really that good, it is well deserved.

Thank you for confirming my questions. Will keep experimenting with your baby today

I understand that it makes sense to keep ISO file sizes small and both (the VSA and VIA) separated. Importing that additional VIA ISO file later into the VSA appliance as a plug-in or whatever would be fine as well for me, as long as things could be automated more and more, like what Veeam has done with the deployment of the Nutanix Proxy Appliance. Just an idea from my side.

I will let myself surprise ... Veeam has surprised me so many times, since I first had a chance to incorporate the product into our production environment more than 10 years ago.

Sadly a couple of years ago someone here in our company decided to replace Veeam's product with the backup software of another vendor, but I kept pace with Veeam's products in a none-production environment and legal licences. And now is the time to return to Veeam and VSA comes at the right time.

I really enjoy to work with Veeam's product. I think they are top notch and your blogs, forums and helpcenter speak for themselves.

Regards,
Didi7

[Didi7]

Wow, my thread was [V13]-d

Our initial production environment is in place, which means 1x VSA using *.ova and 3x VIA using the ISO on 'Rocky Linux (64-bit)' VMs (a lot more machines will be deployed). Spend more time looking around, what can be configured and how it looks like. Great so far.

I have seen there are already some feature requests, also from us! Which means Gostev's baby gets attention

For now we have another question regarding MFA ...

Let's assume the entry for a VSA or VIA machine in the authenticator app disappears or accidentially gets deleted, how can we re-add the entry. Only during initial setup we saw the qr-code. How do I get to view this again? Or what is the solution in this case?

Now, time for some weekend activities and drag away a little bit from VSA and VIA (hard weekend) :p

Regards,
Didi7

[Gostev]

If MFA entry is lost then you can no longer confirm your identity, therefore you cannot be allowed to self-reset MFA.
So in this case you will need another host administrator to reset MFA for you.