Feedback from a 10-year veteran: My VSA v13 experience (SOBR, Config Repo)

[hrai]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been a Veeam user for over 10 years and have seen the product evolve through many major shifts. Naturally, I was excited to jump into the new Veeam Software Appliance (VSA) v13. The "security-first" hardened approach is exactly what we need in 2026. However, I wanted to share some feedback regarding the current state of "Feature Parity" between the Web UI and the traditional console (Veeam Windows App).

The Experience: My goal was to set up a Scale-Out Backup Repository (SOBR) linking a local ReFS drive (Performance Tier) to iDrive e2 (Capacity Tier). While I could see my repositories in the Appliance Web UI, I hit a wall almost immediately:

• SOBR Orchestration: I found I couldn't fully configure the SOBR or fine-tune the Capacity Tier policies (like immutability sync and specific move/copy logic) directly within the Web UI.

• Configuration Backup: Setting up or restoring a Configuration Repository also felt elusive or restricted in the web interface compared to what I'm used to.

• The Workaround: I ultimately had to install the Windows Thick Client on my management laptop just to "finish" the infrastructure setup.

The Takeaway: I love the direction the VSA is taking the interface is clean, and the deployment is a breeze. But for a veteran admin, it feels a bit like having a high-performance engine with a dashboard that only shows the speed and fuel, but doesn't let you tune the timing.

I’m currently running my daily VM jobs through the Appliance UI (which works great!), but I’m still tethered to the Windows console for anything under the hood.

My Hope: I really hope that v13.x updates or v14 bring the "Power User" settings for SOBR and Infrastructure management into the browser. The goal is to be 100% Windows-free for management, and we're almost there.

Curious if other long-time users are finding themselves back in the thick client for the initial heavy lifting?

Best,

HRAI

[Andanet]

Hi @hrai. I wrote my thoughts in my blog. I thinks is a normal evolution when a software receive a very important restructuring process. At the moment not all operations can be accomplished without Windows console and let us hope to be possible ASAPwhen in web console more features will be added in new releases.
My 2 cents

[Mildur]

Hello HRAI Admin

Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to deliver a fully featured Web UI as soon as possible. You will see additional workload support and configurable options in every upcoming v13.x minor release (e.g. v13.1 + v13.2 + ...).

SOBR Orchestration: I found I couldn't fully configure the SOBR or fine-tune the Capacity Tier policies (like immutability sync and specific move/copy logic) directly within the Web UI.

May I ask which option you find missing in the Web UI for SOBR configuration? The Offload Policy is configurable in the Web UI (Help Center).
Also, could you please elaborate on what you mean by "immutability sync"? Which specific option or feature in our product are you referring to?

Configuration Backup: Setting up or restoring a Configuration Repository also felt elusive or restricted in the web interface compared to what I'm used to.

At the moment, Configuration Backup must be configured via the Windows-based Backup Console.
For Software Appliance backup servers, Configuration Restore can be performed from the Host Management Web UI (Port 10443) (Help Center).

Best,
Fabian

[hrai]

Hi Fabian:

You asked: May I ask which option you find missing in the Web UI for SOBR configuration?
Well you cannot even create a Cloud Repository with the Web UI.

Also you cannot create jobs for Windows servers using the WebUI.

Thanks

Hrai