Veeam Server / Proxy placement & questions

[ghow]

Hi,

Our Veeam 6.1 server and proxies are currently dedicated windows 7 VMs, our backup repository is a WIndows 2008R2 server also running Backup exec, which is responsible to writing the veeam backup files to tape. All our jobs are done through the virtual appliance

I have a couple of questions, and I apologise if they have been answered in other posts - actually I would be suprised if they hadn't

- Is WIndows 7 a suitable OS for the roles? - we simply went that way as it saved a couple of $$ in licenses and I was nervous about using existing prod servers.
- If the answer is no to the above, is there any OS version that is preferred ie 2008R2 > 2003
- We have recently purchased a new IBM x3650m4 that to replace our Backup exec server - can we install Veeam on it along side backup exec and then use virtual proxies to backup?, is this recommended?, any downsides?

The product is working extremely well for us. A few weeks ago we had a fairly routine change go horribly wrong on our prod exchange server and had to fail over to DR. Through Veeam we had the last nights Prod server backup restored and running within a couple of hours and datastores replicated back via DAG.

Thanks

[Cokovic]

- Is WIndows 7 a suitable OS for the roles? - we simply went that way as it saved a couple of $$ in licenses and I was nervous about using existing prod servers.
- If the answer is no to the above, is there any OS version that is preferred ie 2008R2 > 2003
- We have recently purchased a new IBM x3650m4 that to replace our Backup exec server - can we install Veeam on it along side backup exec and then use virtual proxies to backup?, is this recommended?, any downsides?

- if you are fine with it thn you can go with Win 7 as it is supported. But it's still a desktop OS. I would still prefer to go with a server OS for that.
- would definitely prefer 2008R2 over 2003. Simply due to security reasons for example as support for Win2003 is ending soon.
- You will be fine with BackupExec and Veeam on the same server. Have exactly this setup running at a customers site and works without any problems. The only thing you should consider is when using BackupExec agent on a VM with AOFO installed. This could mess up application aware images of Veeam as BackupExec then installs its own VSS writer. But as long as you are using BackupExec only for offloading Veeam backups to Tape there is nothing to be concerned about.