NPIV and multiple backup proxies

[maverick964_uk]

We have veeam 6.5 and want to test multiple proxies with veeam backups.

One of the tests is to map LUNS to the proxy vm's via NPIV.

Has anyone tried this however it would seem unclear if its supported....

thanks

[veremin]

It’s actually covered in the existing sticky FAQ:

Q: I have FC SAN and running Veeam Backup in a VM. Can I use direct SAN access mode via NPIV?
A: No. VMware supports NPIV for RDM disks in physical mode only. Veeam Backup does not support backing up pRDM disks, because VMware does not support snapshotting such disks. You can, however leverage NPIV to mount LUN to VM as pRDM disk, format it with NTFS and use as target for your backups, thus making you backups completely LAN-free. This makes it perfect backup target!

Thanks.

[maverick964_uk]

many thanks.

so presenting ESX luns via NPIV is unsupported apart from physical proxy yes?...

our customer is demanding we try and use virtual proxies however my view is we should have physical!!

[veremin]

You can’t use proxy Direct SAN mode through NPIV, since NPIV is supported by VMware for pRDM disks only and pRDMs, in their turn, can’t be snapshotted/backed up.

As to the proxy modes, it all depends solely on your infrastructure, so, it’s not like a struggle between them, but rather a comparison of rates that can be achieved through different methods. Thus, it stands to reason to add a VM to ESX(i) host, specifying it as a backup proxy, and see whether you're satisfied with the results or not.

As a first source of information regarding different methods I would recommend reviewing corresponding User Guide, as well as, sticky FAQ mentioned above. Additionally, you might want to search through this forum for key words in order to find useful and relevant information.

Thanks.

[maverick964_uk]

thanks for the reply.

Yes it does depend on the infrastructure and what you are backing up. Sizes and quantities etc in the relevant backup window.
When talking about enterprise environments with many hundreds of terabytes, physical is the only option in my view. Aside from performance gains its best to keep the backup infrastructure away from production phyical/blade/virtual servers.

We hope to test physical proxies shortly however as veeam does not spread load across proxies in one backup job we would have to dedicate a datastore to a proxy then expand from there....

appreciate your help....thanks

[veremin]

Please be aware that proxy isn’t selected on backup job level, but rather on VM level. If you tick “automatic” proxy selection option, Veeam Backup & Replication won’t be tied to one specific proxy, instead, it will process VM one by one, assigning to them the most appropriate proxy servers.

Thanks.

[maverick964_uk]

yes. Unfortunately we cant work in that way. We will assign particular backups to certain proxies.

We have to do this as we then need to script copying the backup files to a D2D NAS share for replication to DR site.

[veremin]

We will assign particular backups to certain proxies.We have to do this as we then need to script copying the backup files to a D2D NAS share for replication to DR site

.
I don't think I quite follow you on that. Could elaborate on how automatic proxy selection is connected with your post job activity?

Thanks.

[maverick964_uk]

we are trying to assign each backup to its own virtual proxy. 4 backups, 4 proxies....post activity script copies the backup files from local disk to the NAS share...

I would like to see veeam enhanced so that its configurable to allow/disallow the post activity job to run if the backup is successful or fails.

[veremin]

I would like to see veeam enhanced so that its configurable to allow/disallow the post activity job to run if the backup is successful or fails.

Thanks for the feedback; highly-appreciated.

Anyway, even today is pretty achievable goal, since all can be done through the following PowerShell script, that is responsible for analyzing the latest job status, and performing different task based on the results it gets:

Code: Select all

asnp VeeamPSSnapin
$Job = Get-VBRJob -name "Name of your job"
If ($job.GetLastresult() -eq "Warning" -or $job.GetLastresult() -eq "Success")
{
Place your commands here that you want to start
} Else {} 

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[maverick964_uk]

many thanks!!