If Veeam server is in backup job, what transport mode?

[james411]

Good day once more,

I'm close to getting my Veeam installation installed and needed another point of clarification.

I plan on having one job backup 4 different VMs. These 4 VMs are on the same host with local storage and one of these VMs is the Veeam server. I have a small environment so Veeam server will also be the backup proxy. I understand that the Veeam server can't hot add itself so it must use network mode. My question is, will the entire job be forced to use network mode, or is Veeam able to hot add the 3 other VMs and failover to network mode when it encounters the Veeam server itself?

As an illustration say I have the following VMs configured in the following order of a backup job:
VM1
VM2
VM3 - Veeam server
VM4

Will Veeam be able to backup VM1, 2, and 4 in hot add mode and failover to network only for VM3. Or will all VMs be processed in network mode?

I hope my question was clear. I appreciate any input. Thanks so much again!

[foggy]

Will Veeam be able to backup VM1, 2, and 4 in hot add mode and failover to network only for VM3. Or will all VMs be processed in network mode?

With the default behavior (transport mode set to automatic), it will use hotadd to process all other VMs, failover to network on the proxy VM, however it will not be able to use CBT to backup the proxy VM.

[veremin]

Also, it might be worth utilizing configuration backup feature, instead of backing up VB&R as a whole.

This feature retrieves configuration data from the VB&R SQL database. In case of disaster, VB&R can be easily re-installed from the scratch and then necessary configuration can be imported to it. This guarantees that previously used Backup infrastructure configuration data, Jobs configuration data, as well as, Veeam Backup & Replication settings will be preserved.

Thanks.

[dellock6]

But we do not know if the Veeam server is also hosting other services or is a dedicated VM... if it the first, it still makes sense to backup the whole VM...

Luca.

[veremin]

Yep, definitely; that’s was the reason I wrote “might”.

[james411]

Thanks gents! It's good to know that Veeam is so smart I assume the same is true if I include a VM that is on another host with local storage correct? Veeam will backup the VMs on the host it has access to by hot adding and then failover to network mode for the VM on the other host?

Ive read about the new backup configuration feature which sounds good, but as has been mentioned, Veeam server is the same server as my vCenter installation hence why I want to backup the whole VM.

[veremin]

Yep, you’re right in your assumption.

[james411]

Forgive me guys but I went back and reread some slides on processing modes and now I am doubting my understanding. Was I correct that backup proxies cannot use hot add transport mode on themselves at all? Or can backup proxies hot add themselves as long as CBT is turned off on the backup proxy VM? Thanks!

[foggy]

Was I correct that backup proxies cannot use hot add transport mode on themselves at all?

Yes, that's correct. The job will automatically fail over to network mode on the proxy VM.