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miha9966
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Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by miha9966 »

Hi all,

I read the veeam vSphere FAQ and line in which it says that processing of vCloud director provisioned virtual machines is supported... I'm fine with that...

But what about somewhat different setup?

Can Veeam B&R communicate with vCloud director API (or any other vCD user interface :-) ) to use vCloud provisioned resources as a replication target? :-)
If not, can vCloud director recognize/detect and accept veeam created replicas in an organization's virtual datacenter?

In other words... Can i use veeam to replicate my virtual machines TO vCloud?

Thanks,

Davor
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by tsightler »

Veeam does not currently support any specific integration with vCloud director. When we backup VMs from vCD we are simply using the underlying vSphere infrastructure and that's all that we are aware of. The same would hold true for replication. It's likely possible to replicate to another vSphere instance and then "import" those replicated VMs into a vCD instance, but Veeam would be completely unaware of any of the vCD infrastructure.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by electronsonline »

vCD backup is coming in Veeam 7 which is not far away anymore. It should be hitting in Q3 as per http://www.virtualizationteam.com/veeam ... veeam.html

It seems in that interview as well that Replication will not be available at the initial stage of Veeam 7, though if things are changing I would like to hear it from the Veeam team on here.
miha9966
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by miha9966 »

Well, vCD backup came with Veeam 7...

But still, vCloud director can only be used as a source...
When can we expect Veeam to handle vCloud director as a target? (Backup and replication of virtual machines to vCloud Director as a backup/replication target?)
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Yes, you're right, replication jobs are not available for vCloud Director infrastructures, however, there are plans to add this functionality in later releases. Btw, I'm not sure what you mean by saying "backup target", can you please clarify?
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by miha9966 »

Ok, I'll do my best, allthough i might have used the term "target" wrongly here... :-)

I was thinking on possibility to have Veeam replicate virtual machines from standard vCenter-controlled virtual infrastructure, and store these replicas in a virtual datacenter (part of hybrid/public/private cloud) controlled and managed by vCloud director. Therefore, a "target" would actually be a "organization virtual datacenter" defined on vCloud director. Organization credentials would be used to authenticate veeam replication service on vCloud director API. During replication job setup, these organization credentials would be used to gather all possible metrics on destination virtual datacenter needed to create a job, and to check available processor, RAM and disk space available in ogranization virtual datacenter for replica placement. So, no, vCloud director cell would not be a real "target", real "target" in this case would be "organization virtual datacenter" controlled by vCloud director.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Ok, got it, now everything is clear. So basically you want to replicate to vCloud Director infrastructure, this feature is already on our radar. Thanks for the detailed feedback!
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by dellock6 »

While setting the vCD backup, I've seen Veeam expects to have access to the underlying vCenter server. This is ok for a service provider like us using Veeam to backup the vCD infrastructure, but probably some users would like to replicate their VMs "towards" a Service Provider, so some change in the process in needed in order to be able to talk directly to vCloud Director without involving vCenter. No service provider will offer access to the underlying vCenter to their customers. Anyway, the vCD support in v7 is a really cool starting point!

Luca.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by chrisdearden »

dellock6 wrote:While setting the vCD backup, I've seen Veeam expects to have access to the underlying vCenter server. This is ok for a service provider like us using Veeam to backup the vCD infrastructure, but probably some users would like to replicate their VMs "towards" a Service Provider, so some change in the process in needed in order to be able to talk directly to vCloud Director without involving vCenter. No service provider will offer access to the underlying vCenter to their customers. Anyway, the vCD support in v7 is a really cool starting point!

Luca.
Makes sense - though the problem is that the VADP API isn't exposed over the vcloud API. Until it can effectivly proxy that information , I think we'll be stuck.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by dellock6 »

I know. In a way, they are using some other APIs to replicate VMs to vCloud without talking to vCenter, have a look at vCloud Connector. But I agree at the moment is not a practical DR solution, since is more aimed to complete VM copies from premises to vCloud.

Another possible solution/workaround, would be something like the vCloud Connector, but made by Veeam. It could work this way:
- a VM/appliance, realized by Veeam, exposed to internet
- it has two interfaces, the second one connecting inside the provider network
- it's configured to talk with the "backend" vCloud "AND" its vCenter, so being able to use VADP
- it's able to read scope informations from enterprise manager, so an external customer can only access to the vCloud sub-tree he has access to
- it's only a proxy, the customer goes on seeing its VMs via Enterprise Manager

I know it's a 10.000 feet overview, but it could make sense, and offer the possibility to use VADP (and not some customer undocumented APIs and calls) to replicate towards a vCloud.

Comments?

Luca.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by chrisdearden »

your suggestions usually make sense to me! especially if it was combined with a little SSL Encryption on the connection so that no VPN would be required.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by dellock6 »

:) After suggesting/thinking about the veeamover (btw, I still think is a better name than backupcopy...), it's time for a new free idea! A tool like this can also work without vCloud, even if it's where it makes most sense, most of all since it decouples the vCenter of the Service Provider from the Veeam server of the customer...

Any idea for the name? Veeam Wan Connector sounds too serious (so there are chances this would be the final name :P).

Luca.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by tsightler »

Hi Luca, I've been thinking pretty much about the same idea, perhaps with a few twists. I call it the VCPP (Veeam Cloud Provider Proxy). This would be an appliance deployed at a provider that basically offers proxy and repository services via RESTful API that can integrate with or without vCloud. The basic idea is that a provider would deploy VCPP on their edge, and provision users with virtual resources and/or storage capacity (based on hosted backup or replication). The customer would simply have a new "server" to add via managed servers, a VCPP, which is added by entering a URL and credentials of his VCPP provider. Once done, his local Veeam instance would be immediately populated the resouces that had been provisioned at the provider. If he had storage, it would show up as a repository, if he had compute (VMware/Hyper-V, definitely not dependent on vCloud) it would show up as a virtual host.

Most importantly, this would allow both inbound and outbound use, customer could replicate to or from their cloud hosted environment, and run backups/backup copies to/from the provider as well. They could of course have multiple providers, and perhaps even run replication or backup copies between them.

I have a few other ideas around this as well, but I think it's the same high level idea as you.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by dellock6 »

Smart minds think alike!
We need to talk about this in real life, what about a meeting at your booth next week, maybe with also Anton? Can we arrange for it?

Luca.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by tsightler »

I'm all in but I'm sure Anton has more meetings than I do. I think there's a real nugget of an idea here that can offer a ton of flexibilty in the future.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by miha9966 »

... I call it the VCPP (Veeam Cloud Provider Proxy)....

This sounds pretty good. We would be eager to beta test it :-)
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by tsightler »

If only it was possible to beta test something that, for now, is just an idea. :D
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by J1mbo »

Has anything happened with this idea?
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by veremin »

There hasn’t been any product releases from that moment. So, nothing has changed since then. Thanks.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by ljverschuren »

Is there any news regarding this subject. We would like to have a complete vApp replication option in the Veeam product. We offer multiple vCloud locations where we can replicate VMs, but still need to import them in a failover case. Giving a complete vApp replication offering would resolve this matter and could give our vCloud customers full control on testing and starting the failover location.
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Re: Veeam and vCloud - replication question

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Hello Larik-Jan, this feature is still on our radar. Thank you!
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