Veeam Explorer for SharePoint 2013

[rimvydukas]

Hi,

Just upgraded to v7, we waited an ability to restore individual sharepoint items with such big hopes. But frankly I'm disappointed with what I've seen. No Sharepoint 2013 support:( When can we expect this?

Another frustration is staging SQL server. My Veeam installation uses remote sql server. What are my options then? I do not want to install additional SQL server.

[foggy]

Another frustration is staging SQL server. My Veeam installation uses remote sql server. What are my options then? I do not want to install additional SQL server.

There are actually two workarounds, you can select the one that is more acceptable for you:
1. Copy the database files you are restoring from (including mdf and ldf files) to the remote SQL server, keeping the exact same folder structure.
2. Install second Veeam B&R instance on the remote SQL server and perform restores there.

[rimvydukas]

Could you be more specific on first choice? Lets say database files were in M:\Sharepoint folder. And I want to use remote SQL server which holds veeam database for Sharepoint restore. Do I need to create "Sharepoint" folder on this server and copy files there? Do I need to create these folders on exactly the same M: disk. My sql server do not have such disk. Are there any plans to improve this new explorer and remove such requirements regarding staging sql server? I thought that Veeam Br was designed to use distributed architecture and it is simply strange to see such requirements - staging sql server on the same server as Veeam are.

[nefes]

When using SharePoint Explorer with remote SQL you should do the following steps:
Create on Backup Console machine and on SQL machine same folder structure and put *.mdf and *.ldf files in the same places.
That structure may not reflect the structure on SharePoint server itself.

For example, if you want to use database from backup, attached with VeeamFLR to C:\VeeamFLR\SharePoint\Volume1\mssql\SharePoint.mdf, you should create on SQL server folder C:\VeeamFLR\SharePoint\Volume1\mssql\ and copy there all *.mdf and *.ldf files from FLR, related to needed SharePoint database.
After that you can open SharePoint Explorer and select local SharePoint.mdf. Actualy, SQL will use database, located on it's local disk.

For sure, it is not the best and most reliable method, but it can be used if you have no possibility to set up SQL at Veeam Backup server locally.

[rimvydukas]

Ok, thank you for the answer. But I have one question unanswered - when can we expect Sharepoint 2013 support from this utility?

[foggy]

We are currently working on it, but I cannot provide any ETA.

[Gostev]

We are planning to release fully functional beta soon.

[rimvydukas]

Hi,

Are there any plans to make this explorer to work with remote SQL server? I think this is a serious shortcoming. Not everyone install SQL server on Veeam server.

[foggy]

But you can always install Veeam B&R instance on the SQL server, specifically for restores. No near-term plans, as far as I know.

[Gostev]

Not everyone install SQL server on Veeam server.

Yes, but what is the problem installing one, if you don't have it there?

[Gostev]

By the way, while I am here - the beta for Microsoft SharePoint 2013 is now available

[rimvydukas]

Yes, but what is the problem installing one, if you don't have it there?

Problem is that we use only several SQL servers for our management programs like Veeam and so on. And we don't want to install additional SQL servers what causes additional management time, additional licenses and so on. I will try to install Sharepoint explorer on remote sql server but it would be so nice to have an ability to work with remote SQL server if this is possible at all.

[veremin]

And we don't want to install additional SQL servers what causes additional management time, additional licenses and so on.

If the content database that is attached to VB&R server doesn’t exceed 10 GB, you can consider using not full edition of Microsoft SQL server but Express edition, instead. For instance, you can utilize Microsoft SQL server Express 2008 R2 SP1 that is shipped with the Veeam Backup & Replication installation.

Thanks.

[trichert]

By the way, while I am here - the beta for Microsoft SharePoint 2013 is now available

The problem is that SQL is very expensive to install on a backup server. Our backup server has 16 cores, it would cost me about $15,000 to install SQL on it. You can't just install SQL wherever you want it

[tsightler]

As far as I know, as long as you host the Veeam DB on another server, you can get by with SQL Developer Edition installed on the Veeam server for recovery. The Developer license is a relative bargain, I think like $50, and is licensed per-user rather that socket/core. The official Microsoft license document says that it can be used for any non-production use case (for example, even UAT counts). Since the database wouldn't be hosting any production use, only being used for restores for Sharepoint items, I don't see how it wouldn't be valid (note that this isn't true if you actually run the Veeam DB on the host).

I'm not saying that's a perfect solution, but I know customers that are doing this.

[trichert]

As far as I know, as long as you host the Veeam DB on another server, you can get by with SQL Developer Edition installed on the Veeam server for recovery. The Developer license is a relative bargain, I think like $50, and is licensed per-user rather that socket/core. The official Microsoft license document says that it can be used for any non-production use case (for example, even UAT counts). Since the database wouldn't be hosting any production use, only being used for restores for Sharepoint items, I don't see how it wouldn't be valid (note that this isn't true if you actually run the Veeam DB on the host).
I'm not saying that's a perfect solution, but I know customers that are doing this.

This is not legal you should advise them to stop immediately. Reporting and restore environments are considered production by Microsoft. Even in a true dev environment in addition to a license of dev SQL every single user who has rights to access the server must be covered under a msdn subscription which is also cost prohibitive and usually erases any savings dev may get you.

In addition SQL express is not a solution not only is the db limited to 10gb but it also only uses 1g ram causing performance issues.

SQL is expensive and licensing is complex, anyone thinking they have a cheap work around is missing something and likely exposing their company to huge fines.

[tsightler]

Although I have significant experience with Microsoft licensing (as a user and administrator of ELA agreements) and these customers have indicated to me that their Microsoft licensing specialist indicate this is a valid use, I would certainly recommend checking with your companies official Microsoft licensing expert to determine the applicability of any specific use case.

[rimvydukas]

Todd,

I strongly hope that we'll see more elegant solution for Sharepoint restores with Veeam in near future. Our situation is the same, we can't install SQL on Veeam server:( Solution to run explorer on the sql server is workaround for us, but I strongly hope that the guys from Veeam can do something better:)

[rimvydukas]

If the content database that is attached to VB&R server doesn’t exceed 10 GB, you can consider using not full edition of Microsoft SQL server but Express edition, instead. For instance, you can utilize Microsoft SQL server Express 2008 R2 SP1 that is shipped with the Veeam Backup & Replication installation.

Thanks.

Our databases are large ones. SQL express is not an option because its various limitations:(

[Gostev]

The assumption was that if the customer is using SQL Servers heavily in the environment, it should not be a problem to upgrade local SQL Express install to the licensed version. Veeam backup server does not really need to be multi-CPU, multi-core machine, as all it does is job management.

[zak2011]

Probably this may be a bit out of topic.
Tried restoring using the Sharepoint explorer which is running on SQL Server 2012 standard and it says not possible as the version of SQL for Sharepoint is higher than Veeam. Veeam DB is running on SQL Server 2005 Express edition on a Windows Server 2012 Standard OS. I tried to download SQL 2005 Express SP4..so that I could upgrade to SQL 2012 Standard and while running says it is not supported on the OS.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... 43393.aspx
What would be the best way to upgrade Veeam database from SQL express 2005 to SQL 2012 Standard so that I can use Veeam Sharepoint Explorer?

[Gostev]

In fact, this is a good question for this topic. I would not do the SQL upgrade at all. I would just install SQL 2012 on the same server, and do the configuration backup and restore into the new database. Then, remove SQL 2005 entirely.

[zak2011]

Super! Thankyou Gostev for your recommendation. I will try it out right away.

Thanks!

[zak2011]

Would I be able to restore to a new version of SQL server 2012?
When I tried to restore from configuration backup seems like it is going to the original instance again.

[Gostev]

I thought there is a way to select database, but may be I am thinking of the next version wizard. Is clean install an option for you?

[zak2011]

Not really. I tried detaching the database from the old SQL instance and then try to attach the same db to the new SQL server setup.
However when I try to attach the db and try to browse to the file, doesnt seem to see the Veeam database.

[zak2011]

Tried detaching the database from the old instance and tried attaching it to the new instance.
However Veeam console doesnt open after that and fails saying cannot login with the current user. Could be some permission issue?
I followed the following KB but didn't seems to get it working

http://www.veeam.com/kb_articles.html/kb1250

Thanks

[Gostev]

Sure, sounds like you simply did not give the user account you are opening Veeam console with full permissions on the attached database in SQL 2012.
By clean install I of course did not mean that you will lose your B&R configuration, as that will be restored as the part of configuration restore.

[zak2011]

It was surely the permission issue. Thankyou so much Gostev for your help!

Is SharePoint 2013 supported by Veeam7?

[foggy]

It is supported in the updated version of VESP available as a separate download.