Veeam B&R and Protection Group for FREE Veeam Endpoint

[mriksman]

Well, this is unfortunate.

I was looking at the new features of Veeam Update 3, and created a Protection Group and happily added my 'unmanaged' Veeam Endpoint for Windows FREE clients to it. Very cool - I can see what PCs have the client installed, and what needs to be updated, and can do this from the console.

Oh, but now the backups no longer work, because I have a FREE client installed. I can't access the UI because it says that it is now being managed by Veeam B&R.

Right well, I better delete the Protection Group so I can get back the functionality. No good! It no longer works! Great - that is 50 clients that have to be manually reinstalled.

I think you guys should test adding FREE clients to a Protection Group, and then removing them. Because. It doesn't work...

[Dima P.]

Hello Michael,

Yes, you can create protection groups with FREE edition and even move existing unmanaged agents to these protection groups but backup jobs will fail as Agent Management functionality requires paid license.

[mriksman]

Yup. I found that out the hard way. Now - how do I get my agents working again!?

I can delete the Protection Group, but the Agent is still having issues. A 'repair' install of the Agent fixed the issue - but I have 50 clients to get through.

I just think you guys should clean this up; if a Veeam FREE Agent gets added to a Protection Group, and then removed - the original schedule/backup should return to normal functionality.
Perhaps a warning saying 'Do not add a FREE client to a Protection Group'.
Or perhaps - a check first to make sure the user has enough licenses to have that Agent within a Protection Group before proceeding...

[mriksman]

Actually Dima - regarding the licenses.

Can I configure the Protection Group/Agent to be Type; Server so I can use the 'Managed by backup server' option with a Windows Agent Workstation license? Or will I need the Server license to access that option?

[Dima P.]

I can delete the Protection Group, but the Agent is still having issues. A 'repair' install of the Agent fixed the issue - but I have 50 clients to get through.

Check with support team. As far as I know there is a script that will switch agent back to unmanaged mode but it should be executed on the client side.

Can I configure the Protection Group/Agent to be Type; Server so I can use the 'Managed by backup server' option with a Windows Agent Workstation license? Or will I need the Server license to access that option?

With workstation license you can only use Managed by agent job. For managed by backup server job type server license is required.