First Time Veeam Backup - Repository Question

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

Hello,

I am setting up a Veeam backup for the first time and would love some advice. Here are details followed by my question.

One of our branch offices requires an application server running on a physical Windows Server 2016 box. The vendor recommends a VM serve as a "hot standby" in case of disaster. The application uses a flat-file database which is the content I need to back up with Veeam.

I am trying to determine the best repository solution. I initially considered a CIFS Server share on a local NetApp 2620, however I read comments recommending against CIFS due to performance issues. I've seen comments indicating iSCSI is a good choice, so here is my idea: I add an iSCSI LUN to the VM that will serve as a "hot standby" and create my repository there. After a nightly backup is complete, I'll have the backup job run a script that kicks off NetApp replication of the LUN to our DR site. My primary backup job will be just for the drive containing the flat file database, but I will likely do a monthly full system backup as well just in case.

I would love to hear any pros/cons or other feedback on my plan as I am still learning. Thanks in advance!

[ejenner]

I would be looking at a Veeam 'replication' job to meet that requirement. This will maintain a hot standby as a VM which Veeam can failover to if your primary server fails. You can set a number of restore points and a replication schedule as well. So if your most current replica contains corruption you can roll back to a restore point from earlier in the day (or however frequent your restore points are created)

Not sure whether or not you can replicate from a physical to virtual. But I'd be surprised if it's not possible so worth looking into.

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

Thank you for your reply ejenner! We licensed the Veeam Agent for Windows so I'm not sure if replication would be an additional license (or a license in lieu of the Windows license). Any idea?

Also, what would be the best resource to use to read up on the replication approach, and what is your main reason for recommending it over a standard backup?

[ejenner]

I think you'll have to have a license which covers your sockets on your virtual environment if you intend to interact with your virtual environment. If you are only talking to and from physical servers using Veeam Agent for Windows then just a VAW license. Do you have any licenses for virtual infrastructure?

The Veeam website contains lots of bitesize articles covering various elements of the product operation. For instance, it says here that you can recover a VAW job to a VM, which confirms what I was saying: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agent ... tml?ver=21

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

Thank you ejenner, that is good to know. The link refers to Hyper-V and we use VMware. We don't have a license for backing up VMs at this time, although we might add that at some point in the future.

In either case I am talking about backing up to a NetApp LUN that resides in a VM. I would put the repository there. Within the limitations of a VAW license, does this sound like a good choice?

[Dima P.]

Hello Tim,

Can you please clarify if you plan to use Veeam Agent for Windows in conjunction with Veeam B&R or you plan to setup a backup from a locally installed agent directly to NetApp LUN connected via iSCSI? Thanks!

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

Thanks for the reply Dima. I am planning to use Veeam B&R, and actually just found out before the holidays that I need to move B&R to the remote site where the agent is installed (due to connectivity issues between here and there sometimes).

So, to summarize, I will setup B&R on a VM at the remote site, and have it back up to a repository I will set up on a NetApp LUN on a different VM. The different VM is the one the application owner will set up as a standby server in case the physical server fails. It makes sense to me to put the repository there so the data would essentially already be on the server it would need to be restored to. Thoughts?

[Dima P.]

Tim,

Instead of mourning the iSCSI target to a VM you can mount it directly to the backup server (just to eliminate the middleman). Cheers!

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

Thanks you Dima! I've actually decided to set up the LUN on the same VM that hosts the B&R server which is much simpler.