Veeam Agent for Windows paid needs VBR?

[jmanalo]

Our company is using kvm for virtualization. We want to use veeam agent for windows paid on our Exchange and AD servers. Do we need to have VBR license to be able to use shared storage for backups or VBR free is enough?

We will install VBR in a windows vm. VBR per core license means number of core assigned to the vm with VBR installed or the host?

If we will have both VBR and Windows agent license, can we do the recovery both from the vms with agent and the server with VBR installed?

[DGrinev]

Hi jmanalo and welcome to the community!

Unfortunately, you can't configure backup repositories in Veeam Backup Free Edition, there will be only one repository created automatically on the backup server.

VBR per core license means number of core assigned to the vm with VBR installed or the host?

Veeam B&R is licensed per socket of the source host, you can read the details in the Licensing section of the sticky thread.

...can we do the recovery both from the vms with agent and the server with VBR installed?

Veeam B&R can restore both, however, the Agent can't perform restore from the backup created by VBR. Thanks!

[Dima P.]

We want to use veeam agent for windows paid on our Exchange and AD servers. Do we need to have VBR license to be able to use shared storage for backups or VBR free is enough?

To clarify, you can use Veeam Agent for Windows as a standalone tool to protect you Exchange or AD. Application aware processing is recommended in such case, but you can install server license locally on agent. For restore purposes you can use Veeam B&R without license (Free edition), as restore functionality does not require any license. To perfrom a recovery with Veeam B&R Free Agent backup should be imported to the console.

[jmanalo]

To clarify, you can use Veeam Agent for Windows as a standalone tool to protect you Exchange or AD. Application aware processing is recommended in such case, but you can install server license locally on agent. For restore purposes you can use Veeam B&R without license (Free edition), as restore functionality does not require any license. To perfrom a recovery with Veeam B&R Free Agent backup should be imported to the console.

Kindly clarify what do you mean by "can install server license locally on agent" and "backup should be imported to the console". Thanks

[jmanalo]

It seems I lost a post using "POSTREPLY" button. Please delete the other if this is doubled.

Kindly enlighten me more
1.) Using agent (paid), if we have 10 servers (physical and virtual), can the backup destination be in a central shared location? Can Veeam B&R (free) do recovery from this location?
2.) Using agent (paid), can server 1 perform recovery for server 2 ~ 10 or each server can only do restore on its own backup?
3.) Using agent (paid), can we have identical backup in 2 locations, 1 local and 1 shared.
4.) Using Veeam B&R (paid), can we perform backup for any number of physical or virtual servers, no need to have agent (paid or free) installed on each?

What we have in mind is to have agent (paid) installed on the servers we wanted to backup and also have Veeam B&R (free) so we have an option to do recovery either individually using agent GUI or centrally using Veeam B&R.

If my understanding is wrong, please point me to the right direction on how we can implement this in our environment with a lesser cost. As originally posted we only use kvm (no hyper-v or vmware) so we don't need Veeam B&R's vm backup functionality. We are mostly concern with Exchange and AD server, and possibly some MSSQL.

[Dima P.]

Kindly clarify what do you mean by "can install server license locally on agent" and "backup should be imported to the console"

To get more information about Veeam Agent licensing please check this article. You can find more information on how to import backup file to Veeam B&R console here.

Using agent (paid), if we have 10 servers (physical and virtual), can the backup destination be in a central shared location? Can Veeam B&R (free) do recovery from this location?

Yes. You can point your agent to a shared folder.

Using agent (paid), can server 1 perform recovery for server 2 ~ 10 or each server can only do restore on its own backup?

It's possible to perform a recovery from any backup via Veeam Agent for Windows UI (or via Veeam B&R Free console)

Using agent (paid), can we have identical backup in 2 locations, 1 local and 1 shared.

No. In current version Veeam Agent for Windows supports only one backup location.

Using Veeam B&R (paid), can we perform backup for any number of physical or virtual servers, no need to have agent (paid or free) installed on each?

To use managed agents with Veeam B&R console you must have an agent license deployed in Veeam B&R console. If you want to use only agents Veeam B&R license is not required. Check this article for more details.

[jmanalo]

Thanks a lot for all the info.
I will read the articles linked and install some vms to try.

[yasuda]

I think there's a new option, to use full Veeam Backup & Replication, with per VM licensing instead of per host socket? The pricing per VM looked pretty reasonable.

[Dima P.]

Peter,

As mentioned above VBR license is not required to enable the agent management feature. You can use Veeam B&R Free edition but with agent license installed on top of it.