Repository Options

[nso-bryan]

Hi Veeam Team.

Wondering if there are plans with the Office365 product to implement similar repository options that VBR has:
--Supplying credentials to UNC/Shared Folder paths (i.e. NAS).
--Using Cloud Connect as a repository.

Also, looking forward to when this will be released for MSPs. We've been (VERY unsuccessfully) using another Office365 backup product for our clients that has proven to be very sub-par when it comes to getting successful backup jobs as well as troubleshooting. I'm very eager to deploy VB4O365 either in our Datacenter (to backup O365 on our client's behalf to our replicated NASs), or to install on-prem at client sites.

Thanks in advance!

Bryan

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Bryan,

Our next version (1.5, in Beta now, GA soon) will support MSP type of scenario's. The difference is that the data won't be coming from the tenant but from the O365 servers.

However, the repositories are different than the ones in VBR simply because we are not working here with flat files but with a running database containing the O365 items. That said, it does work with UNC today, but you need to add the computer account to the permissions

Welcome to the forum!
Cheers
Mike

[nso-bryan]

So, I've tested this by setting Veeam services to run as the same user I have defined in my Synology NAS. Attempting to specify a UNC path to the NAS, I received an error that Veeam requires SMB 3.0 for UNC.

Synology was set to SMB 2.0 as max, so I reconfigured to use SMB 3.0 as max protocol, keeping min as SMB 1.0. However, in doing this I lost complete connectivity to the share from the Windows 2012 R2 machine that Veeam O365 is running on. Not even able to browse the NAS. I can still browse from my Windows 7 workstation, however. Think something in SMB is mucked up on the server, so going to investigate more. Just wanted to mention the SMB 3 requirement for anyone who is trying this same configuration.

[nso-bryan]

Unfortunately, no dice on this one.

When attempting to set a UNC path as a repository location, an error pops up stating:

SMB connection version: 0.0.
Minimum Required version is 3.0

Running Get-SMBConnection from powershell, it verified that my connection is in fact utilizing SMB 3.0(2):



Any ideas on this, guys?

Thanks!

[Mike Resseler]

Can you gather the logs and sent a PM with the location off the logs (dropbox/ google drive/ onedrive/ ...) to me? I will ask our engineers to look into it

Thanks
Mike

[nso-bryan]

PM Sent

[Mike Resseler]

The details are with engineering. I will let you know more when they have found something
Thanks for this!

Mike

[Mike Resseler]

Additional information for others who have the same issue

Today you cannot try to login against an SMB share with a username and password. You need to give rights to the computer account to be able to connect to the said share

[CanuckDave]

I have the same issue, trying to connect to a DataDomain appliance, tried adding rights to the computer account of the backup server and still no luck - any insight?

[foggy]

Hi Dave, I recommend contacting support for a closer look at your setup. Thanks.

[nso-bryan]

Some time has passed, and with the latest release of Veeam for Office365, I was really hoping that the ability to pass credentials to a shared folder would be included in this version. Unfortunately, this isn't so.

We recently setup a new client on our Cloud Connect Server, with the following configuration:

Windows Server
w/ ---> Veeam Cloud Connect ---> Synology NAS Shared Folder ---> (cloud sync to) BackBlaze B2.
Veeam Agent

This configuration works FANTASTIC for backups; however it falls flat on its face for Office365.

Our cloud connect server is NOT domain joined to any of our domains; so has only local security to contend with.
Veeam for Office365 is installed on our Cloud-Connect VBR Server.

Attempted:

1. Connect to shared folder on NAS that is synchronized to B2 (unable to access due to inability to pass credentials)
2. Use local account on VBR server to run Veeam for Office365 services. Backups fail miserably, but can access the NAS.
3. Add computer account to NAS, run Veeam as LocalService. Unable to configure this, since the NAS or VBR server is not domain joined.
4. Enable Guest Account on NAS, and let everything run free. Security nightmare for audits.
5. Symbolic Link to NAS via local directory. Still need to pass credentials; can trick it with a persistent NET USE command, but will timeout after awhile.

I then created a case to only be told that Veeam for O365 needs to run as LocalSystem, which we already knew back on previous versions. I'm begging/pleading for development to add a credential field for shared folders, just like the rest of the Veeam Suite.

For now, we'll continue to backup Office365 for our clients with a product that rhymes with "A-slowness".

For this particular client, we installed backup for Office365 on their On-Prem server, backing up to a folder that gets backed up nightly with Veeam Windows Agent to our cloud connect server. This works, although in my opinion does not follow the "vision" that Veeam had for this product.

[Mike Resseler]

Hi nso-bryan,

A few questions for follow-up:

1. You say that you use a local account to run VBO services but backups are failing?

2. That NAS box is supporting SMB 3.x?

Thanks
Mike

[nso-bryan]

Hi Mike.

1. I did create a local account on the machine where VBO is running, and added it to the local administrators group. I then set the VBO services to run under this account. Also, I created the same account on the Synology NAS and gave full permissions to the share. In this configuration, I was able to successfully set the share via UNC path as the backup repository, query the free space, etc. However, running VBO services under this account yielded a failure to actually perform backups. A 'Get-SMBConnection' query in Powershell verified the share connected with SMB 3.1.

A support call confirmed that these services HAVE to be run as LocalSystem. In fact, once I set the services back to run as LocalSystem, and reconfigured the backup repository to be a local disk, the backups ran without a hitch.

All Synology NAS units support SMB3; there's an adjustment that is required to "up" the protocol level under the File Services configuration. Here, our standard practice is to set SMB2 as the minimum protocol, SMB3 as the max.

What's brick-walling us is the fact that there is no way to add 'LocalSystem' to the NAS. The only way I've been able to get VBO to work to a (hardened) Synology NAS is to enable the NAS's Guest account, which of course is a slap on the figures in terms of security.

[vikassi]

Not sure why no one has mentioned this, but just setup an iSCSI target to your NAS. They all support that and it works with no problem with Veeam O365 Backup.

[nso-bryan]

...Wow. Fantastic suggestion, Vikassi. I honestly had a complete "DOH!" moment when I read your reply - - I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thanks for bringing me back to reality!

[rossi123]

So, I've tested this by setting Veeam services to run as the same user I have defined in my Synology NAS. Attempting to specify a UNC path to the NAS, I received an error that Veeam requires SMB 3.0 for UNC.
Redtube Beeg Spankbang
Synology was set to SMB 2.0 as max, so I reconfigured to use SMB 3.0 as max protocol, keeping min as SMB 1.0. However, in doing this I lost complete connectivity to the share from the Windows 2012 R2 machine that Veeam O365 is running on. Not even able to browse the NAS. I can still browse from my Windows 7 workstation, however. Think something in SMB is mucked up on the server, so going to investigate more. Just wanted to mention the SMB 3 requirement for anyone who is trying this same configuration.

that happend with me too

[Polina]

Hi walid,

As discussed above in this thread, VBO works with SMB 3.0 and uses the Local System account, which must have full access to the corresponding network share.
You may also want to review these posts for more details.