[BETA] Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 3.0

[Polina]

We are happy to offer the feature complete beta build of Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 version 3.0

Build number
3.0.0.248

What's New
The below list of key new features and enhancements is to help you be more productive with the beta-testing. The information provided is not final and can be changed before the GA release.

Security
• Modern authentication support
• Support for using exclusive service accounts to protect Exchange Online and SharePoint Online parts of an organization
• Internet proxy support

Backup
• Up to 30x times faster SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business incremental backups
• Support for Exchange-only Office 365 plans (Plan 1, Plan 2)
• Improved search options in the Backup Job wizard
• Improved personal sites selection/exclusion in the Backup Job wizard
• Support for including/excluding specific folders in OneDrive for Business (via RESTful API/PowerShell)

Repository
• New retention type
• Enhanced storage continuity management (automated new database creation upon reaching the JetDB storage limit)

Other features and enhancements
• Built-in reports
• License revoke possibility (via RESTful API/PowerShell)
• The possibility to view the consumed licenses (via RESTful API/PowerShell)
• Possibility to rename an organization to a more understandable name

Bits
1. Go to http://www.veeam.com/beta/vbo365v3.html
2. Logon to the website with your Veeam credentials
3. Download VeeamBackupOffice365_3.0.0.248_Beta.zip. Additional password for download is VBO365v3Beta

License
The license file valid until April 30th, 2019 is included in the download location.

System Requirements
See User Guide included in the download location

Installation
Please do a clean install on a fresh (newly provisioned) server.
Running this beta version as a production environment is not supported.
Do not install this beta build on any server that has any other Veeam products or components installed.

Upgrade
Upgrade from any of the previous versions (1.0, 1.5 or 2.0) is not supported.
Upgrade from the Beta to later RC, RTM or GA builds will not be supported.

Bug reports
To report on issues and bugs you may face during the beta-testing, please create the dedicated thread per issue with [v3 BETA] tag. If necessary, we will ask you to upload logs to any cloud file sharing platform (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)

We are also interested to hear associated feature requests and general feedback. Please create a separate topic for each feature request to prevent misunderstanding during the further discussion.

[Polina]

General
• Adding a new remote backup proxy may complete with a warning “System doesn’t meet the minimum requirements”, while the proxy machine configuration fully meets the system requirements.
• Modifying the default proxy settings via RESTful API may fail with an error, while the specified changes will be applied successfully.
• Corresponding PowerShell modules may not be imported automatically when starting the PowerShell console on Windows Core OS. Logging out of the operating system and logging in again may help to resolve this issue.
• The Save request for backed up OneDrive item via RESTful API improperly requests settings for sending an item as an email attachment.

Reports
• When specifying reporting interval to generate Storage Consumption or License Overview reports, the period end date is shifted to one day ahead of the specified value.
• Generated reports can only be saved to an existing folder.

Backup
• In case of failed objects processing, number of retries performed during backup may not match the number of retries configured in backup job settings.
• Backup and restore of SharePoint site logo and logo description is not supported.
• Creating a backup job for a SharePoint site via RESTful API may fail with the following error: "Missing mandatory parameters: Id".

Restore
• SharePoint App Store applications restore is not supported.
• SharePoint Online site language settings restore is not supported.
• SharePoint Site Collection Administrator privileges restore is not supported.
• SharePoint site sharing settings restore is not supported.
• SharePoint site regional settings restore (including the default language and time zone) is not supported.

[jb81]

could you please clarify the difference between backup and archive retention policy?
I read the user guide but it's not so clear to me the difference...

thanks in advance.

[Mike Resseler]

Hey JB81,

Archive retention policy (that name will probably be changed by GA) is how it works currently. If you set an archive date of 1 year, we will only protect data with a changed or modified date of 1 year or less. Which means if there are items in your (for example) inbox that are older than 1 year, we won't take those into backup.

Backup is based on the system of forever-incremental of VBR. We take a full backup of the data as-is. Then each day we take an incremental. If the retention is 30 days, then you will be able to view (again, for example) your inbox fully as it is, was until 30 days back.

Makes sense?

[Windos]

I've written a blog post which goes into a bit of depth feedback wise: https://king.geek.nz/2019/02/19/veeam-b ... ce-365-v3/

In general though, I love it.

I've tested and can verify that Selected OneDrive Folders work as I intent to use them (white-listing a limited number of named folders).

Speeds are excellent.

Main SharePoint Job down from 4 to 5 hours, to 20 minutes.
OneDrive job down from 1 hour to 20 minutes.
Selective OneDrive job takes this down further to 10 minutes.

I've run into one bug, failures when a user's OneDrive has over 5,000 items, but I've opened a thread about that.

Nice work to all involved!

~Josh

[Polina]

30x faster? That's got to be a hyperbolic claim, right?

Well, not in the slightest. In my initial testing I actually saw backups as much as 75x faster!

Thank you for the positive feedback, Josh! Our Dev team will be happy to know that )

[jb81]

Hey JB81,

Archive retention policy (that name will probably be changed by GA) is how it works currently. If you set an archive date of 1 year, we will only protect data with a changed or modified date of 1 year or less. Which means if there are items in your (for example) inbox that are older than 1 year, we won't take those into backup.

Backup is based on the system of forever-incremental of VBR. We take a full backup of the data as-is. Then each day we take an incremental. If the retention is 30 days, then you will be able to view (again, for example) your inbox fully as it is, was until 30 days back.

Makes sense?

yes, but both option allow me to set "keep forever". in this case there is no difference between archive and backup?

[Polina]

Hi JB81,

That's correct; if you select 'Keep forever', it'll all be the same.

[CKESSLER]

Hey JB81,

Archive retention policy (that name will probably be changed by GA) is how it works currently. If you set an archive date of 1 year, we will only protect data with a changed or modified date of 1 year or less. Which means if there are items in your (for example) inbox that are older than 1 year, we won't take those into backup.

Backup is based on the system of forever-incremental of VBR. We take a full backup of the data as-is. Then each day we take an incremental. If the retention is 30 days, then you will be able to view (again, for example) your inbox fully as it is, was until 30 days back.

Makes sense?

Hello Mike,
I'm having troubles understanding both types and when to use them.

In my test installation I created two repositories, one with Backup and one with Archive type. Both have a retention policy of 7 days.
Then I created two jobs for the same OneDrive, but one for each Repository.

First run of the jobs:
- Archive Job only backs up last 7 days (about 400KB)
- Backup Job backs up all data (~ 2GB, 2000 items)

Next I waited till each Repository ran it's "cleanup".
My expectation was, that the Backup Repository cleans up all data of the full backup which exceeds the 7 days.
But this was not the case. It seems that I still have a full backup.

So which use has the Retention Time in the Backup type? How does it work?
And in which scenario do I use Backup and when should I use Archive?

The Beta's documentation mentions that Backup type also includes versions of the file. But I thought that this is also done in the old VBO version (using Archive mode)

Thank you,
Christoph

[ScottyP89]

My understanding of the backup retention is that if you backup a file, then it is deleted, it will be kept in the backup for the number of retention days, then it will no longer be available for restore.

[Mike Resseler]

Hey EDV, Scotty.

I will try to explain them with the example of a mailbox.

1. Archive retention (7days)

Full backup (first run): This would backup all emails / contacts / calendar items / ... that are 7 days old or younger (modified date). So it is indeed a small backup that you have since a lot of the items in your inbox are probably much older than 1 week. Which does mean that you won't have a lot of items that you can recover because they are ignored.

Incremental backup (following runs): Only items that are new or changed and fall within that 7 day retention (meaning, what is the age of the item) are downloaded.

Maintenance: When we do maintenance on this type of retention, we check all the items in the backup, and every item that falls at that point in time outside of the 7 days will be removed from the backup and cannot be recovered again.

When to use? Honestly, 7 days is a very bad retention for this, you should consider this when you have (for example) a legal requirement of keeping data for x time (like 7 years or so).

2. Backup retention (7 days)

Full backup (first run) protecting, downloading everything inside that mailbox (again, emails / contacts / calendar items ...) regardless of age. They can be 10 years old, we protect them all. So that restore point will show the mailbox AS IS at that point in time.

Incremental backup (following runs): downloading everything again what is changed and new. No matter what the age of the item is.

Maintenance: On day 8, the first restore point gets removed so you can't see what is in the mailbox anymore at that point in time, but you still have 7 other one (assuming of 1 per day).

When to use? When you simply want to backup everything AS IS and have an SLA where you keep X amount of days to be recovered (7 days is probably small number again)

Makes sense?

Mike

[chadspecht]

Hello all:
Have been trying to get the 3.0 BETA connected to our O365 service using this guide:
https://tsmith.co/2019/add-org-to-veeam ... h-and-mfa/

When adding the organization withing VEEAM, everything checks green except for: Check LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled: Legacy authentication... Expanding the error: "Check LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled: Legacy authentication protocols are probably disabled. To enable them, you must run SharePoint Online cmdlet 'Set-SPOTenant-LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled $True' Cannot contact web site 'https://ourorg.sharepoint.com/' or the web site does not support SharePoint Online credentials...."

Please advise. Thank you!

[nielsengelen]

Hi Chad, that basically means your MFA is not correctly setup within O365. Please double check if everything is configured correctly and you are using the application ID and secret or certificate, username and password.

A workaround is to use the legacy authentication method:

Code: Select all

Connect-SPOService -Url "https://TENANTID-admin.sharepoint.com"
Set-SPOTenant -LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled $True

By using the SharePoint Online Management Shell (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=35588)

[tsmith_co]

Chad

Thanks for reading my article! Seems like your O365 account may not be setup properly for MFA. Be sure to choose Modern Auth for adding the org - this method does not require the legacy Auth protocol anymore for sharepoint.

Hello all:
Have been trying to get the 3.0 BETA connected to our O365 service using this guide:
https://tsmith.co/2019/add-org-to-veeam ... h-and-mfa/

When adding the organization withing VEEAM, everything checks green except for: Check LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled: Legacy authentication... Expanding the error: "Check LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled: Legacy authentication protocols are probably disabled. To enable them, you must run SharePoint Online cmdlet 'Set-SPOTenant-LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled $True' Cannot contact web site 'https://ourorg.sharepoint.com/' or the web site does not support SharePoint Online credentials...."

Please advise. Thank you!

[chadspecht]

Hi Tim,
Thanks for responding! I do have MFA working, but only for the Exchange piece. When trying to add the Org for Sharepoint/OneDrive, the below error is what occurs and I'm unable to continue. So, as it stands, I am backing up O365 mailboxes just fine (works beautifully), but cannot get connected tour Sharepoint and OneDrive services.
Thanks again,
Chad

[Mike Resseler]

Chad,

Just to be sure I understand it correctly. You are using an MFA account for Exchange, and want to use a "legacy" account for SharePoint?

[chadspecht]

I thought our O365 world was set for MFA -- both for Exchange and SharePoint. Once turned on, shouldn't it apply to all O365 applications? Or does SharePoint have a separate location for MFA?

[Polina]

Chad,

To solve your issue with the failed LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled check, you indeed need to follow Niels's advice and set -LegacyAuthProtocolsEnabled parameter to $True.

It's not about the MFA enabled to only the selected part of your organization, but because of the following specifics:
"Setting this parameter to $False prevents Office clients using non-modern authentication protocols from accessing SharePoint Online resources."

[chadspecht]

Thanks Polina. Do you know if by changing this parameter within SharePoint, it will affect our current user base and their connectivity to SharePoint? Or is this isolated to just our VEEAM backups? I appreciate all the feedback. Thank you!

[Polina]

Chad,

It will take effect for the entire SharePoint Online, however, only in terms of enabling ability to access SharePoint Online resources for third-party applications that cannot use modern authentication.

[mrbbs]

When I try to explorer the test backup we've made we receive the error below:

incompatible veeam backup for microsoft office 365 server version. Server version must be newer than 9.6.3.804

Please advise.

Regards,
Kevin

[nielsengelen]

Kevin, did you install the explorers which come with the beta download? And is VBO installed on a separate server?

[mrbbs]

Thanks Niels, that resolved my issue.

[dkvello]

We bmp into this error when backing up one users OneDrive. It's in English up unto the error Message from Office365, wich is in Norwegian.
13.03.2019 23.46.55 :: Failed to process OneDrive: Rune Xxxx (https://kxxxxx-my.sharepoint.com/person ... _xxxxxx_no). Forsøkt operasjon er ikke tillatt fordi den overskrider terskelen for listevisning som er aktivert av systemansvarlig. :: 0:00:05

It seems to relate to a limit of 5000 items returned in a List View.

From the article below.
"There are many ways you can work with or query a SharePoint list or library without receiving a List View Threshold warning. Using the following ideas, you can get the information you need and stay within the 5000 item List View Threshold. For more info on the List View Threshold itself, see Overview of lists and libraries with many items."

https://support.office.com/en-us/articl ... AAA=Server

[Polina]

Hi Dag,

This issue is known and will be fixed in GA build. Thank you for reporting on it!

[dgaccu]

Did I miss something in this thread regarding MFA? I'm trying to test it but running up against the legacy auth error. I saw that LegacyAuth needs to be enabled for Sharepoint, but I thought one of the selling points of this version 3 was MFA support. Legacy auth is still needed? I was hoping to not have to enable that with V3.

[nielsengelen]

Danny, correct. MFA is used for Exchange but for SharePoint we still require LegacyAuth for now. You can resolve this via PowerShell as explained in this post.

[alex_fr]

Hi,

Will v3 offer the possibility to migrate Onedrive backup to another tenant ?
Currently we can migrate data only between users of a same tenant even if we have multiple tenant set in Veeam 365

This is working for Exchange in v2

Thank you

[Polina]

Hi Alex,

Enabling cross-tenant migration is on our roadmap, but it will not be available in version 3.0.

Thanks

[jim.lowry]

I've a customer asking if we have added the feature in 3.0 to backup the O365 Audit logs from O365. I can't find the answer to that - did we add that feature?