1st timer - advice needed please :)

[NickF-1]

Hi all, 1st post and it's askng for advice...but I guess that's not uncommon!

We have 2 sites, 2 backup servers and 3 HyperV hosts. I've purchased the Enterprise+ version for education (we are a college) and installed Veeam onto the backup server at the 1st site. I can backup both the HyperV hosts that are at the 1st site with no probkem but am not sure how to go about setting up the 2nd site - as I want to replicate between the sites I've setup the 2nd backup server at the 2nd site and configured it as a backup repository. Veeam advised doing local backups and replicating so I'm trying to:

Site1: Backup server, 2 HyperV hosts. Holds backups of both hosts and a replica of the data from site2
Site2: Backup server, 1 Hyperv host. Hold backups of the host and a replica of the data from site1

All storage is local (No NAS, SAN or tapes involced). Link between the 2 sites is 30mb fibre.

When I backup at site1 I get 150mb/s rates and the backups are nice and quick. However, when I try to backup the site2 HyperV guests (to the backup server at site2) I get 6mb/s rate - as my console is at site1 I assume all traffic is coming across the VPN before going back again? If however I install a console on the backup server at site2 I then need to add the managed servers and setup repositories again - is this the correct way to do it?

[foggy]

Backup traffic shouldn't go over VPN, since the data is actually processed by the host itself (on-host backup) and written to repository (which is local), backup server placement doesn't play any role here. What are the bottleneck stats for the corresponding jobs?

[NickF-1]

Thanks @foggy

Backup server1/Site1 has the console and local backups (using the repoitory on backup server1) are fine with the bottlenexk being the source

When using the console (at site1) to try and backup site2 to the repository that is also at site2 I get the bottleneck as 'network' and 6mb/s speed.

When setting up an additional conole at site 2 I need to add managed servers (although a configuration backup took place at 10am this morning) and presumably I'll need to add repositories as well. I'm not sure if this is what I'm supposed to do or if I should be able to manage it all from a single console or if multiple console / repositories is the expected way of doing it.

[foggy]

What type of repository is used to add site2's storage to Veeam B&R console? Is it Windows server or CIFS?

[NickF-1]

Windows server. The backup servers have a pair of small SSDs with a single partition (OS / Veeam) and a bunch of rotationals with a single 10.8tb partition that is used for the repository.

It's only a couple of days old, I'm happy to start over if necessary

[foggy]

Well, if traffic indeed goes back and forth to the other site, this looks unexpected to me. I suggest contacting support for configuration review. Meanwhile you can set up a second Veeam B&R instance in site 2, add all involved infrastructure servers, and check whether the backup is fast as expected.

[BartP]

As a suggestion, if you suspect data is going back and forth over the VPN.
Check which Hyper-V host is actually processing the VM, since server 2012 VM's are on-host backed up by it's owner and not necessarily it's current host.
This would explain your observations.