Backup Veeam server

[Geniek73]

Hello everybody,

I want to ask one quick question. What is an advantage of backing up Veeam server using application aware processing versus 'standard' backup using VMware Tools quiescence? Because if I want to backup my Veeam server I have to point my job to ESXi server directly (not to vCenter server) and if my backup seerver gets migrated to other host then my backup will fail. So do I loose any functionality doing it without application aware processing?

[veremin]

Application-aware processing Veeam’s proprietary technology responsible for creating a transactionally consistent backup of a VM running VSS-aware applications (such as Active Directory, Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint, etc) without shutting them down. It also ensures successful VM recovery, as well as proper recovery of all applications installed on the VM without any data loss.

Thus, if your Veeam backup SQL Server is located on the same VM as VB&R server, this option should be definitely enabled in order to guarantee transaction consistency.

Additionally, please be aware that with the introduction (VB&R 6.5) of configuration backup feature which is responsible for retrieving configuration data from the SQL database there is no longer need for backing up VB&R server as a whole. All you need in disaster situation, when your back up server goes down, is reinstall your B&R software and restore configuration files.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[Vitaliy S.]

Because if I want to backup my Veeam server I have to point my job to ESXi server directly (not to vCenter server)

You need to do that only if you're backing up the vCenter Server VM and not the Veeam Backup server. Backing up Veeam Backup through vCenter Server works just fine even with AAIP option enabled.

[Geniek73]

Sorry my mistake. I was thinking about vCenter server. Does it really mean that backking up VM using VMware Tools quiescence makes only crash consistent backups? I was always thinking that we are using VMware tools also to makes proper consistent backups.

[Vitaliy S.]

Does it really mean that backking up VM using VMware Tools quiescence makes only crash consistent backups?

No, it doesn't, as for some applications VMware Tools quiescence is more than enough to make consistent backups, however this is not true for Exchange, DC and other similar applications.

Please take a look a this topic for further reading: Application-aware processing. Really necessary?

[Geniek73]

No, it doesn't, as for some applications VMware Tools quiescence is more than enough to make consistent backups, however this is not true for Exchange, DC and other similar applications.

Does it also include SQL Express ? If yes then my vCenter server will be crash consistent when backing up using VMWare VSS support.
Not good. Maybe I should point my vCenter backup to ESXi server directly and make application-aware backups. And try not to migrate this VM to other host.

[marcseitz]

Hi,

I just can tell you my experience with backing up the Veeam B&R Server and vCenter Server.
Our B&R-Server (with external SQL-DB on another VM) are backed up with B&R and AAIP enabled - Without Problems, it's just working!
We back up our vCenter-Server too using B&R. We don't connect directly to an ESX(i)-Host - We connect via vCenter to back up itself.

So, B&R is just working for the "management infrastructure" without problems.

Regards,
Marc

[veremin]

If yes then my vCenter server will be crash consistent when backing up using VMWare VSS support.

It wouldn’t be in crash-consistent state due to the fact that VMware Tools VSS does generic OS/application freeze. It performs file-level quiescence, using Microsoft VSS. Nevertheless, application-specific settings responsible for preparing application to perform VSS-aware restore are not applied. There is no transaction log either.

Additionally, you should be aware about VM Tools VSS limitations, like the fact that application quiescing is only supported on Windows 2008, and that you should follow necessary steps for it to work properly. More information can be found here.

The situation with SQL server is a little bit different. Its base can be recovered even from crash-consistent backup in 99% of cases. However, for the purpose of complete safety it might be worth backing it up with Application Aware Image Processing being enabled.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[Geniek73]

Thx for reply. Our vCenter server is running on Windows 2008 R2 machine (running on ESXi 5.0 host). So it should be properly freezed by VMWare tools. So I need to make some more tests. Thx once again for explanations.

[Geniek73]

We back up our vCenter-Server too using B&R. We don't connect directly to an ESX(i)-Host - We connect via vCenter to back up itself.

So, B&R is just working for the "management infrastructure" without problems.

Regards,
Marc

Unfortunately for me is not. I get this http://www.veeam.com/KB1051 error when trying to backup vCenter server using AAIP and when backup is pointed to vCenter server not to ESXi server directly.