Linux Hardened Repository related questions

[iDeNt_5]

Hi all,

I just opened a case (#07994057) in order to get "official" Veeam support answers to my questions related to a new project I'm working on, but I'd also like to share it with you to gather external opinions on the matter, based on the experience of forum users. Furthermore I also think this can be helpful for other users here.

We're planning to create a new Linux Hardened Repository on a VBR v12.

In order to use external iSCSI volumes within that (since we already have a dedicated storage appliance that acts as a Backup Repository), the only way to make this possible, as far as I know, is to create an "old-style" Linux Hardened Repository, not using the Veeam ISO, since this pre-customized appliance version is not compatibile with iSCSI protocol (as per Veeam's choice regarding security, which I can only partially agree with).

The questions are the following:

- Is there any particular consideration or approach to adopt during the upgrade of the VBR v12@v13, regarding this kind of Linux Harded Repository? I didn't find anything about that in the product documentation and we're not ready to do the VBR upgrade now, before creating the BCK Repository. It will probably be done next year.

- Is the "old-style" Linux Hardened Repository still supported (as I think/hope) in the VBR v13 on Windows or is it strictly required to upgrade it with the Veeam appliance ISO?

- If I move the existing Backup Chains (which already use Block Cloning/Fast Clone) and reside on a ReFS file system based Backup Repository to a new Linux Hardened Repository based on XFS file system, will the data be rehydrated during the migration process, or will the migration also use Fast Clone? We're talking about hundreds of TB of data, so this point is crucial.

Many thanks.

[d.artzen]

I can only speak for our own environment, but we also use our own Linux Hardened Repository, which was build before the official ISO even existed. Incidentally, we also use iSCSI to connect to an external NAS (direct network connection on a separate NIC of the linux server), so we can't use either the V12 ISO nor the new VIA. For your questions:

1. We had no problems with the upgrade from V12 to V13, we opted to let the remote components be updated automatically and that worked without further interaction from us. Just make sure your server meets the new hardware requirements.
2. As far as I know the BYOL (Bring your own Linux) is still officially supported. We had a support case shortly after the upgrade to V13 because of a File Copy Job to our LHR failing and support did not have any problems that this was a self-build system.
3. I can't speak from experience, since we use that repository only for Backup Copy Jobs and did not move any backups. But in this thread post561821.html#p561821 Mildur explained that the "Move Backup" function is Fast-Cloning aware. So I would think that the data will not be rehydrated, but this should better be confirmed by someone who really knows that.