proxy and repo on same host, preferred proxy selection

[pirx]

I can configure proxies in backup job and on repository side. We now have servers with local storage that acts as proxy and repo server. I'd expect that backup performance benefit if the proxy used for backing up a VM matches the repository server where the backup chain is stored. We use storage snapshots with FC, so in this case no data would be send over network. But there seems to be no such logic in Veeam. I created a test job with 1 VM and added multipel proxies, on repo side I allowed all of these proxies. The job did not choose the server where the the VM chain is stored. So data was backed up by proxy server via FC and then send over to the repository server via network.

I know that I can either set a fixed proxy in job or repo settings, but this is a hard limit and maybe the task slots of this proxy are all used. It would really be nice if Veeam would prefer the "nearest" proxy (in this case same server) for a VM backup if free task slots are available and only fail over to a different proxy if there are no free slots.

But maybe I'm just missing something?

[foggy]

Are you talking about proxy afinity rules?

[pirx]

Yes, I was sure I'd seen a hint that this is restrictive. But this seems only be true for the proxy selection in backup job section.

So again, please ignore the noise. Need more coffee...

[pirx]

I just checked the jobs from yesterday evening. I configured 3 proxies in the backup job settings and one proxy in the affinity rules for each SOBR extent. Only this one proxy was used in the jobs, even after the proxy reached its max concurrent task limit.

So it seems once the available concurrent tasks are reached, no other proxy will be used. The documentation is not clear, what does "cannot be used for some reason" mean?

Proxy affinity rules are not restrictive. You can think of affinity rules as a priority list. If backup proxies from the proxy affinity list cannot be used for some reason, for example, these backup proxies are inaccessible, Veeam Backup & Replication automatically fails over to the regular processing mode.

- if I don't set proxy affinity rule Veeam automatically chooses a proxy
- if I set proxy affinity = repository server, only this server is use, only if server is not available another will be used

But there seems to be no way to say use this proxy as long as free tasks are available, if not use another one.

[foggy]

Correct, this is how it is supposed to work. We probably need to clarify the behavior in the doc.

[lhan]

Hi, same problem at our site. We have two datacenter with 2 physical proxies (20core) each. I've selectet both of the local proxies in the backup jobs. But veeam use only one proxy with 20 concurrent backup tasks in a big job.
Is there no way to configure that both proxies can be used per job? (round robin vs. failover)?
Thanks a lot for a replay

[foggy]

Hi Hansrudolf, do you have proxy affinity configured for the mentioned proxies? Are both proxies identical in terms of the transport mode capabilities for all VMs in a job? If you feel the behavior is unexpected, please contact technical support for a closer look. Thanks!

[lhan]

Hi alexander, thank you for your response. No I'din't configured proxy affinity, I'll make a test about that. Both proxies are indentical for transport mode

[lhan]

Hi Alexander, Last nigth the jobs running with proxy affinity. On Location A it works fine on Location B one proxy would not selected but I don't know why.

Location A

Code: Select all

[22.11.2021 18:00:30] <01> Info         [ViProxyBuilder] Checking proxy (Name  = 'proxy00', Id = '20fdf367-4395-4ab2-81d8-cbd1e7a5744b') for storage snapshot processing for VM 'proxy00'
[22.11.2021 18:00:30] <01> Info         [ViProxyBuilder] Checking proxy (Name  = 'proxy02', Id = 'eb5e5329-5654-4d5a-92d9-9e5b6c38382a') for storage snapshot processing for VM 'proxy02'

Location B

Code: Select all

[22.11.2021 18:00:30] <01> Info         [ViProxyBuilder] Checking proxy (Name  = 'proxy03', Id = '974bbe2a-882c-4c7f-8c8c-62875645cd2c') for storage snapshot processing for VM 'proxy03'
[22.11.2021 18:00:30] <01> Info         [ViProxyBuilder] Checking proxy (Name  = 'proxy01', Id = '0f8fc2cf-92e5-4d38-b388-8d8f3ece944e') for storage snapshot processing for VM 'proxy01'
[22.11.2021 18:00:30] <01> Info         [ViProxyBuilder] Skipping proxy (Name  = 'proxy01', Id = '0f8fc2cf-92e5-4d38-b388-8d8f3ece944e'), some volumes are not available for processing through this proxy:

All the proxies are correct zoned in the SAN. I don't know what the problem is.

[foggy]

The log gives you the reason why it skips the second proxy. If it is not expected - feel free to involve our engineers in the investigation.

[lhan]

I've checked all the things but no sucess to find any reason about that. So I've opened a technical case

[foggy]

Appreciate that. Could you please share the case ID here for reference?

[lhan]

Of course here ist it:
Case # 05150437

[lhan]

hello Alexander and Comunity
We have fixed the issue at our site. I forged to select the proxy in the properies of the Storage.
Storage Infrastrucure -> on every strorage system select -> edit storage -> VMWare Vsphere -> Backup Proxies to use:

Thank you