Question regarding a new Veeam server

[Steve1978M]

Hi All,

So I have decided to buy a new PC / Server for our primary backup machine rather than using the 3 ESXi hosts as primary and 2 proxy which currently backup to a NAS. I have a question regarding hardware and I know that these questions get asked a lot but I feel the need to ask anyway. quick summary of background - I have build a PC/server with a AMD 5600 CPU(12 thread), 64GB DDR4000 RAM, 10GB Fiber port (we have 10Gb network), I have 8 on board SATA ports and plan to use 8 10tb drives. My backup is about 10Gb and my daily incremental is about 350Gb.

1) Caching drive - is it worth using a large say 2tb caching NVMe drive? the board is x570 and supports Gen 4 PCIe. Does anyone use this in Veeam?
2) File system - Refs seems to be the way to go with Windows. are there any "gotchas" that I should be aware of like caching doesn't work on Refs

Thank you for any advice.

[Mildur]

Hi Steven

1) Caching drive - is it worth using a large say 2tb caching NVMe drive? the board is x570 and supports Gen 4 PCIe. Does anyone use this in Veeam?

I would start without the Caching drive and see how it all works out. The NVMe doesn't give you any benefits, if your source environment is the bottleneck.

2) File system - Refs seems to be the way to go with Windows. are there any "gotchas" that I should be aware of like caching doesn't work on Refs

What OS do you have to planned to install? Client or Server OS?
If Server OS, is it supported with the hardware? Unfortunately, I can't find driver for window server OS on AMDs website for this Board Type.
To use our FastClone feature, you need to use a server OS (2016 or later) or Windows for Workstation (windows 10 or later).
Or consider using Ubuntu, as Hannes already recommended in your other topic 1 month ago. You can build a Linux hardened Repository to protect your backups.

[micoolpaul]

Hi, quite a few questions here:

Will this server be hosting Veeam B&R + Database + Proxy + Repository? Or just some of these roles?

To touch on something that Mildur has mentioned RE Server OS, as your primary use case here is to provide backup services, you're likely going to need this licensed as a Server OS, as the Windows desktop EULA prohibits being used in server scenarios. Definitely worth checking on this.

If you're planning on the server being an all-in-one box, then depending on your environment you may find yourself quite light on resources, you haven't given details on number of VMs, I take it full backup was meant to be 10TB not 10GB also. But this certainly should be looked at from a best effort sizing calculation.

Finally you've said you've got 8x SATA Ports and you're going to attach drives to this, I'm assuming you're planning to use a RAID configuration instead of JBOD? You will certainly want to review what RAID controller you have as I can pretty much guarantee it won't be battery backed, which will always be of a worry if you temporarily lost power etc.

If you haven't ordered this yet, I'd suggest looking at a refurbed server that comes with warranty if you need to be more budget conscious, unfortunately server hardware has a price premium for a reason...

[Steve1978M]

Thanks for the reply's I have some old server hardware but the problem is the disk shelf. I don't have a spare one. The old servers I have are all 2.5inch. The idea of using a desktop motherboard / case for the task is down to price and capacity for 3.5inch HDD's. Regarding the RAID controller, you are correct that the board isn't battery backed up. a RAID card though is cheap enough to buy and install and to be honest was a consideration when buying. I was going to have a play with t as it is and see what kind of numbers I get on backup times and recovery times.

I plan on using 2 or 3 Windows VMs as proxy servers. I backup 27 virtual machines. regarding OS. I not rigid on what I'm going to use but was probably planning on a Windows Server OS. I have a license for 2012 but am upgrading later this year to 2022. my only reluctance on using Ubuntu is my lack of experience with it. I have used it for many years but not in the production environment.

I think the only thing to do really is to install some disks and start backing up!

[Mildur]

I would start with 1 proxy Server, depending on your required backup window. 27 VM's doesn't look like a big environment.
Keep it simple

I think the only thing to do really is to install some disks and start backing up!

There are some decisions to make first, which could lead to another active full backup or other issues if you decide later.
- Encryption
- Server OS and which level (remember, use 2016 or later for FastClone)
- Raid Controller, better buy it now and configure the system the right way from the start

And if you don't have a Write cache Battery, use at least an UPS to protect the backup server against power outage.

[micoolpaul]

Mainstream end of support for 2012/R2 happened in 2018 (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecy ... er-2012-r2), so I wouldn’t have high expectations for a good experience on consumer grade hardware with such a dated OS, plus you’ve got less than 18 months until EOL, so you’re better off looking at 2022 (though still it sounds like some of your hardware won’t be certified compatible) or Linux, but as you’ve said, you don’t have the experience of it in production which could be honestly, more risky!

Definitely get your RAID controller in first, and go for one that is certified for Windows, the amount of tests it has to pass isn’t insignificant, and this is where you really want to be safe. Can check products against the HCL here: https://aka.ms/AA5bmch