Recommended configuration?

[Xaneth]

I have recently purchased VMWare Essentials for our small network. We are a small business running SBS 2008 Premium, so a total of two servers running as virtual instances. A server crash woke the company up a bit and they bought another server (before my time), which was good, because now I have two physical ESXi VSphere 4 servers. Coupled with Veeam Backup and Replication Essentials Plus and we should be good to go. My plan is:

• Replicate our production servers between ESXi hosts, giving us local DR

• Eventually replicate offsite as well, for remote DR

• Use UAir to backup for granular restoration options with Exchange 2007 and SQL 2008 (Sharepoint 2010)

Great solution by the way, and the Essentials package is very reasonably priced for the features provided. What I need to know is:

• Should my Veeam server be joined to the domain?

• Can I replicate my Veeam server (running it on a VM, Windows 7 64 bit)?

• I'm also licensed for vCenter, which I am installing in a VM. What backup methods can/should I use, virtual appliance?

• Regarding the previous question, can I, or should I run vCenter on the same box as Veeam Server?

Thanks in advance for any pointers, I'm still reading through the documentation to get an idea, but there are so many options, that I thought someone may already have a kind of "default template" for how they have their environment like this configured? I figure replication is good enough, but should I be running backups as well? Sorry, a real Veeam newb here. I'll keep reading, and I'm sure I will have answers to some of my own questions here.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Jason and welcome to Veeam Community forums!

Should my Veeam server be joined to the domain?

No, you don't have to join Veeam Backup server to a Domain, but it is recommended.

Can I replicate my Veeam server (running it on a VM, Windows 7 64 bit)?

Yes, but please have a look at this topic for more information:
http://www.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... eam+server

I'm also licensed for vCenter, which I am installing in a VM. What backup methods can/should I use, virtual appliance?

You may use any backup mode if you meet the corresponding system requirements. Actually, the backup mode doesn't depend whether you use vCenter Server or not.

Regarding the previous question, can I, or should I run vCenter on the same box as Veeam Server?

I wouldn't recommend doing this in backup job performance considerations, if you want to backup vCenter Server then please have a look at the link below:
http://www.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... standalone

P.S. if you have any question regarding backup functionality, please look through our sticky F.A.Q. topic:
http://www.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5304

Hope it helps!

[Xaneth]

Thanks. Everything seems pretty straight forward so far. I've successfully replicated my production environment, which is really important. I noticed, however, that the maximum number of restore points is 14? I want to be able to restore back further than that. For instance replication running every 15 minutes, I'd like to have 672 restore points so I can go back a week. I guess this is where using backup comes in. I need to move my Veeam server over to the ESXi host that has more storage for this. Other than that, so far so good.

[Gostev]

Yes, generally you want to use just a few restore points for replication. And backup is what you want to store more restore points. Thanks!

[Xaneth]

Hm... no support yet for Exchange 2007... And calling support put me into a voice mailbox. Not that my question is critical... YET. I got through to tech support earlier this week, and it also took way too long! Not liking the support options. Does Veeam have 24/7 support? What are the support hours for, say, Veeam Essentials Plus? Also, are there any known limitations with the SQL BETA? Does it support SQL 2008?

[Gostev]

Hi, sure we do have 24/7 premium support option.

This document should answer all questions about support:
http://www.veeam.com/files/veeam_softwa ... policy.pdf

No known limitations for SQL AIR wizard (at least none reported). And actually I do already have the Exchange AIR code that support 2007, I plan to make it available soon in the correspoding topic.