Some basic questions

[firefox_i]

I´m currently searching for a backup solution for the servers and clients in our practice for occupational therapy.
By searching around I got a lot of recommendations on the veeam products.

To decide if it is the right product, it yould be a great help if you could answer me some questions (or some of them ).

First of all the status quo of the infrastructure

One physical server
- Windows Server 2012 R2 as Hyper-V Host (let´s give it the name SRV-HyperV) with 2 VMs (generation 2)
- VM1 --> Windows Server 2012 R2 --> Domain controller. DHCP, DNS, AD DS (Name: SRV-DC)
- VM2 --> Windows Server 2012 R2 --> Fileserver, Databaseserver und Antivirus (Name SRV-ERGO)

Currently 4 Clients (all Win 7 Pro).

In the LAN there are 2 NAS.
NAS 1 is used as a second fileserver and shall be used as backup target, NAS2 only as backup target.
Data that NAS1 publishes on it´s shares shall also be backuped.

What I need at the end of the day is a solution to backup
- all VMs
- all physical machines (clients and the server)
- active directory
- SQL Server 2008 Express
- domain controller incl. all its installed roles
- backup the filserver-part of the first NAS



Now the questions

I) basics
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I)a) product selection
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I think I´m right that Veeam Backup Essentials in combination with Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE should be correct to do the job.
Is that correct?

Is the Standard edition sufficienct or do I need the enterprise edition due to the AD and SQL topics?

I)b) license count
********************
If i understand the lilcense scheme right, It´s okay to use the Essentials Version as my physical sever has only one CPU.
This will license alls hosted VMs on this host.
Is that right ?


I)c) Separate files for VM backup / client backup
********************************************************
If i want to have separate files for the several backupes VMs and clients I assume this makes the enterprise edition necessary right?
Can i create a separate file for each client backup ?


II) Questions regarding installation
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II)a) SQL database size
***************************
How large can the database size get ?
This question is to estimate the needed HDD space.

II)b) Install location
**********************
Here I need your professional assistance for the best practice.
Is it necessary to have Veeam installed on a complete separate physical system or is it also possible to run it on the upper mentioned physical server?
If this would be possible, what would be the best solution:
Install the Server and Console parts (VBR Server, VBR Console, Repository Server) on the Hyper-V Host, VM2 or even in an additional VM3 with Win7 Pro as OS ?
What would be best practice?

What happens, if Veeam is installed on a separate machine....how many licenses do I need in this case?

III) the backup procedure itself
**********************************
III)a) backup source
***********************
If I install the Endpoint Backup in the VMs and on the clients, can I then also use the NAS as data source to back it up ?


III)b) client backup
**********************
Can I do a central backup management in combination with Endpoint Backup or does VBR "only" supports the handling of the backup files ans gives me assistance in restore tasks?
Or asked inanother way:
Can I setup the backup jobs of the clients on the central console or is this done on the clients?


III)c) run as service
***************************
I assume the VBR and also Edpoint Backup runs as service so that there is no need for logged on users for scheduled jobs?
Does Endpoint Backup starts the client at the scheduled time?

III)d) generation backup
***************************
Is the generation supported in VBR and Endpoint Backup or only in VBR?



III)e) status mails
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I assume that SMTP enrcription is supported (TLS, Port 587).

Sorry for the large number, but we need this information for the decision.

Best regards

Sven

[jmmarton]

In the LAN there are 2 NAS.
NAS 1 is used as a second fileserver and shall be used as backup target, NAS2 only as backup target.

What I need at the end of the day is a solution to backup
- backup the filserver-part of the first NAS

Keep in mind that we backup the Hyper-V environment, meaning the VMs and their virtual hard disks. We can't backup a physical NAS (though physical Windows servers/desktops are ok via our free Endpoint Backup solution).

I think I´m right that Veeam Backup Essentials in combination with Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE should be correct to do the job.
Is that correct?

Is the Standard edition sufficienct or do I need the enterprise edition due to the AD and SQL topics?

Since you only have the single Hyper-V host, yes, Essentials should do the trick. It supports up to 6 sockets which is typically up to 3 hosts (assuming 2 sockets each). The free endpoint product can backup your Windows 7 clients if you'd like. While Standard will backup everything, the full restore capabilities for AD and SQL require at least Enterprise edition. You can find more info on our production editions here (this info, other than the price, also applies to Essentials).

https://www.veeam.com/backup-version-st ... rison.html

If i understand the lilcense scheme right, It´s okay to use the Essentials Version as my physical sever has only one CPU.
This will license alls hosted VMs on this host.
Is that right ?

Correct. Also keep in mind that each Essentials license is for 2 sockets.

If i want to have separate files for the several backupes VMs and clients I assume this makes the enterprise edition necessary right?
Can i create a separate file for each client backup ?

You can do per-VM backup files if you at least have enterprise edition. For your Windows 7 clients, if you use the free endpoint product and send the backups to a Veeam backup repository, each physical machine will have its own backup file.

How large can the database size get ?
This question is to estimate the needed HDD space.

For your environment the backup database will likely remain quite small. Here's a forum thread that discusses database size.

monitoring-f5/database-size-requirements-t5317.html

Here I need your professional assistance for the best practice.
Is it necessary to have Veeam installed on a complete separate physical system or is it also possible to run it on the upper mentioned physical server?
If this would be possible, what would be the best solution:
Install the Server and Console parts (VBR Server, VBR Console, Repository Server) on the Hyper-V Host, VM2 or even in an additional VM3 with Win7 Pro as OS ?
What would be best practice?

What happens, if Veeam is installed on a separate machine....how many licenses do I need in this case?

You absolutely can use a VM to run everything. For the size of your environment, you could likely use a single VM to run everything: Backup & Replication server and the backup proxy. It would probably be better to use a Server 2012 R2 VM for this. No additional Veeam licensing is need. You only have to license the Hyper-V hosts that you are backing up.

If I install the Endpoint Backup in the VMs and on the clients, can I then also use the NAS as data source to back it up ?

As long as you can configure a CIFS share on the NAS, you can add it as a Veeam backup repository. The same repository can be used for both Veeam B&R jobs as well as Endpoint Backup jobs.

Can I do a central backup management in combination with Endpoint Backup or does VBR "only" supports the handling of the backup files ans gives me assistance in restore tasks?
Or asked inanother way:
Can I setup the backup jobs of the clients on the central console or is this done on the clients?

Endpoint Backup is configured on each individual client. You'll see the jobs in the console and you can even take endpoint backups in a Veeam backup repository and export them out as VHD/VHDX. But you can't do any configuration in the main console at this time.

I assume the VBR and also Edpoint Backup runs as service so that there is no need for logged on users for scheduled jobs?
Does Endpoint Backup starts the client at the scheduled time?

Correct, it runs as a service to backup the client. It can run at a scheduled time or at specific events (e.g. when a user locks his/her PC).

Is the generation supported in VBR and Endpoint Backup or only in VBR?

I'm not sure what this is.

I assume that SMTP enrcription is supported (TLS, Port 587).

We support sending e-mail notifications using SSL.

Joe

[firefox_i]

Hey Joe,
first of all many thanks for your comprehensive answers.

Keep in mind that we backup the Hyper-V environment, meaning the VMs and their virtual hard disks. We can't backup a physical NAS (though physical Windows servers/desktops are ok via our free Endpoint Backup solution).

If I can backup the files on the NAS via the Endpoint Backup this would be okay.
So the question is:
Can I select a connected network share (or a UNC path) as souce for backup in Endpoint Backup?

You absolutely can use a VM to run everything. For the size of your environment, you could likely use a single VM to run everything: Backup & Replication server and the backup proxy. It would probably be better to use a Server 2012 R2 VM for this. No additional Veeam licensing is need. You only have to license the Hyper-V hosts that you are backing up.

The issue with a 2012 R2 VM is, that I run out of server licenses.
I have a 2012 R2 Standard that licenses 2 VMs and I already use 1VM as DC and the other for the stuff I mentioned above.
So if I want to run VBR in a separate VM I either must purchase a new server license or use a workstation OS.

What would be the disadvantages of using Win 7 Pro as OS for the B&R server and Proxies?

Do I understand it right, that for restoring Active Directory I need the AD Explorer and this can only run on a Sever OS?
And for that I need also the Replication console and it is no good idea to have one installation on a workstation OS that does the "normal job" and in case of recovery I use a second installation in the server part?
So do I understand it right, that VBR on a workstation OS is no good idea?

As long as you can configure a CIFS share on the NAS, you can add it as a Veeam backup repository. The same repository can be used for both Veeam B&R jobs as well as Endpoint Backup jobs.

So a SMB share should also do the trick as SMB and CIFS are the same IMHO.

I'm not sure what this is.

I mean the copy backup job feature that allows me to keep a specified number of daily, weekly and monthly backups.

Regards
Sven

[PTide]

Can I select a connected network share (or a UNC path) as souce for backup in Endpoint Backup?

No you can't, but you can backup an iSCSI drive that is connected to your Endpoint machine.

What would be the disadvantages of using Win 7 Pro as OS for the B&R server and Proxies?

No disadvantages for proxies, however if you choose to run B&R server on Win7 you might encounter some difficulties with explorers (AD, SQL).

Do I understand it right, that for restoring Active Directory I need the AD Explorer and this can only run on a Sever OS?

Correct. Please refer to the requirements section:

Important! Database files created by a domain controller can be open for object recovery with Veeam Explorer for Active Directory only if Veeam Explorer is installed on a Windows machine with OS version same or above the version of that domain controller's OS.

And for that I need also the Replication console and it is no good idea to have one installation on a workstation OS that does the "normal job" and in case of recovery I use a second installation in the server part?

Nothing wrong with it, however I don't understand why would not you use the same server for both recoveries and backups?

So do I understand it right, that VBR on a workstation OS is no good idea?

The idea is fine if you are not going to restore AD objects from that workstation or use it as a staging server for SQL restores.

So a SMB share should also do the trick as SMB and CIFS are the same IMHO.

Correct, CIFS is a dialect of SMB.

I mean the copy backup job feature that allows me to keep a specified number of daily, weekly and monthly backups.

Yep, that's called a GFS retention policy. You can specify Endpoint backup as a source for VBR backup copy job and configure a GFS retention. Standalone Endpoint supports only forewer forward incremental + creation of standalone backups.

Thank you.