VBR Community Edition vs Backup Essentials

[Anguel]

Hi,

I read about VBR Community Edition but some things still did not become clear to me:

1. Do Veeam Agent FREE backups count against the 10 Community Edition instances?

2. In our small business we currently have Veeam Backup Essentials (2 CPU). AFAIK this license does not cover any (non-free) Veeam Agent for Server or Workstation licenses. However, the free Community Edition seems to offer this functionality - for 10 instances. Is this the case or do I misunderstand something?

3. Is it allowed to install the Community Edition besides the Backup Essentials Edition (e.g. on another PC)?

Thanks in advance,

Anguel

[Shestakov]

Hi Anguel,

1. [CORRECTION] Yes, when pointed to a backup repository, free edition of Veeam Agents will still consume instances from the corresponding CE backup server.

2. For older product versions, yes. The socket-based license doesn't cover Veeam Agents, while Community Edition does. However starting from update 4, all perpetual Socket-based licenses will receive 1 Instance for every licensed Socket, up to a maximum of 6 Instances, included at no cost — free for life, with technical support included per your existing maintenance contract. Here is an existing topic with a similar question.

3. Yes, it is.

Thanks!

[Anguel]

Thank you, so support and Veeam One is the main difference here

However, I think it would be fair to add 10 instances to the paid licenses, so they have at least all features of the free edition. Think about that

[Shestakov]

Could you elaborate about Veeam ONE? It also has a community edition.

[Anguel]

Didn't know about that. Thank you.

[Anguel]

So I can backup unlimited physical PCs with Veeam Agent Free installed to Veeam Community Edition? Sounds too good to be true...

[Shestakov]

You are welcome.
Since Veeam ONE doesn't have standard/enterprise edition separation, community edition has some functionality restrictions. Read more here.
Thanks!

[Gostev]

So I can backup unlimited physical PCs with Veeam Agent Free installed to Veeam Community Edition? Sounds too good to be true...

No, you're limited to 10 instances no matter how you set up your agent backups - through B&R UI, or by pointing free edition of Veeam Agent to the backup repository using local UI of standalone agents. I've corrected the previous response.

[Anguel]

Anton, thank you very much for the clarification!
This was actually what I expected and why I asked again. So it looks like Backup Essential is still the most affordable option for small businesses with ~ 20 physical PCs and ~ 5 VMs.
As I said - it would be too good to be true

[Gostev]

No problems. You are correct, Veeam Essentials is still the way to go for small businesses, and it is very affordable. We are also considering lifting the current limit of 30 instances to 50, to make sure the new limit is enough for any business that can still be considered "small"

[mkaec]

No, you're limited to 10 instances no matter how you set up your agent backups - through B&R UI, or by pointing free edition of Veeam Agent to the backup repository using local UI of standalone agents. I've corrected the previous response.

I believe with 9.5U3 and older, there was no limit of agents using a backup repository if configured through the agent UI. I imagine it would get very difficult to manage, though.

[Gostev]

Actually, free agents could not backup to a repository managed by 9.5U3 Free Edition at all, as the latter does not support the creation of backup repositories in the first place. Now, with 9.5U4 Community Edition backup server, this scenario was actually made possible - with 10 instances limit, of course.

"There was no limit of free agents using a backup repository if configured through the agent UI" was true only when a backup repository is managed by a backup server with a paid license. There are no changes to this functionality with U4. In fact, that new check box in U4 license information dialog that says "Allow free agent to consume instances" was added specifically to make sure this functionality does not break after upgrading to U4, due to the inclusion of gifted instances.

[mkaec]

I was referring to B&R with a socket license. I believe free agents could back up to a repository without limit there and it sounds like there will be a limit with 9.5U4.

When I first heard about the free instances for socket licenses, I thought I'd have some to play with. But, I've got agents backing up the physicals hosts. So, it looks like it'll be a wash for me.

[Gostev]

B&R with a socket license. I believe free agents could back up to a repository without limit there and it sounds like there will be a limit with 9.5U4

No - as per my previous post, there are no changes to this scenario in U4.

[mkaec]

Thanks for clarifying. I apologize for my misunderstanding. What's that they say about assuming?