VEEAM IMMUTABLE REPO ISO / Migrations from other flavours?

[adamdb]

Hi,
we have an IMMUTABLE repo which has been inherited from elsewhere. It's running Ubuntu 22.04 but following the VEEAM best practice from around 2024.
I was looking into options to rebuild it so we can create a detailed build guide and have confidence in restoring the OS in the event of issues. This is when I stumbled over the following ISO VeeamHardenedRepository_2.0.0.9_20260317.

I've successfully deployed this virtually and it seems to me too be the the obvious choice to move to given it's been put together by VEEAM. A few questions though.
1. I located a download link via google but I cannot seem too find an official download link or documentation for it. Is there a dedicated page for this stuff?
2. I am considering using it to effectively rebuild our existing repo but retaining the data on the repo area itself. I appreciate the 'repair' option is for doing this on existing repos built originally with the same tooling. Can anyone advise on the steps to do it when your are migrating from another version of Linux. I did try the repair option on a existing ubuntu repo test VM (which installs rocky on the smaller of the two visible disk devices) The install works fine until obviously it does not recognise a recoverable repo disk. It falls into emergency mode during reboot but then can't drop into root as the account is locked. I'm not a Linux guru but just wondering if there is a workaround to get in and make the necessary changes so it will be able to see the existing repo location? I'm assuming LVM/XFS should work across versions of Linux.

Anyhow, any guidance on the above would be much appreciated.

[Mildur]

Hi Ads,

Rebuilding a self-managed Linux repository as a Veeam-managed Linux repository while keeping the existing disks is currently not possible. It may become possible in the future, but it is not possible with the current product versions, and especially not with the old ISO VeeamHardenedRepository_2.0.0.9_20260317.

If you are on v13, please use our new Veeam Infrastructure Appliance ISO. However, please keep in mind that it will wipe all disks, and you will not be able to mount the old backup disks afterward.

What you can do instead is deploy a new repository on new hardware and use Veeam Mover to migrate the backups from the old hardened repository to the new hardened repository.

Is there a dedicated page for this stuff?

Yes, in our Help Center.

v12: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/archive/ba ... aring.html
v13: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbr/u ... epare.html


Best,
Fabian

[adamdb]

thanks Fabian, that's very helpful. I don't think that's an option sadly due to budget constraints. They are V13 i believe so i will take a look at the VIA ISO. Being able to migrate in the existing data would be a big win though. I think the outlay for another repo in terms of the amount of space required would run into a significant amount. thanks. I'll post or update this thread if i have any questions.

[Mildur]

You could use temporary backup storage during the redeployment: move the backups to temporary storage, rebuild your hardened repository, and then move the backups back.

Alternatively, if you can wait for our summer release (early Q3), we may have new functionality in that release which could help your use case.

Best,
Fabian

[adamdb]

Hi Fabian,

can you confirm the support position for the VIA appliance? It does seem the way to go (aside from the fact it would need fresh real-estate). Assume it's upgradeable via the appliance interface and that you can extend your repo in the normal way by adding drives and extending in the system storage administration tools before finally expanding the lv on the linux level? I just deployed a test vm and it does seem pretty polished.

thanks
Adam.

[adamdb]

You could use temporary backup storage during the redeployment: move the backups to temporary storage, rebuild your hardened repository, and then move the backups back.

Alternatively, if you can wait for our summer release (early Q3), we may have new functionality in that release which could help your use case.

Best,
Fabian

Oh ok. I didn't realise that. If it's possible to actually just copy the data off to a location and then copy it back, that could be a possibility. I'm not a VEEAM aligned engineer so not 100% familiar with how it's stored. If there's no barriers in doing that then we may have a place it can be stored temporarily.
thanks.

[Mildur]

You will have a folder containing the backup files: VBK files are full backups, and VIB files are incremental backups.

Copying the backups manually with third-party tools means you will lose any Fast Clone space savings. For example, on the hardened repository today, your 12 × 1 TB full backup files may use only 1–2 TB of disk space. If you copy them manually, they will occupy the full 12 TB on the target storage.

Make sure your temporary storage also supports Fast Clone and use the built-in Backup Move functionality in the backup console to move the backups away. That way, those 12 × 1 TB backup files can still occupy only 1–2 TB.

If you are not familiar with Veeam and how it works, it may be a good idea to involve a regional Veeam partner.

Our VASP partners can assist with design and implementation services:
https://www.veeam.com/partners/find-a-p ... ?type=VASP

Best,
Fabian