Veeam Replication query

[kins]

I am new to version 4.

I have a scenario where I would like to replicate 20 VMs running on 3 ESX hosts to a DR site. The DR site will have one ESX server and attached storage as the destination.

What is the required round-trip time between the HQ and DR site for replication to work? Replication will run twice a day.

Does Veeam support Red Hat Linux and Server 2008?

Is there much of a hit on the source VM during replication?

Is there a space requirement on the source datastore? Other products require 10% storage space free on the source datastore for replication to be successful.

In the event of a disaster, is it just a matter of powering on the VMs in the DR site?

If the link went down during replication can the program recover?

Would the VM be usable if disaster struck during replication and before replication finished?

[Gostev]

Hello,

What is the required round-trip time between the HQ and DR site for replication to work? Replication will run twice a day.
You will need to test it given your environment specifics, as it depends on link speed and the amount of changes in your VMs.

Does Veeam support Red Hat Linux and Server 2008?
Yes

Is there much of a hit on the source VM during replication?
Not noticeable if you have ESX4

Is there a space requirement on the source datastore? Other products require 10% storage space free on the source datastore for replication to be successful.
You need to have some disk space available to host VM snapshot during replication, but not as much because with our near-CDP technology replications are generally very fast and snapshot does not grow very large.

In the event of a disaster, is it just a matter of powering on the VMs in the DR site?
Yes, but if you want to failover to restore point other than latest, you will need to use Veeam UI to perform failover.

If the link went down during replication can the program recover?
Yes, it will attempt to retry a job a few times depending on your job's settings.

Would the VM be usable if disaster struck during replication and before replication finished?
Yes, you will be to failover to previous restore points with Veeam Backup UI.

[kins]

Hi,

thanks for all of that, really helps.

Last question:

Where would be the best place to install the Veeam console? In my scenario we will have 3 ESX hosts attached to a SAN and vCenter will be a VM on the SAN. Can I install it on vCenter and backup the vCenter VM?

I also have a physical backup server running Symantec Backup Exec.

[kins]

and in the event of a disaster where all communication is lost to the HQ, should I have another UI running on a VM in the DR site to enable restores to the ESX host in the DR site?

[Gostev]

Re: Veeam Backup placement, see my response here:
http://www.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... 081#p14080

Re: Backing up the vCenter VM, see my response here:
http://www.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... 124#p14124

Re: Veeam Server DR, this question is answered in the following thread:
http://www.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3052

[kins]

thanks

[kins]

To get over the issues above what about this:

My DR site is linked by fiber to the HQ and I have an ESX server in the DR site (attached to ISCSI storage in DR site), running a VM with the Veeam Backup and Replication software.

Would it be supported to connect the Veeam VM into the HQ ISCSI VLAN for vStorage API SAN with failover mode?
This would get over the issue surrounding SQL replication and recovery in the event of a disaster since the SQL database would be in the DR site.

With 3/4 ESX hosts and around 20 VMs would SQL Express suffice?

Can Veeam replicate the vCenter VM?

Do you recommend running the console on it's own dedicated VM?

If we have 3 TB of storage in use in the HQ would the same amount of storage suffice for the DR site? Can you keep a number of replicas and does this increase the storage requirement on the target?

[Gostev]

Hello,

My DR site is linked by fiber to the HQ and I have an ESX server in the DR site (attached to ISCSI storage in DR site), running a VM with the Veeam Backup and Replication software. Would it be supported to connect the Veeam VM into the HQ ISCSI VLAN for vStorage API SAN with failover mode? This would get over the issue surrounding SQL replication and recovery in the event of a disaster since the SQL database would be in the DR site.
Yes, this will work fine.

With 3/4 ESX hosts and around 20 VMs would SQL Express suffice?
We only store product configuration and session history in the database, nothing more. So, it can handle 300/400 ESX hosts if needed... SQL performance is not a concern.

Can Veeam replicate the vCenter VM?
Please see the link I've provided in my previous post.

Do you recommend running the console on it's own dedicated VM?
Yes, dedicated VM with 4 vCPUs is needed for best performance.

If we have 3 TB of storage in use in the HQ would the same amount of storage suffice for the DR site? Can you keep a number of replicas and does this increase the storage requirement on the target?
It depends on the retention policy you choose. There is a Disk Cost button in the Destination step of the wizard which provides ballpark estimation on the required storage space taking into account retention policy specified.

[kins]

Excellent, I will go with this

thanks