VeeamZIP - Guest processing - Guest OS credentials

[EKo_BEOFG]

Hello,

VeeamZIP does guest processing by default.
From where does VeeamZIP get the Guest OS credentials? Can it retrieve them from existing backup jobs?
I wonder if it can do any kind of guest processing like VSS, Active Directory, SQL, Exchange when the credentials are available somewhere in Veeam B&R.

I already checked the user guide. But it does not mention Guest OS credentials for VeeamZIP.

Best regards,
Emil

[EKo_BEOFG]

This is Case #07227137

[Mildur]

Hi Emil

VeeamZip leverages the VmWare Guest OS Quiescing method and doesn't require Guest OS credentials.
It's a feature provided natively by VmWare. VmWare tools must be installed to be able to use it.

OS Credentials are only required in Backup jobs when you enable Veeam's own "Application-Aware Processing".

Best,
Fabian

[EKo_BEOFG]

Hi Fabian,

Thank you for your answer.

I just did a test backup from a Windows domain controller VM with VeeamZIP.
The restore option "Restore application items" is missing for this backup. But I have this option for the regular Veeam backups.

So I guess VeeamZIP backups does not support any kind of application item restore because it can´t do Application-Aware Processing?

The background of my question is, that our customer wants do to additional backups to USB hard drive. It must be as easy as possible. No job, no backup chain, no incremental backups. Just independend full backups. But they have to be application consistant.

Best regards,
Emil

[Mildur]

With Application-Aware Processing, we deploy a small runtime application to collect information about available applications.
The exact steps are documented here.

Without application aware processing, the backup console will only provide buttons for FLR restore. The backup server simply doesn't know about the available applications inside a machine.
You may still try to restore application items. To do that, start a file level restore session and then choose in the explorer menu.
Please note, we don't recommend do use VeeamZip as a replacement for daily backup jobs. Some recovery situations will require a backup job with application aware processing enabled.



Best,
Fabian

[EKo_BEOFG]

Thank you, this is helpful for my understanding of this situation.

But I´m still not sure how to fulfill all of the customers requirements:

- Backup to several USB-HDD´s
- Customer wants to backup to an offline medium, but not tape.
- Create only full backups which are standalone, independend and not part of a backup chain.
- It must be possible to delete specific backups manually without touching any backup chain.
- No retention settings or automatic deletion of backups.
- It is a monthly, manual backup as additional backup to the daily job and daily cloud copy job.

Because of this requirements I though VeeamZIP should be the best solution.
But, as you said, some recovery situations will require a backup job with application aware processing enabled.
Does it mean, VeeamZIP backups could not provide a working restored system under some circumstances?

So I guess it is not possible to meet the customers requirements to 100%?