What is the best way of protecting the Veeam Backup server?

[stijn_multiplies]

I have done just that. Hopefully the day will never come that i will need this but better safe then sorry!

Thank you!

[fja]

During last 18 months we had complete loss of data on both our primary and secondary backupserver (luckily not at the same time...).

Having complete 'of-media' archives as well the panic was limited.. One issue though: how do we ensure ability to recover historical catalogue of tape content (and secondary archive server / repositories)?
We have of course done import from remote repositories as well af cataloguing tapes - but this does not all result in full content for item level restore (..not tested in details)

To be better prepared for similar situations in future we have added backup of 'configuration backup reporitory' to our monthly GFS tape jobs - but what and how to include full indeks information for quick recovery of detailed seearch access??
We have EM running on dedicated (virtual) server - and total of 5 BU servers on different sites. All BU servers copy config backup to central reporitory included in GFS job as mentioned.

Suggestions?

[Vitaliy S.]

You should be either using built-in configuration catalog backup capabilities, or VEB to protect the entire Veeam B&R server. Thanks!

[fja]

Hi Vitaly,
thx for pointing me the right way... Missed this in my search.

Just to clarify - do I understand correct that the current 'configuration backup' already includes the full indexing information used for file level restore?? Hope that is right, as this is the 'easy' setup

Based on: 'Understanding Veeam Backup Catalog' it seems to be different types of information than configuration of VBR server and jobs / job history..

If it is NOT the same, then I'm not aware of 'veeam configuration catalog backup capabilities'... Where to find information?? I did not find the answer in old thread.

BR Frank

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Frank,

Sorry for being a bit vague on the catalog backup question. If you want to preserve all indexing data, then you need to adjust the retention policy in the EM and then protect this folder manually (for example, with VEB). As regards, the built-in configuration backup, then it should preserve tape data and all the data that is currently present in the backup console.

Thanks!

[Perry]

Does it make sense to have the backup machine with Veeam installed be a VM machine itself and can it be used to back itself up? Any special considerations?

[veremin]

Does it make sense to have the backup machine with Veeam installed be a VM machine itself

Yes, it does. At the very least a server configuration must be protected.

can it be used to back itself up?

Yes, it can.

Any special considerations?

Kindly, check posts provided above.

[Perry]

Works for me too. I have the Veeam backup server running in a VM. I ran the backup job from this VM that backs up itself with application-aware processing enabled.

[lando_uk]

Not sure if this has been bought up before, but i'll ask anyway.

Like many we use a physical VBR master server at Site A, that sends copy jobs and reps to Site B. It would be great if there was a synchronously replicated instance of this server available at Site B for firing up reps and restoring those copy jobs in the event Site A burns. Kind of like the portal that's available using Cloud Connect to restore your VMs, but an on-prem version.

At the moment, I understand its advised to create a 2nd VBR server for the offsite reps, doing it this way seems messy and we'd all like everything under one pane of glass.

Our commvault servers have this, it just uses SQL mirroring to the DR comcell vm, nothing too complicated so I don't see why VBR cant also do the same thing.

Thanks

[DGrinev]

Hi Mark,

Please review this thread for different approaches on the protection of the Veeam B&R server.

It is recommended to have Veeam B&R instance responsible for replication jobs in the target site.
You will find replication related information in details here.

Also, you can use the Enterprise Manager as a single pane of glass.


Thanks!

[homerjnick]

I'm had a search for the answer to this any specific settings required but I've just moved Veeam to a VM rather than physical and was wondering if Veeam can back itself up?

If so are there any settings to set?

[foggy]

Yes, sure (just keep in mind CBT limitations in case it is also used as hottad proxy). However the more recommended way of protecting Veeam B&R is backing up its configuration.

[Tech471]

Hello,

Is there a recommended approach for backing up a physical Veeam backup server?

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Hank,

Mostly the answer will be: No, no need to backup the Veeam backup server. As long as you regularly take a configuration backup you should be fine.

Simply create a new Veeam Backup server if the old one has died (connect the storage/ connections), restore the configuration backup and you should be good to go.

However, obviously that is easier said then done, and some prefer to have a backup of the physical server also. In that case, have a look at Veeam Agent for Windows (previously Veeam Endpoint Backup). It is supported to install it on a Veeam B&R server

Hope it helps
Mike

[dellock6]

Another reason is that the configuration backup can only be taken daily, and in some large environments with changes happening more frequently, people sometimes prefer to replicate or backup the entire Veeam server to have more recent copies of the server itself, but actually this can be achieved by using the pwoershell cmdlet "Start-VBRConfigurationBackupJob" and run it more frequently.

[rborhara]

So ive upgraded my Physical Server that run B&R to 9.65 update 2. i also have 2 Virtual Veeam Proxys and all is running ok when backing up ESXI Vm's

Rather than me physicall install the windows agent v2.0 onto a Physical server (i have a test vM with the agent deployed) i pretend this is a Physical box i want to backup using the Backup & replication console which im sure i read is possible

But how do i detect a physical server or is the config all done on the physical servers somehow to point to the Veeam master console

[nielsengelen]

You can use the Veeam Agent for Windows to make a full backup of the server. Keep in mind that VBR does Backup Configuration as well on a repository which you can always import if you rebuild the VBR server.

[piotr.malek]

Hello All

I have a question about "best practice" for Veeam B&R sql database server.

In my case B&R stands on bare metal. I moved B&R databese sql (because now it has 28 GB) on other server VM which is backuped by B&R.

And now I have question is that possible to recover that VM when it's broken and I don't have access to that database.

Please advise me how I should configure that environment...

I hope that I explained that situation clearly

[DGrinev]

Hi Piotr,

You can protect the configuration database by built-in function called "Configuration backup" accessible in the UI of the Veeam B&R.
In your case with a dedicated VM for SQL, you will have a few more steps before you can start VBR with the database from backup.
Please review this thread for additional information. Thanks!

[piotr.malek]

Hi

I think you didn't understand me...
I'm asking about situation when broke down is VM with SQL server with database of veeam B&R. And that vm is backuped up by B&R.
Question is Can I use B&R somehow?

P.S. Of course I'm using "Configuration backup"

Maybe in other words:

Disaster plan:

1) B&R stands on bare metal server
2) SQL server is virtual machine and contains database of B&R
3) VM SQL server is broken
4) Can I recover VM SQL using B&R (theoretically without his SQL base, I have configuration backup)

[tdewin]

Sure you can do a clean install and do a configuration import.

Or you can do a clean temporary install on for example your laptop or another machine, import the backup, and execute a restore of the SQL DB. You don't need the configuration to execute a restore

[foggy]

You can also use a standalone extract.exe utility without even the need to install Veeam B&R.

[piotr.malek]

thanks for answers

[mensa]

Hello,

what's the current correct way to backup the VM where Veeam Backup & Replication is running?
I know the Configuration backup, but I would like to make additionally a backup of the whole VM. Is this possible and what (settings) have to be considered?

vCenter: 6.5
Everything of Veeam B&R is running in one single VM.
Only drive C: (40GB) attached in VM.

[Shestakov]

Hello mensa,
Just create a regular backup job with VBR server VM.
Thanks!

[mkaec]

There's a lot of recommendations to just backup the configuration and then load that into a fresh install after a disaster. I don't know about VMware, but on Hyper-V waiting 15-60 minutes for Windows to install isn't going to help meet RTO objectives.

I do backup the configuration just to have it. But, my Veeam server is itself a VM and I took the route of using a replication job to get a copy of it onto another host.

[hoFFy]

If you don't have a second host to replicate, you could backup the Veeam VM with VBR or with Veeam Agent for Windows.
When using VBR to backup the Veeam VM itself keep in mind that restoring Veeam without Veeam sounds curious, but it is possible in the case of desaster:
I wrote a german blog post about it https://machinewithoutbrain.de/eine-vm- ... erstellen/ but the manual also explains how to work with VBK files, wihtout having a Veeam server: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95

This way it is possible to extract the Veeam VM from your backup and upload the necessary files to your hypervisor, register the VM, boot, and do the rest of the desaster recovery.

[MikeK]

If the recommendation is to perform a 'regular backup' of the Veeam BR VM ... wouldn't the obvious dependency be an operational Veeam BR VM to complete the restore? We would need to perform a config restore to get the server up and running in the first place. This is a straightforward process but is not necessarily fast. Also, what if the Veeam config backup is pointing to a repository located at the "Production Site". If this is the case we do not necessarily have a copy at a "DR Site" How do we address these two challenges?

How do we
1) Ensure the Veeam configuration backup is available at local Production Site but also available at our DR Site? We can point the configuration backup to a repository but is there a way we can direct it to a network share? Perhaps a network share that could subsequently be replicated to DR (providing local and remote copies).

2) Quickly restore the Veeam BR VM at a DR site. We can certainly use the configuration backup and build from scratch but this does not necessarily accomplish the "quick" portion of restoring the Veeam BR VM. We could have a standby server built and ready to receive the configuration backup. This option has been mentioned in this thread. What about VMware SRM and storage based replication? Does anyone leverage SRM to protect the Veeam BR VM. If this is an option we could include the Veeam BR VM with regular DR testing.

[hoFFy]

1) why don't you just save the configuration backup at the DR site? If you have a DR site, you could also replicate the VBR VM with Veeam to that site.

2) A really quick restore of that VM is possible. You can use the Extract Utility to extract a VM (the VBR VM) from a backup chain and then copy it to your host, start it and the VBR server is online again. See the documentation https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95 or my german blog post: https://machinewithoutbrain.de/eine-vm- ... erstellen/

The Extract Utility could be faster than setting up a new VM, installing Veeam and restoring the configuration. Replication to a server at the DR site is even faster

[skrause]

How do we
1) Ensure the Veeam configuration backup is available at local Production Site but also available at our DR Site? We can point the configuration backup to a repository but is there a way we can direct it to a network share? Perhaps a network share that could subsequently be replicated to DR (providing local and remote copies).

2) Quickly restore the Veeam BR VM at a DR site. We can certainly use the configuration backup and build from scratch but this does not necessarily accomplish the "quick" portion of restoring the Veeam BR VM. We could have a standby server built and ready to receive the configuration backup. This option has been mentioned in this thread. What about VMware SRM and storage based replication? Does anyone leverage SRM to protect the Veeam BR VM. If this is an option we could include the Veeam BR VM with regular DR testing.

For question 1) you can have a second B&R server that has in its configuration, any of the repositories used by the main B&R machine. You can then do a config restore from that location pretty easily. The only caveat is that you want to make sure you are not running a lot of jobs from both servers concurrently because they don't talk to each other.

For question 2) you could probably use SRM and/or storage replication to protect the B&R server.

One option to consider is setting up a "DR Veeam" server in your DR site that has a handful of jobs to replicate your production Veeam box on a schedule. When you have an outage all you need to do is fire off a failover plan.

This is all assuming that your DR site has a running VM infrastructure, of course.