Windows Server 2016 Guest OS supported by B&R 9.0 ?

[ManuelRighi]

Hello,
Windows Server 2016 Guest OS (not Veeam Backup Server) is supported and backed-up correctly by Veeam B&R 9.0 Update 2 ?

Thanks
Manuel

[foggy]

Hi Manuel, full Windows Server 2016 support will be introduced in the soon coming Veeam B&R 9.5. Thanks.

[mkretzer]

Hello Foggy,

we already have a few test VMs with 2016 and did not have any issues doing FLR on a 2012R2 Veeam System.
If we stick to NTFS without Dedup on the guest and with VMware quiescing it should not be a problem, correct?

Markus

[foggy]

If it works, it doesn't mean it is supported. I guess your assumption is if Veeam B&R v9 doesn't directly interact with the guest OS and no new functionality is involved, no "support" is required. Sounds reasonable, but we haven't specifically tested this, so such setup is completely up to you. As I've mentioned, full official support for Windows Server 2016 will be provided in 9.5.

[jbsengineer]

Could I get clarification? The document here:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsp ... pport.html

States that Veeam supports all VMs supported by vSphere, and FLR support for NTFS. Has the document not been updated to reflect non-support for 2016?

Thanks.

[foggy]

I'll pass this to documentation team, thanks.

[jbsengineer]

I'll pass this to documentation team, thanks.

I have many customers itching to start deploying 2016 VMs. Should I create a ticket in support asking the status of support?

[Gostev]

Windows Server 2016 is not supported as a guest OS with Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0 (any update level).

[jbsengineer]

Hey Gostev,

Any particular reason? It seems like a change in past support stances from Veeam as you would support what VMware supported for example(see my previous thread post). We are a shop with over a petabyte of backup data and thousands of VMs. So obviously we move slower on upgrades than others. As you have pointed out 2016 has some excellent features we would like to utilize in many scenarios. Moving to 9.5 realistically for us would be a 6-12 month adoption after release as we have to lower the risk of bugs and unforeseen issues...

Any information would be helpful.

Thanks.

[Gostev]

Sure, many particular reasons there are actual issues even with most basic things, for example file level recovery from 2016 guest with 2012 backup server.

There are no changes in past support stance either - we never supported new Windows OS versions without a product update. The statement you are referring to talks about all OS available at the time of the corresponding Veeam version's release. Obviously, we cannot predict future and claim support for yet to be released operating systems.

Thanks!

[jbsengineer]

We have been customers since 4.0? Never do I remember having an OS (specifically Windows) be released, then having to implement a relatively major upgrade (not a patch or minor update) for Veeam to support backing the VM up. Certainly could be wrong, but I simply don't remember. Server 2016 is out and we have it running already for testing purposes, and Veeam 9.5 is not released as of today. Not bringing support to 9.0 is going to be painful for us. We are still on 8.0 and being a large shop, we are very risk adverse. We can't afford an unforeseen bug forcing us to reset well over a petabyte of backup data (and this has happened in the past - luckily when we were under a PB). So explaining to our customers that we cannot support 2016 on our clouds until our "large ship" steers itself into a baked version of 9.5 is NOT a good position.

I'm a bit baffled why Veeam (who continues to go after enterprise customers) would force enterprise customers to jump onto a major release of Veeam in order to even support backing up and restoring a VM using purely the block level stack on an OS that has been in preview for a year, and RTM'ed well before the 9.5 release. I can understand FLR given the file system interactions (especially with REFS). I guess I ask this because the support document I referenced in this thread differentiates support between FLR/VM backups/REFS so it appears this can be done unless a bug has been discovered with block level backup, block level restore of a guest OS?

I hope you understand my position. Not asking for full support, just some support...

Thanks.

[Gostev]

We have been customers since 4.0? Never do I remember having an OS (specifically Windows) be released, then having to implement a relatively major upgrade (not a patch or minor update) for Veeam to support backing the VM up. Certainly could be wrong, but I simply don't remember.

I remember it well. For example, for the previous Windows Server 2012 R2, we added support only as a part of big Veeam Backup & Replication 7.0 R2 update.

Never do I remember having an OS (specifically Windows) be released, then having to implement a relatively major upgrade (not a patch or minor update) for Veeam to support backing the VM up.

Mind you, 9.5 is not a major upgrade. It's a minor release as per its numbering, in fact you don't even have to change your current license file (as you do with major upgrades).

Not asking for full support, just some support...

Well, "some support" is there for you for sure. No one will turn you around in our support if you come with an issue that is not related to the fact that you are using Windows Server 2016 guest, so don't worry about this one. For example, it is safe to say that basic backup and full VM restore of Windows Server 2016 guests will work just fine.

That said, we will make the support document more clear, explaining that full support applies only to OS generally available at the time of the corresponding Veeam version release.

[infused]

So uhh... is 2016 supported? I'm backing up an Exchange server 2016 on Server 2016 and it seems fine?

[Regnor]

Not until V9.5 is released and you update to it.

I don't see any problems with updating to the current release of Veeam Backup. At least not after waiting a few weeks. In fact Veeam Backup is the software which doesn't give me headaches when thinking about upgrades. They are quick and don't make much problems. Also you don't have to do many post-upgrade-tasks or have to learn everything from the beginning.
I haven't heard of any bug which destroyed backups and even if you have problems you can open the files with another installation or the extract utility.