Enterprise Application Backup: [FAQ] Frequently Asked Questions

[david.domask]

Enterprise Applications Backup General FAQ
Q: Which applications does Veeam support with the Enterprise Application Plugin Backups.
A: Please see our User Guide for Enterprise Application Plugins for the definitive list of applications. Currently we have plugins for the following applications:

• SAP-Hana
• Oracle RMAN
• SAP on Oracle
• Microsoft SQL Server
• IBM Db2

Q: My application is on a VM – should I use a VM image level backup or an Application backup to protect it?
A: Both approaches will work and have their strengths and weaknesses.
Application Backup:

• Application Owners can manage backups and restores of their application directly
• No snapshots for VM reduces impact on production during backups
• Uses native tooling whenever possible so application owners can protect their workloads using Veeam & a familiar utility
• Backup operators can manage from Veeam Backup and Replication while application owners can manage directly from their servers

VM Image Level Backup:

• Protects the entire machine in addition to just the application data, allowing for fast recovery in a total-loss scenario (i.e., hosting servers and application data are missing entirely)
• Managed entirely from Veeam Backup and Replication server
• Instant Recovery of Oracle, Microsoft SQL, and PostgreSQL databases.

Ultimately this is a decision best made between your backup team and the application owners; Veeam offers high flexibility for protecting your business critical applications, and provides multiple options to protect your application data, regardless of one’s own expertise with an application or with Veeam.

Q: [For VM Image Level Backups] Should I use Veeam Application Aware Processing or VMware quiescence for backing up Application servers?
A: Use Veeam Application Aware Processing whenever possible. Application Aware Processing allows Veeam to be “aware” of the applications hosted on the server, allowing for use of our Application Restore Explorers for granular restores.

Vmware quiescence will bring the machine to an application consistent state, but may have limited functionality when performing restores with the Veeam Explorers. Application Aware Processing is recommended in all cases when feasible. Additionally, as Application Aware Processing is handled by Veeam’s own components, there are no dependencies or restrictions related to 3rd party tooling. (e.g., to properly quiesce Microsoft Exchange servers, persistent VSS snapshots are required, which are not possible with Vmware quiescence)

Q: Why can’t I see or select the Veeam backup repository I want to use when configuring the Plugin backup?
A: Ensure you have configured Access Permissions on the repository in the Veeam Backup and Replication Console. Once permissions are set, re-run the plugin configuration and select the repository.

Q: What archival backup options do I have for my Application Backups?
A: As of Veeam 13.1, all Plugins support GFS retention for long-term archiving.
Also in 13.1, you can also send Application Backups to Tape targeting a Simple Media Pool


Q: Why do the Application backups not immediately get offloaded to Capacity Tier?
A: By design, Veeam will stored multiple plugin backup sessions in a single backup file. The backup file will be locked by Veeam for 24 hours before continuing with the next backup file, and only after continuing with the next backup file can the original backup file be offloaded.

Q: How do I properly backup a Microsoft SQL Cluster?
A: You can protect your SQL Clusters with VM image level backups, Veeam Agent for Windows/Linux, or with the relevant Enterprise Application Plugin.
For SQL clusters with shared disks and Windows Server Failover Clusters with Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV), use the Veeam Plugin for Microsoft SQL.

VM (image level) backups support Always on Availability Groups: review the linked User Guide page for more information and limitations, as image level backups do not support Always On Availability Groups based on SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances.

Veeam Agent for Windows supports backup of Failover Clusters: review the linked User Guide page for supported configurations and considerations and limitations.

Q: How do I protect my application if it's not currently supported by Veeam?
A: Refer to the application vendor documentation to understand supported options for backup, and review the limitations & considerations that may apply to your application. (e.g., some vendors do not support snapshot-based backups)

Typically one of the following options will be viable:

• Pre-freeze / Post-Thaw scripts (VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix, Proxmox jobs, as well as Veeam Agents for Windows & Linux)
• Use application's native backup utility and write the backups to a Veeam Application Backup Repository (new in 13.1)
• "Dump and Sweep" method: use the application's native backup utility and then use Veeam to protect the target you wrote the backup to

This list is non-exhaustive, and ultimately you should review your application documentation for supported methods.

For any application not currently supported by Veeam, feel free to submit a feature request on our forums.