Clarification on Veeam Backup Transport Modes for VMware vSphere

[cabhiman]

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Dear Team,

I am reaching out to confirm details about the Veeam backup transport modes for VMware vSphere. Currently, one of our customers is using Direct Storage Access mode with an HPE MSA (FC) SAN, with HPE StoreOnce storage as the primary backup target. As we prepare to revamp their hardware setup, we want to assess if adjustments to their backup architecture are necessary to optimize their configuration.

Please find the current backup architecture diagram below:

https://files.fm/f/38zcmzq6ny

We would appreciate clarification on the following points:

1. Does Veeam support this architecture for direct SAN backups?
2. If adjustments are required, could you please advise on the recommended changes?

Thank you for your assistance.


Best regards,
Chathura Abhiman,

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[Andreas Neufert]

For 1.
It is more of a question for HPE if the cabeling you want to use is supported in this scenario.
We just consum the connections then and likely from our side this setup would work (assuming that all the connections that are drawn are FC connections).
In general the configuration does not follow best practices.
The connection between the MSA and the StoreOnce (green) is not needed for the backup processing. It might be that you want to use it for direct offloading of storage to the StoreOnce outside of Veeam but then we would need to check as the StoreOnce becomes part of your primary storage and you might not want to store backups along side your production storage.

The backup server has only one connection to one of the fabrics.
As well to the backup target you have one one connection.
Usually in FC you let all members be part of each fabric and install multipath drivers for the MSA.
I would add in this setup a second dual port FC card to the backup server and connect each of the FC cards with each MSA controller.
Then add both FC cards as well to the backup target to add some redundancy there. Potentially to a second FC card within the StoreOnce.

That said your initial setup might work as well but the question is more for HPE than Veeam.