Configuring new VEEAM Backup Server for direct SAN access

[clare]

Hi, Does anyone have experience of employing direct storage access mode with IBM DS5300 as the live storage subsystem with VMware datastores. I am planning to implement this but would love to know if it is working well for others.

[DaveWatkins]

Type of storage really doesn't matter for Direct SAN access, just present the LUN's to the Veeam proxy. My preference is to do so as read-only if possible but that depends on your setup. Once you can see the offline drives in Disk Manager you're good to go

[mpasaa]

I had this configured using a physical blade to our VNX and performance was very good. However, I have since changed to using a VM for Veeam and attaching a large RDM (GUID partitioned of course) and have used this for several years without any problems. Having Veeam in a VM makes it much more flexible and I didn't have reliance on a physical blade. Also, restores still go over the network with either method so have direct SAN access makes sense only if you have specific needs or use SAN-BASED tools. Setting it up is simple for san-access but honestly my RDM scenario with these new Veeam versions is comparable to SAN direct access.

The less physical servers the better in my opinion. Good luck.

[Zew]

I have an all-in-one Veeam VM works great,currently doing Direct NFS, just requires a VMPG (Virtual Machine Port Group) in the same vSwitch as your hosts VMKP (VMkernel Port) it uses for its datastore access, give it an IP address and set this IP to allowed access on your SAN for those datastores.

Currently playing with different network setups (dedicated iSCSI ports, NFS over bonded nics, and even going to try MPIO iSCSI over bonded trunks via vlans) exciting times to be in IT, Love Veeam!