Design Suggestion

[mtauh]

I am looking to ensure we have our Veeam enviroment setup to the best possible design. And I am looking to see if making our Veeam server a VM would improve our setup. I am currious if having a single Veeam backup server as a VM would utilize direct SAN mode (or even VA mode) for transport. Thus keeping traffic off the network and provided the fastest method possible for backup and replication jobs.

Here is our current configuration:
We are running vSphere 5.x and using B&R 6.1. We have 12 hosts running on HP BL460 blades in 2 enclosures, connected to Cisco Nexus 5020s via HP Flex 10 switches in each enclosure (20Gb uplinks). There is a 20Gb connection between the Cisco 5020s. Each enclosure has 8Gb F/C connection the SAN, blades are connected via mezzanine cards (no FCOE). VMs reside on 8 datastores on a HP XP24000 and Hitachi HUS120 and are accessible to all 12 hosts. The Veeam backup server is a DL380 and is connected to a Cisco Nexus 5020 via a 10Gbe connection. The backup server also has a 4Gb F/C HBA and has a pool of 9 2TB LUNs presented from an EVA8100 that are spanned with Server 2008R2, used as a backup target.

I am investigating presenting our 8 datastores to the physical Veeam server, but I am hesistant (even with automount disabled) as our arrays can not present the LUNS as read only. So as an alternative would I accomplish the same result if I make the entire Veeam server a VM (not just a proxy) and attached the target LUNS on our EVA as RDMs to the Veeam VM?

It seems logical to me to think then that we should not see any Veeam traffic on the ethernet except on the link between our Nexus 5020s (when processing VMs on the opposite enclosure from where the Veeam VM would be running). Or would I not see a difference at all since our physical server is connected via 10Gbe? In this scenario would even direct SAN mode even benifit?

Thanks in advance!

[Vitaliy S.]

I am investigating presenting our 8 datastores to the physical Veeam server, but I am hesistant (even with automount disabled) as our arrays can not present the LUNS as read only.

I understand your concern, and, believe me, you're not the only one with this dilemma, but I do not remember that anyone had ever faced this problem, at least it is not mentioned on our forums.

So as an alternative would I accomplish the same result if I make the entire Veeam server a VM (not just a proxy) and attached the target LUNS on our EVA as RDMs to the Veeam VM?

Not sure I follow you...RDMs cannot be used in VM data retrieval process, you can use RDMs as a destination target for your backups. If you don't want to use physical backup proxy server, then the second recommended option would be to install multiple (depending on the desired backup window) virtual backup proxies and process your production VMs via HotAdd mode.

Thank you!

[mtauh]

If the Veeam server was created as a VM, the RDMs would be the target LUNs on our EVA. Sorry should have clarrified that...

Even with proxies, they would have to transport traffic to the physical server over the ethernet...

[Vitaliy S.]

Oh, got it! In this case your original assumption was correct.

Or would I not see a difference at all since our physical server is connected via 10Gbe? In this scenario would even direct SAN mode even benifit?

That's a good question! With a 10 gigabit network connection you might not even notice any difference, so it's worth giving this setup a try