Veeam backup from HPE Alletra MP storage snapshots

[apnaf]

Hi everyone,

Does anybody know if it's possible to integrate Veeam B&R V12 with backup from storage snapshots using an HPE Alletra MP (known as HPE GreenLake for block storage)?

Thanks in advance
apnaf

[Andreas Neufert]

We are working on the verification together with HPE.

[apnaf]

Thanks for your fast answer Andreas,

How can i know the results of that verification?

[foggy]

Hi Pedro, thanks for the question. It will take us some time to verify the compatibility. We already know from HPE about issues at least with snapshot-only jobs processing due to API changes on Alletra MP but do not have access to the hardware to verify it on our end. The goal will be to address issues/API changes in the upcoming release but that obviously depends on when we can get the hardware access. You can ping this topic in a couple of months in case we forget to update it. Thanks!

[apnaf]

Hi all,

Any news about this integration?

Thanks

[foggy]

We hope to get access to the hardware at the end of August. The good news is that, according to HPE, the latest firmware code version was made compatible with the APIs we're using and their own tests showed no issues.

[kristofjaeken]

Hello Pedro and Alexander,
is there any update on the release of the storage integration for Alletra MP (Greenlake for BlockStorage) ?
We are implementing Alletra MP systems and are waiting for the full storage integration before moving over production load.

Thanks for any insight you can give!

greetings

[foggy]

Hi Kristof, we have access to the system and have identified a few issues we're working on. As testing continues, it is a bit early to claim any official support for Alletra MP, but we're moving in that direction. Thanks!

[kristofjaeken]

Thank you for the info, Alexander! Much appreciated.
Looking forward to official release.

[foggy]

Hi all, we now claim official support for Alletra MP for Veeam B&R v12 with the following limitations:

- Only FC protocol is currently supported
- Manual snapshot creation is not supported

Both limitations will be addressed with a combination of Veeam B&R v12.1 and the next HPE Alletra MP code update.

[kristofjaeken]

Hi everyone,

That is great news!

Is there a new version of Veeam B&R 12 available for download that includes this functionality?

[mjr.epicfail]

12.1 is not released yet so no

[kristofjaeken]

Hi,
From foggy's post I understand that the current limitations will be addressed in 12.1 (together with Alletra MP OS update). So I would expect the official support with limitations will be available in an intermediate feature release of v12.0

[foggy]

Hi Kristof, support for FC on HPE Alletra MP is now available with the current v12 build out of the box, no changes were needed on our side to declare official support. Thanks!

[tmjidaho]

RE: the HP Alletra Storage MP platform, is anyone using that as a local storage repository (i.e. performance extent?) If so, I'm interested in hearing your experiences.

[kristofjaeken]

Hi everybody,

Just wanted to share some info about our first tests.

Storage integration with Alletra MP works as expected.

There is one thing I would like to point out: password character limitations. The initial complex password we used for the user that connects to the arrays from Veeam contained a " (double quote) which caused the snapshot creation to fail.
However, adding the storage to the Veeam console with this password was no problem. As was logging into the array's GUI with this user and password. It was only failing during a backup job when the storage snapshot had to be created that the error became apparent.

We spent a day going through logs and troubleshooting before finding the solution. Hopefully I can save someone from a headache with this info

@tmjidaho. We are using the Alletra MP as main storage, not as backup repository.

greetings

[mjr.epicfail]

sounds like the password variable isn't escaped correctly

[amiros]

Hi all
We are planning on purchasing HPE Alletra MP (Block + ISCSI)
I understand that now snapshot integration is supported only with FC.
Does anyone know when it will be available for ISCSI?
THANKS

[Andreas Neufert]

This depends mainly on HPE as they do not support standard Windows iSCSI initiators today that we are using partly.

[amiros]

Thanks Andreas
I'm not planning to do direct volume backup from veeam, I'm looking for the option to preform instant restore from storage volume snapshot.
will it work?

[Andreas Neufert]

No, as our engine uses for some temporary operations the Windows iSCSI initiator as it has some advantages for our specific needs. It is later not used for data transport but still needed for the optimized background processing (rescans).

[foggy]

iSCSI support for Alletra MP is just around the corner. Once it is out, we'll run some tests to verify if everything is good there so we can claim official support.