Backup

The article describes the possibility of creating backups, or rather copies of data, for a home environment (or small business). It describes a specific case of backing up files to external USB drives while minimizing the time and amount of data transferred. The open source tool FreeFileSync is used.

The first part of my introduction to Veeam backup solution. To get a general overview, I tried to write down (not only from Veeam documentation) what Veeam Backup & Replication is (what it is used for and what it does). To list the terms (partly functions), tools and basic principles of backup and recovery. This is not a complete list, but only what I found basic or interesting. The description is only brief, the details will be discussed in the next parts. Next time we will look at the basic components and their architecture and topology.

The second part of my introduction to Veeam backup solution. We'll take a look at the core components and services that make up Veeam Backup & Replication. What are the deployment options and what is the architecture of the solution. Possible topologies for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V. So, in simple terms, how to connect the backup source with Veeam components and storage, and how the data flows.

The third part of my introduction to Veeam backup solution. We'll take a look at the control console, the user interface for configuring and running the entire solution. The console allows you to add and manage backup infrastructure components. Create and monitor various jobs that schedule backups, copy backups to another storage (site), and replication. Perform many types of recovery (Restore, Recovery). Review the main areas of the console (management) and briefly describe the various options and operations (we are primarily concerned with backups, not replications).

The fourth part of my introduction to the Veeam backup solution. We will look at our own backup, i.e. creating a backup job (Backup Job). We'll primarily focus on virtual machine (VM) backups, but we'll also mention agent-based backups. We will briefly list the various options that we can set and use in the task. We'll summarize some of Veeam's backup recommendations. Finally, we will show you how to rename a backup job, including changing the folder name.

The fifth part of my introduction to the Veeam backup solution. We will look at backing up selected applications that Veeam Backup & Replication natively supports. It allows for transactionally consistent backup as well as granular recovery at the application item level. We will briefly describe (and provide links to various documentation) how the backup works, what we should set up and what are the recommendations. We will focus on Active Directory, Exchange Server, SQL Server and Oracle Database domain controllers.

The sixth part of my introduction to the Veeam backup solution. It briefly describes an area that is well covered in the official documentation as well. Creating and running a Backup Copy Job to another backup repository, which may be in a different location. If communication is via WAN (generally a slower line), we can use the WAN Accelerator component.

Part 7 of my introduction to Veeam backup solutions. This is an extension of the Backup Job article. We'll look at the Veeam and Storage integration that allows you to create Snaphosts on storage. We can use these Snapshots for recovery, but also to back up VMs more efficiently from VMware vSphere.

The eighth part of my introduction to Veeam backup solution is dedicated to automatic recovery testing of backed up VMs. That is, verifying that the VM in the backup is functional. The whole technology is called SureBackup. First, we need to create a Virtual Lab on VMware or Hyper-V where the tests will run in an isolated environment. In most cases, we will use Application Groups to determine the services (VMs) that our test VMs depend on, or just to validate the VMs. The actual job that performs the verification is called the SureBackup Job.

The ninth part of my introduction to Veeam backup solution. We'll look at backup and recovery efficiency. What is the topology for different backup situations and which data is transferred which way. By researching, I found out a surprising thing that Veeam can also use iSCSI SAN as a network instead of LAN, which can increase the transfer speed. To monitor the performance of the backup, job run statistics and also bottleneck (component) detection will help us. Finally, let's see the real backup and restore speeds from my environment.

The tenth part of my introduction to the Veeam backup solution deals with restoring data from a backup. We perform all backups in order to restore lost or damaged data if necessary. It is often something that is rushed and needs to be done in the shortest possible time. Therefore, it is necessary to have prepared procedures for various situations that may arise. We don't always need to restore the entire server, but perhaps only certain files or objects from Active Directory. A disaster can occur when we lose the backup server (or the entire site). We will list the options how to restore in that case.

We will very briefly mention our experience with the in-place upgrade of Veeam Backup & Replication 11a to version 12. Overall the upgrade process depends on the components used, but it is done very simply with a wizard. We can also say that it is quite seamless.

The new version of Veeam Backup & Replication introduces a new way of storing backup files. If we upgrade Veeam, we have backups in their original format and can keep them that way. But we have the option to do a simple upgrade to the new format. If we update the backups for the Backup Job, which are the data source for the Backup Copy Job, then we need to upgrade that too. In most cases, it is a more complicated situation where we have to create a new task and connect the backups. The Backup Copy Job has undergone a number of changes. Importantly, we can now use different types of resources and cannot select individual VMs.

Just a few notes on the in-place upgrade of Veeam Backup & Replication 12 to version 12.1 (globally Veeam Data Platform 23H2 update). In my environment, it was simple and without any complications or issues.

Veeam ONE is a solution for monitoring and analyzing the Veeam Backup & Replication backup solution, but also the entire virtual infrastructure on the VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V platform. We will describe basic installation and configuration, connection to Veeam Backup & Replication Server, VMware vCenter Server and System Center Virtual Machine Manager Server. Installation is simple and not much configuration is required to make the product work. But some things are good to know.

The Veeam ONE solution uses a rich client that enables monitoring of backup and virtual infrastructure. And a web client that provides dashboards and reports. In this article, we'll look at the basic usage and features of the rich Veeam ONE Client for infrastructure monitoring and management. An important part of the solution are alarms that alert you to events, changes and problems.

We will look at backing up Oracle databases using the Veeam Plug-in for Oracle RMAN. We will describe a newer option (from VBR version 12), when backup is controlled from Veeam Backup & Replication Server. That is, centrally as common backup types. This is the managed mode (Managed Mode) of the Veeam Plug-in. Protection Groups are used to deploy and manage plug-ins (as well as agents).

The way backup files are stored has been modified in Backup & Replication 12. Primarily Per-Machine Backup with Separate Metadata Files is used. The Backup Copy Job has also changed quite a bit. In this article, we'll take a look at how the new Backup Copy Job works. And we'll practically describe copying backups to a remote location when the data is large and a complete transfer over the WAN would take too long. We will use Seeding and transfer the data (initial Full Backup) offline on an external USB drive. After that, we map the copy job to the transferred data.

A brief description of the in-place upgrade of Veeam ONE 12 to version 12.2. The whole process is simple and hassle-free. It should work similarly for other versions as well.

It is clear that we need to secure data in backups from unauthorized access. Probably the best method is backup encryption. There are various options for when, where and how data files can be encrypted. For common situations, it is most appropriate to perform encryption in a (backup) job (Job Encryption). We can enable encryption for Backup or Backup Copy Job, but also for many other jobs. We will look at general information as well as practical settings and impacts of encryption.

Veeam can perform a health check for backup files (the last Restore Point), which checks the integrity of the data blocks. This is generally recommended. If this operation returns an error, it usually means that the backup file is corrupted. But the problem can also be elsewhere. For example, the job could not run correctly. This short article describes a specific error message and its solution.

Snapshots are commonly used when backing up virtual machines (VMs). There can be different types of snapshots that are performed at different levels (locations). First, we will briefly explain what a Snapshot is. Then, we will focus on Storage Snapshots. Veeam offers integration with a number of storage system manufacturers, which allows you to work with Volume Snapshots directly on the disk array. One option is to use Snapshot orchestration (creation and management) in cooperation with VMware integration. The main advantage is the ability to easily and quickly restore a VM directly from a Snapshot.

Storage Snapshots are an effective solution for (short-term) retention of older versions of data. In a NetApp ONTAP environment, we can schedule the automatic creation of Volume Snapshots and the retention of a defined number of their versions. Using NetApp FlexClone technology, a Snapshot can be used to create a writable clone of the volume, which can be used for testing, development, or data recovery.

This article addresses an error for which I found no information on the internet. The error "Backup is not in user's control scope" appeared in Veeam Backup & Replication after launching a new backup using Oracle RMAN. Veeam Plug-in for Oracle RMAN is used in Standalone Mode, meaning backup management is handled on the Oracle server side. Two Oracle DB servers are configured as Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC).