Veeam Backup and Replication Operational Guide Volume 4

Volume 4 Based on Version 12

Dave Kawula, Cristal Kawula, Cary Sun and Emile Cabot

This book is for sale at http://leanpub.com/veeambackupandreplicationoperationalguidevolume4

This version was published on 2024-01-03

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Published by MVPDays Publishing http://www.mvpdays.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the publisher’s prior written permission.

Warning and Disclaimer

Every effort has been made to make this manual as complete and accurate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is implied. The information provided is on an “as is” basis. The authors and the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity concerning any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book.

Feedback Information

We’d like to hear from you! If you have any comments about how we could improve the quality of this book, please don’t hesitate to contact us by visiting www.checkyourlogs.net or emailing feedback@mvpdays.com.

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© MVPDays Publishing

Foreword

Here is another book by Dave, Cristal, Cary and Emile; what a significant milestone!

Ask yourself one question: Why? There are so many technologies, but why do we use what we use? Why do we do what we do? The answer is how. It’s how we use something. I like to explain compliance in this way sometimes. No product or technology is inherently compliant. It’s how it is implemented and how it is audited. The same goes for technology implementations; it’s about how we use them. The how is the why.

Operations are still cool. There are so many razzle-dazzle job titles and buzzwords in the market today, but in the end, Operations are Operations. DevOps, PlatformOps, SRE (Sire Reliability Engineer), Platform Engineering… I do not need to go on, but no technology will take care of itself across all disciplines. How it is used, implemented, monitored, etc., matters today. Technology still needs humans and their knowledge.

Expert advice is the difference. We all learn from each other. When it comes to taking on the next new challenge, where does one go first? We look for resources to consume. Blogs, books like this, and social profiles; the established experts in the space are the trusted advisors in the technology space. Call it community, social sharing, or what you want; we all find ourselves going to the go-to experts of a particular space.

Above and Beyond. What Dave, Cristal, Cary, and Emile put forth in this book, in their practical advice for technology, is outstanding. They could easily focus on their professional responsibilities and keep them narrow. But writing a book is hard work! Editing a book is hard work! I’ve not discussed this with them, but I’m sure they aren’t doing it for the money of writing a book. They write this book because they go above and beyond, share, and care.

I’m sure you will enjoy this book, and a big congratulations on this book, Dave, Cristal, Cary and Emile.

Best Regards,

Figure 1

Rick W. Vanover Microsoft MVP, VMware vExpert, Cisco Champion
Senior Director, Product Strategy - Veeam Software
Twitter: @RickVanover

About the Authors

Dave Kawula–Microsoft MVP

Dave is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) with over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. His background includes data communications networks within multi-server environments, and he has led architecture teams for virtualization, System Centers, Exchange, Active Directory, and Internet gateways. Very active within the Microsoft technical and consulting teams, Dave has provided deep-dive technical knowledge and subject matter expertise on various System centers and operating system topics.

Dave is well-known as an evangelist for Microsoft, 1E, and Veeam technologies. Locating Dave is easy as he speaks at conferences and sessions each year, including TechEd, Ignite, MVP Days Community Roadshow, and VeeamOn.

Recently, Dave has been honoured to take on the role of Conference Co-Chair of TechMentor and Cyber Security & Ransomware Live with fellow MVP Sami Laiho. The lineup of speakers and attendees attending this conference over the past 20 years is fantastic.

As the founder and Managing Principal Consultant at TriCon Elite Consulting, Dave is a leading technology expert for local customers and large international enterprises, providing optimal guidance and methodologies to achieve and maintain an efficient infrastructure.

BLOG: www.checkyourlogs.net
Twitter: @DaveKawula

Figure 2

Figure 3

Cristal Kawula–Microsoft MVP

Cristal Kawula co-founded MVPDays Community Roadshow, and #MVPHour live Twitter Chat. She was also a Technical Advisory board member and the President of TriCon Elite Consulting. Cristal is the only 2nd Woman worldwide to receive the prestigious Veeam Vanguard award.

Cristal speaks at Microsoft Ignite, MVPDays, and other local user groups. In addition, she has been instrumental in founding MVPDays Publishing and has helped author over 25 + books.

At conferences like Microsoft Ignite, she has led community meetups on topics such as Women in IT, Parenting in IT, Diversity in Tech, and becoming a Community Rockstar.

BLOG: http://www.checkyourlogs.net
Twitter: @supercristal1

Figure 4

Cary Sun–Microsoft MVP

Cary Sun has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in data center and deployment solutions. As a Principal Consultant, he likely works closely with clients to help them design, implement, and manage their data center infrastructure and deployment strategies.

With his background in data center solutions, Cary Sun may have experience in server and storage virtualization, network design and optimization, backup and disaster recovery planning, and security and compliance management. He has held CISCO-CERTIFIED INTERNETWORK EXPERT (CCIE No.4531) since 1999. Cary is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), Microsoft Azure MVP, and Veeam Vanguard. He is a published author with several titles, including blogs on Checkyourlogs.net, and the author of many books.

Cary is a very active blogger at checkyourlogs.net and is permanently available online for questions from the community. His passion for technology is contagious, improving everyone around him at what they do.

Blog site: https://www.checkyourlogs.net

Web site: https://carysun.com

Blog site: https://gooddealmart.com

Twitter: @SifuSun

in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sifusun/

Amazon Author: https://Amazon.com/author/carysun

Figure 5

Figure 6

Emile Cabot–Microsoft MVP

Emile started in the industry during the mid-90s working at an ISP and designing celebrity websites. He has a solid operational background specializing in Systems Management and collaboration solutions. He has spent many years performing infrastructure analyses and solution implementations for organizations ranging from 20 to over 200,000 employees. Coupling his wealth of experience with a small partner network, Emile works very closely with TriCon Elite, 1E, and Veeam to deliver low-cost solutions with minimal infrastructure requirements.

He actively volunteers as a member of the Canadian Ski Patrol, providing over 250 hours each year for first aid services and public education at Castle Mountain Resort and in the community.

BLOG: http://www.checkyourlogs.net

Twitter: @ecabot

Figure 7

Introduction

This book aims to showcase the fantastic expertise of our guest speakers of MVPDays Online. They have so much passion, expertise, and expert knowledge that it only seemed fitting to write it down in a book.

This book aims to show how to be operationally proficient using Veeam Backup and Replication, Veeam One and various other Veeam products and tools. We hope you find immense value in reviewing this guide and encourage you to share your operational knowledge and skills with others in the community.

Sample Files

All sample files for this book can be downloaded from http://www.checkyourlogs.net and www.github.com/mvpdays

Additional Resources

In addition to all the tips and tricks provided in this book, you can find extra resources like articles and video recordings on our blog http://www.checkyourlogs.net

Chapter 1: Backup and Backup Copy

Veeam Backup & Replication creates VM image-level backups. It treats virtual machines as objects rather than a collection of files. Veeam Backup & Replication copies the entire VM image at a block level when you backup a VM. Image-level backups can be used for various restore scenarios, such as instant recovery, restoring full VM, recovering VM files, recovering file-level, and so on.

Typically, backup technology is used for VMs with shorter RTOs. When the primary virtual machine fails, restoring VM data from a deduplicated and compressed backup file takes some time.

The backup copy process is job-driven. Veeam Backup & Replication fully automates backup copying. It allows you to specify retention settings to keep the desired number of restore points and full backups for archival purposes.

The primary goal of backup is to protect your data from disasters and virtual or physical machine failures. On the other hand, having only one backup does not provide the necessary level of security. The primary backup and production data may be destroyed, leaving you with no backups from which to restore data.

It is recommended that you follow the 3-2-1 rule when developing a successful data protection and disaster recovery plan:

3: At least three copies of your data are required: the original production data and two backups.

2: You must store copies of your data on at least two media types: local disc and cloud.

1: At least one backup must be kept off-site, such as in the cloud or a remote location.

As a result, you must have at least two backups, each in a different location. If your production data and local backup are destroyed in a disaster, you can still recover from your off-site backup.

Creating a Backup job to backup the VMS portion of the Hyper-V Host

This process creates a backup job to backup the VMS of the Hyper-V host, but not all of them.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication v12 manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication v12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 8

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 9

Select Jobs on the Home page and right-click Jobs.

Select Backup and click Virtual machine.

Figure 10

On the Name page, enter a name for the backup job in the Name field.

Give a brief description in the Description field for the future.

Select the High priority checkbox if you want this job to allocate resources in the first place.

Click Next.

Figure 11

Click Add on the Virtual Machines page.

Figure 12

Select the host on the Add Objects page list and click Add.

If multiple hosts need to backup in the same backup job, you can repeat the step to add them.

Figure 13

On the Virtual Machines page, click Exclusions.

Figure 14

On the Exclusions page, select VMS and click Add.

Figure 15

On the Add Objects page, expand the host.

Select the VM you want to exclude and click Add.

Figure 16

On the Exclusions page, click OK.

Figure 17

On the Virtual Machines page, click Next.

Figure 18

On the Storage page, click Choose to select a backup proxy if you don’t want to use the default Off-host backup (automatic proxy selection) setting.

Figure 19

On the Backup Proxy page, if you select On-host backup mode, the source Microsoft Hyper-V host will serve as both the source host and the backup proxy. In this mode, Veeam Data Mover runs directly on the source host, which speeds up data retrieval but places additional strain on the host.

If you select Off-host backup mode, Veeam Data Mover will run on a dedicated off-host backup proxy. In this model, all backup processing operations from the source host are routed to the off-host backup proxy.

If the off-host backup mode is selected for the job, but no off-host backup proxies are available when the job begins, Veeam Backup & Replication will transition to on-host backup mode.

You unselect the Failover to on-host backup mode if no suitable off-host proxies are available in the checkbox. Still, the job will fail to start if off-host backup proxies are unavailable or configured properly.

Click OK.

Figure 20

Select the backup repository from the Backup repository drop-down list where the created backup files must be saved.

Figure 21

Set the retention policy settings for restore points in the Retention Policy field.

Select days or restore points from the drop-down list.

Figure 22

You can configure the backup job’s GFS retention policy settings to ignore the short-term retention policy for some full backups and store them for long-term archiving.

Select Keep certain full backups for longer for archival purposes and click Configure.

Figure 23

Select the Keep weekly full backups for checkbox and specify the number of weeks you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Select the Keep monthly full backups for checkbox and specify the months you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Select the Keep yearly full backups for checkbox and specify the years you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Click OK.

Figure 24

On the Storage page, click Advanced.

Figure 25

Select Incremental and disable synthetic full and active full backups to create a forever forward incremental backup chain.

Figure 26

On the Advanced Settings, Maintenance.

To regularly perform a health check on the backup chain’s most recent restore point, select the Perform backup files health check (detects and auto-heals corruption) checkbox in the Storage-level corruption guard section.

Click Configure to set a timetable for the health check.

Figure 27

Select the Remove deleted items data after the checkbox and enter the few days you want backup data for deleted VMs to be kept.

Select the Defragment and compact full backup file checkbox and click Configure.

Set the schedule for the compact operation to compact a full backup periodically.

Note:

GFS retention is not compatible with defragment and compact functionality.

Figure 28

On Advanced Settings, select Storage.

Select the Enable inline data deduplication (recommended) checkbox.

Select the Exclude swap file blocks (recommended) checkbox.

Select the Exclude deleted file blocks (recommended) checkbox.

Select the compression level for the backup from the drop-down list.

Figure 29

Select the Storage optimization for the backup from the drop-down list.

Figure 30

Select the Enable backup file encryption checkbox to encrypt the content of backup files.

Select a password from the drop-down list. If you still need to do so, click Add or use the Manage passwords link to create a new password.

Figure 31

On the Advanced Settings, select Notifications.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 32

On the Advanced Settings, select Hyper-V.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 33

On the Advanced Settings page, click Scripts and keep the default settings.

Click OK.

Figure 34

Click Next on the Storage page.

Figure 35

Click Next on the Guess Processing page.

Figure 36

Select Run the job automatically checkbox on the Schedule page and select your specified schedule.

Define whether Veeam Backup & Replication should retry the backup job if it fails in the Automatic retry section.

Define the time interval the backup job must complete in the Backup window section. The backup window ensures that the job does not overlap with production hours and that there is no unnecessary overhead on the production environment.

Click Apply.

Figure 37

Click Finish on the Summary page.

Figure 38

Verify that the backup job has been added.

Figure 39

Creating a Backup Copy Job with an Immediate copy from the backup job workload

Immediate copies help reduce your RPO, which is the maximum allowable data loss in the event of a disaster. By creating copies as soon as new data is backed up, you ensure minimal data loss.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication v12 manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 40

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 41

On the Home page, select Jobs, right-click Jobs, select Backup copy and click Virtual machine.

Figure 42

On the Name page, enter a name in the Name field.

Describe the Description field.

In the Copy mode session, select Immediate copy (mirroring).

Click Next.

Figure 43

On the Objects page, click Add and select From jobs…

Figure 44

Select the job from the jobs list on the Select jobs page and click OK.

Figure 45

On the Objects page, click Next.

Select Include database transacting log backups (increases bandwidth usage) If required.

Figure 46

Click OK in the encryption-enabled warning message if the source backup job has encryption enabled.

Figure 47

On the Target page, select the backup repository from the drop-down list.

Figure 48

Set the retention policy settings for restore points in the Retention Policy field.

Select days or restore points from the drop-down list.

Figure 49

You can configure GFS retention policy settings for the backup copy job for long-term archiving.

Select Keep specific full backups for longer for archival purposes and click Configure.

Figure 50

On the Configure GFS page, select the Keep weekly full backups for checkbox, and specify the number of weeks you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Select the Keep monthly full backups for checkbox and specify the months you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Select the Keep yearly full backups for checkbox and specify the years you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Click OK.

Figure 51

On the Target page, click Advanced.

Figure 52

On the Advanced Settings, click Maintenance.

Select the Perform backup files health check (detects and auto-heals corruption) checkbox and specify the schedule for the health check if required.

Select the Remove deleted items data after checkbox and specify the retention days settings for deleted workloads if required.

Select the Defragment and compact full backup file checkbox and specify the schedule for the compacting operation if required.

Figure 53

On Advanced Settings, click Storage.

Select the Enable inline data deduplication checkbox.

Select the compression level for the backup copy from the drop-down list.

Figure 54

Select the Enable backup file encryption checkbox to encrypt the content of backup files.

Select a password from the drop-down list. If you haven’t done so, click Add or use the Manage passwords link to create a new password.

Figure 55

On the Advanced Settings page, select RPO Monitor.

Select the Alert me if a backup is not copied within checkbox, and specify the desired RPO in minutes, hours, or days.

Select Alert me if log backup is not copied within checkbox.

If you have enabled copying of log backups, specify the desired RPO in minutes, hours, or days.

Figure 56

On the Advanced Settings, select Notifications.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 57

On the Advanced Settings page, click Scripts.

Keep the default settings and click OK.

Figure 58

On the Target page, click Next.

Figure 59

On the Data Transfer page, Select Direct if you plan to copy backup files over high-speed connections.

Click Next.

Figure 60

Select the Through built-in WAN accelerators if you copy backup files over WAN or slow connections.

Select a WAN accelerator configured in the source site from the Source WAN accelerator drop-down list.

Select a WAN accelerator configured in the target site from the Target WAN accelerator drop-down list.

Figure 61

On the Schedule page, select Any time (continuously) if this job can transfer data at any time.

Select During the following periods only if required.

Click Apply.

Figure 62

Select Enable the job on the Summary page when I click the Finish checkbox. If you want to start the job after creating it, click Finish.

Figure 63

Creating a Backup Copy Job with Periodic copy from the backup job workload

Periodic copy jobs can be scheduled to run during non-business hours or low-activity periods, reducing the impact on production systems. This allows you to efficiently manage backup and copy operations without causing disruption.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication v12 manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 64

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 65

On the Home page, select Jobs, right-click Jobs, select Backup copy and click Virtual machine.

Figure 66

On the Name page, enter a name in the Name field.

Describe the Description field.

In the Copy mode session, select Periodic copy.

Click Next.

Figure 67

On the Objects page, click Add and select From jobs…

Figure 68

Select the job from the jobs list on the Select jobs page and click OK.

Figure 69

On the Objects page, click Next.

Figure 70

Click OK in the encryption-enabled warning message if the source backup job has encryption enabled.

Figure 71

On the Target page, select the backup repository from the drop-down list.

Figure 72

Set the retention policy settings for restore points in the Retention Policy field.

Select days or restore points from the drop-down list.

Figure 73

You can configure GFS retention policy settings for the backup copy job for long-term archiving.

Select Keep specific full backups for longer for archival purposes and click Configure.

Figure 74

On the Configure GFS page, select the Keep weekly full backups for checkbox, and specify the number of weeks you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Select the Keep monthly full backups for checkbox and specify the months you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Select the Keep yearly full backups for checkbox and specify the years you want to prevent restore points from being modified and deleted.

Click OK.

Figure 75

On the Target page, click Advanced.

Figure 76

On the Advanced Settings, click Maintenance.

Select the Perform backup files health check (detects and auto-heals corruption) checkbox and specify the schedule for the health check if required.

Select the Remove deleted items data after checkbox and specify the retention days settings for deleted workloads if required.

Select the Defragment and compact full backup file checkbox and specify the schedule for the compacting operation if required.

Figure 77

On Advanced Settings, click Storage.

Select the Enable inline data deduplication checkbox.

Select the compression level for the backup copy from the drop-down list.

Figure 78

Select the Enable backup file encryption checkbox to encrypt the content of backup files.

Select a password from the drop-down list. If you haven’t done so, click Add or use the Manage passwords link to create a new password.

Figure 79

On the Advanced Settings page, select RPO Monitor.

Select the Alert me if a backup is not copied within checkbox, and specify the desired RPO in minutes, hours, or days.

Select Alert me if log backup is not copied within checkbox.

If you have enabled copying of log backups, specify the desired RPO in minutes, hours, or days.

Figure 80

On the Advanced Settings, select Notifications.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 81

On the Advanced Settings page, click Scripts.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 82

On the Advanced Settings page, click Advanced.

Select Process the most recent restore point of waiting checkbox.

Click OK.

Figure 83

On the Target page, click Next.

Figure 84

On the Data Transfer page, Select Direct if you plan to copy backup files over high-speed connections.

Click Next.

Figure 85

Select the Through built-in WAN accelerators if you copy backup files over WAN or slow connections.

Select a WAN accelerator configured in the source site from the Source WAN accelerator drop-down list.

Select a WAN accelerator configured in the target site from the Target WAN accelerator drop-down list.

Figure 86

Select Run the job automatically checkbox on the Schedule page and select your specified schedule.

Define whether Veeam Backup & Replication should retry the backup job if it fails in the Automatic retry section.

Define the time interval the backup job must complete in the Backup window section. The backup window ensures that the job does not overlap with production hours and that there is no unnecessary overhead on the production environment.

Click Apply.

Figure 87

Select Enable the job on the Summary page when I click the Finish checkbox. If you want to start the job after creating it, click Finish.

Figure 88

Upgrading Backup Chain Format from Per-Machine Backup with Single Metadata File to Per-Machine with Separate Metadata Files

Since Veeam Backup & Replication version 12, the per-machine backup format with individual metadata files has been the default choice for new repositories. Veeam Backup & Replication stores data from each workload into a separate backup file and creates a separate metadata file (.VBM) for each workload.

You can upgrade the existing backup chains format from per-machine backup with single metadata to per-machine with separate metadata files.

Check the existing backup chain files, and you will see the backup chain format is per machine with a single metadata file for each job.

Figure 89

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication v12 manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 90

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 91

On the Home page, expend Backups, select Disk.

Right-click the backup job and select Upgrade backup chain format.

Figure 92

Click OK on the backup job will be automatically disabled the warning page.

Figure 93

On the Backup chain format upgrade page, ensure the upgrade status is successful and click Close.

Figure 94

Check the backup chain files.

The backup chain format is per machine with separate metadata files.

Figure 95

You need to upgrade the backup chain format for the backup copy.

On the Home page, expend Backups, select Disk (Copy).

Right-click the backup copy job and select Upgrade backup chain format.

Figure 96

Click OK on the backup job will be automatically disabled the warning page.

Figure 97

On the Backup chain format upgrade page, ensure the upgrade status is successful and click Close.

Figure 98

Check the backup chain files.

The backup chain format is per machine with separate metadata files.

Figure 99

On the Home page, expend Jobs, and select Backup Copy.

Right-click the backup copy job and unselect the Disable to reenable the backup copy job.

Figure 100

Moving Backups to Another Repository

You can migrate all backups from a backup operation to another repository using Veeam Backup & Replication v12.

If you run out of free space on a repository and want to migrate all backups made by a backup job to another repository, target the backup job to this repository, and continue the backup chain, moving backups to another repository can be useful.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 101

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 102

On the Home page, select Backups.

Right-click the backup job and select Move backup.

Figure 103

On the Move Backup to Another Location page, select the repository from the Destination repository drop-down list.

Figure 104

Click OK on the Move Backup to Another Location page.

Figure 105

On the Move backup page, ensure move backup success and click Close.

Figure 106

On the Home page, select Backups.

Ensure the Repository of the job is the new target repository.

Figure 107

Moving VM Backups to Another Job

Moving workloads and their backups to a different backup job can be useful if you want to split a backup job into multiple backup jobs or alter backup settings for certain workloads. You also want to keep the existing backup chains for the workloads.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 108

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 109

On the Home page, select Backups.

Expand the backup job, right-click the workload, and select Move backup.

Figure 110

Select the backup job from the Destination backup job drop-down list on the Move Backup to Another Job page.

Figure 111

Click OK on the Move Backup to Another Job page.

Figure 112

On the Move backup page, ensure move backup success, and click Close.

Workloads will be added to the selected job and excluded from the original job by Veeam Backup & Replication. The chosen workloads’ backup will be migrated to the repository for which the chosen job is destined.

Figure 113

Deleting VM Backup from Disk

Use the Delete from disk if you want to remove backup records from the Veeam Backup & Replication v12 console and configuration database.

You can delete VM backup files from the repository.

Veeam Backup & Replication v12 deletes the backup chain from the backup repository when you erase backup files from a disk. As a result, the next time the backup job runs, Veeam Backup & Replication v12 will create full backups of the VMs included in the task.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 114

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 115

On the Home page, select Backups.

Right-click the job and select Delete from disk.

Figure 116

Click Yes to delete backups from the disk.

Figure 117

On the Removing backup page, ensure removing backup success, click Close.

Figure 118

Deleting Entire job back files from the backup repository

If you want to remove backup records from the Veeam Backup & Replication v12 console and configuration database, you must use the Delete from disk.

You can delete all the job backup files from the repository.

Veeam Backup & Replication v12 deletes the backup chain from the backup repository when you erase backup files from a disk. As a result, the next time the backup job runs, Veeam Backup & Replication v12 will create full backups of the VMs included in the task.

Chapter 2: Replication

Veeam replication is a data protection and disaster recovery solution that enables businesses to replicate virtual machines (VMs) and their data in an offsite location. This helps to ensure that critical data is protected and available in case of a disaster or other unexpected events that could disrupt business operations.

Veeam replication creates a copy of the virtual machine and its data on a remote server, which can be located in another data center or a cloud environment. This copy is then kept in sync with the original VM so that any changes made to the original are also reflected in the replica.

The replica can be quickly activated in a disaster to restore services and minimize downtime. Veeam replication also provides several features to ensure the reliability and security of the replicated data, including encryption, compression, and bandwidth throttling.

Overall, Veeam replication is a powerful tool for businesses that must ensure the availability and reliability of their critical data. It can help minimize the impact of disasters and other unexpected events.

Creating a Replication job to replicate the specified VMs at the Production Site

A replication job must be configured before you can create VM replicas. The replication job specifies how, where, and when VM data is replicated. A single job can process one or more virtual machines.

This procedure creates a replication job to replicate the specified production virtual machines at the same production site.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 119

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 120

On the Home page, select Jobs.

Right-click Jobs and select Replication.

Click Virtual machine.

Figure 121

Enter a name for the replication job on the Job page in the Name field.

Describe the Description field.

Select the High priority check box if required.

Click Next.

Figure 122

On the Virtual Machines page, click Add.

Figure 123

Select the objects in the list on the Add Objects page and click Add.

Figure 124

On the Virtual machines page, click Source.

Figure 125

Select From production storage (actual VM state) on the Source Repositories page. Veeam Replication will retrieve VM data from data stores connected to the source Microsoft Hyper-V host.

Select From backup files (latest VM state available in backups) if required. Veeam Replication will read VM data from the backup chain that is already in the selected backup repository.

Click OK.

Figure 126

On the Virtual Machines page, click Next.

Figure 127

On the Destination page, click Choose in the Host or cluster session.

Figure 128

Select the destination host server on the Select Host page and click OK.

Figure 129

On the Destination page, click Choose in the Path session.

Figure 130

On the Folders page, specify a path to the folder where VM replica files must be stored, and click OK.

Figure 131

On the Destination page, click Next.

Figure 132

Select the Repository for metadata from the drop-down list on the Job Settings page.

Note:

This setting must be specified only for snapshot replicas. Legacy replicas do not use a backup repository for storing metadata.

You cannot store VM replica metadata on deduplicating storage appliances.

You cannot store replica metadata in a scale-out backup repository.

Figure 133

Enter a suffix that will be appended to the original VM names in the Replica name suffix field.

Enter the number of restore points in the field.

Click Advanced.

Figure 134

On Advanced Settings, click Traffic.

Select the Exclude swap file blocks checkbox (recommended).

Select the Exclude deleted file blocks (recommended) checkbox.

Figure 135

Select the compression level for replicas from the drop-down list.

Figure 136

Select Storage optimization from the drop-down list.

Figure 137

On the Advanced Settings, select Notifications.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 138

On the Advanced Settings, select Hyper-V.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 139

On the Advanced Settings page, click Scripts.

Keep the default settings and click OK.

Figure 140

On the Job Settings page, click Next.

Figure 141

Click Choose to specify Source Proxy on the Data Transfer page.

Figure 142

On the Backup Proxy page, keep the default settings.

Click OK.

Figure 143

On the Data Transfer mode session, select Direct.

Click Next.

Figure 144

When you add VMs running VSS-aware applications to the backup job, you can enable application-aware processing to create a transactionally consistent backup. The transactionally consistent backup ensures that applications on VMs can be recovered without data loss.

Select the Enable application-aware processing checkbox on the Guest Processing page and click Applications.

Figure 145

On the Application-Aware Processing Options page, select the object and click Edit.

Figure 146

On the Processing Settings, click General.

Keep the default settings if the VM is not Microsoft Exchange, SQL, and other applications that rely on VSS.

Figure 147

On the Processing Settings, click Oracle.

Keep the Default settings if the VM is not an Oracle server.

Figure 148

On the Processing Settings, click PostgreSQL.

Keep the Default settings if the VM is not a PostgreSQL server.

Figure 149

On the Processing Settings page, click Exclusions and keep the default settings.

Figure 150

On the Processing Settings page, click Scripts.

Keep the default settings and click OK.

Figure 151

On the Application-Aware Processing Options page, click OK.

Figure 152

Click Choose on the Guest interaction proxy field on the Guest Processing page.

Figure 153

On the Guest Interaction Proxy page, you can keep the default setting to select Automatic selection to let Veeam Backup & Replication automatically select the guest interaction proxy.

Or select Prefer the following guest interaction proxy servers to explicitly define which servers will perform the guest interaction proxy role.

Click OK.

Figure 154

Choose a user account on the Guest Processing page with sufficient permissions from the Guest OS credentials drop-down list.

Click Credentials to Customize guest OS credentials for individual machines and operating systems.

Figure 155

On the Guest OS Credentials page, select the VM and click Set User.

Select Standard credentials.

Figure 156

Choose a user from the Credentials drop-down list and click OK.

Repeat the steps for each VM.

Figure 157

On the Guest OS Credentials page, click OK.

Figure 158

On the Guest Processing page, click Test Now.

Figure 159

On the Guest Credentials Test page, ensure each machine’s success.

Click Close.

Figure 160

On the Guest Processing page, click Next.

Figure 161

Select Run the job automatically on the Schedule page and select your specified schedule.

Define whether Veeam Backup & Replication should retry the backup job if it fails in the Automatic retry section.

Define the time interval the backup job must complete in the Backup window section. The backup window ensures that the job does not overlap with production hours and that there is no unnecessary overhead on the production environment.

Click Apply.

Figure 162

On the Summary page, click Finish.

Figure 163

Verify the job has been added.

Figure 164

Creating a Replication job to replicate the specified VMs to the Disaster Recovery Site

This procedure creates a replication job to replicate the specified VMs to the disaster recovery site. If a disaster strikes and the production VM stops working properly, you can fail over to its replica.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 165

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 166

On the Home page, select Jobs, right-click Jobs, select Replication and click Virtual machine.

Figure 167

Enter a name for the replication job on the Job page in the Name field.

Describe the Description field.

Select Network remapping (for DR sites with different virtual networks).

Replica re-IP (for DR sites with different IP addressing schemes).

Select the High priority check box if required.

Click Next.

Figure 168

On the Virtual Machines page, click Add.

Figure 169

Select the objects in the list on the Add Objects page and click Add.

Figure 170

On the Virtual machines page, click Source.

Figure 171

Select From production storage (actual VM state) on the Source Repositories page. Veeam Replication will retrieve VM data from data stores connected to the source Microsoft Hyper-V host.

Or select Form backup files (latest VM state available in backups) if required. Veeam Backup & Replication will read VM data from the backup chain that is already in the selected backup repository.

Click OK.

Figure 172

On the Virtual Machines page, click Next.

Figure 173

On the Destination page, click Choose in the Host or cluster session.

Figure 174

Select the destination host server on the Select Host page and click OK.

Figure 175

On the Destination page, click Choose in the Path session.

Figure 176

On the Folders page, specify a path to the folder where VM replica files must be stored, and click OK.

Figure 177

On the Destination page, click Next.

Figure 178

On the Network page, click Add.

Figure 179

On the Network Mapping page, click Browse in the Source network session.

Figure 180

Select the production network on the Select Network page to which the original VMs are connected and click OK.

Figure 181

If you use VLAN IDs for networking, select the VLAN ID check box and enter the VLAN ID of the source network.

On the Network Mapping page, click Browse in the Target network session.

Figure 182

Select the DR site network on the Select Network page to which replicas will be connected and click OK.

Figure 183

If you use VLAN IDs for networking, select the VLAN ID check box and enter the VLAN ID of the target network.

Click OK.

Figure 184

On the Network page, click Next.

Figure 185

On the Re-IP page, click Add.

Select the IPv4 rule.

Figure 186

On the New Re-IP Rule page, Enter the IP numbering scheme used at the production site in the Source VM section.

Enter the IP numbering scheme used at the DR site in the Target VM section.

Describe the rule in the Description field.

Click OK.

Figure 187

On the Re-IP page, click Next.

Figure 188

Select the Repository for replica metadata from the drop-down list on the Job Settings page.

Note:

This setting must be specified only for snapshot replicas. Legacy replicas do not use a backup repository for storing metadata.

You cannot store VM replica metadata on deduplicating storage appliances.

You cannot store replica metadata in a scale-out backup repository.

Figure 189

Enter a suffix that will be appended to the original VM names in the Replica name suffix field.

Enter the number of restore points in the field.

Click Advanced.

Figure 190

On Advanced Settings, click Traffic.

Select the Exclude swap file blocks (recommended) checkbox.

Select the Exclude deleted file blocks (recommended) checkbox.

Figure 191

Select the compression level for replicas from the drop-down list.

Figure 192

Select Storage optimization from the drop-down list.

Figure 193

On the Advanced Settings, select Notifications.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 194

On the Advanced Settings, select Hyper-V.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 195

On the Advanced Settings page, click Scripts.

Keep the default settings and click OK.

Figure 196

On the Job Settings page, click Next.

Figure 197

Click Choose to specify Source Proxy on the Data Transfer page.

Figure 198

On the Backup Proxy page, keep the default settings.

Click OK.

Figure 199

Select Direct on the Data Transfer mode session if you plan to copy backup files over high-speed connections.

Figure 200

Select Direct on the Data Transfer mode session if you plan to copy backup files over high-speed connections.

Select the Through built-in WAN accelerators if you transfer data over WAN or slow connections.

Select a WAN accelerator configured in the source site from the Source WAN accelerator drop-down list.

Select a WAN accelerator configured in the target site from the Target WAN accelerator drop-down list.

Click Next.

Figure 201

On the Guest Processing page, keep the default settings.

Click Next.

Figure 202

Select Run the job automatically on the Schedule page and select your specified schedule.

Define whether Veeam Backup & Replication should retry the backup job if it fails in the Automatic retry section.

Define the time interval the backup job must complete in the Backup window section. The backup window ensures that the job does not overlap with production hours and that there is no unnecessary overhead on the production environment.

Click Apply.

Figure 203

On the Summary page, click Finish.

Figure 204

Verify the job has been added.

Figure 205

Ensure the VLAN ID of the target VM is changed after the replication job is completed.

Figure 206

Creating a Replication job with seeding to the Disaster Recovery Site

This procedure creates a replication job with seeding to replicate the specified VMs to the disaster recovery site. If a disaster strikes and the production VM stops working properly, you can fail over to its replica.

As a prerequisite for replica seeding, you must create a backup of the VM you intend to replicate. Replica seeding and mapping are two technologies that help to reduce network traffic. Veeam Backup & Replication does not need to transfer all VM data from the source host to the target host across sites during the first session of a replication job using these technologies (during the initial replication).

Configure replica mapping if you have ready-to-use copies of the original VMs on the host in the DR site. These can be restored virtual machines (VMs) or replicas created by other replication jobs. Veeam Backup & Replication will use these ready-to-use VMs as replicas after synchronizing their states with the most current state of the original VMs. You can also use replica mapping to reconfigure or recreate replication jobs, such as splitting one replication job into multiple jobs.

If seeding or mapping is enabled in a replication job, it must be applied to all VMs. It will be skipped if a VM does not have a seed or is not mapped to an existing VM.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 207

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 208

On the Home page, select Jobs, right-click Jobs, select Replication and click Virtual machine.

Figure 209

Enter a name for the replication job on the Job page in the Name field.

Describe the Description field.

Select Replica seeding (for low bandwidth DR sites).

Note:

As a prerequisite for replica seeding, you must create a backup of a VM you intend to replicate.

Select Network remapping (for DR sites with different virtual networks).

Replica re-IP (for DR sites with different IP addressing schemes).

Select the High priority check box if required.

Click Next.

Figure 210

On the Virtual Machines page, click Add.

Figure 211

Select the objects in the list on the Add Objects page and click Add.

Figure 212

On the Virtual Machines page, click Source.

Figure 213

Select From production storage (actual VM state) on the Source Repositories page. Veeam Replication will retrieve VM data from data stores connected to the source Microsoft Hyper-V host.

Or select From backup files (latest VM state available in backups) if required. Veeam Backup & Replication will read VM data from the backup chain that is already in the selected backup repository.

Click OK.

Figure 214

On the Virtual Machines page, click Next.

Figure 215

On the Destination page, click Choose in the Host or cluster session.

Figure 216

Select the destination host server on the Select Host page and click OK.

Figure 217

On the Destination page, click Choose in the Path session.

Figure 218

On the Folders page, specify a path to the folder where VM replica files must be stored, and click OK.

Figure 219

On the Destination page, click Next.

Figure 220

On the Network page, click Add.

Figure 221

On the Network Mapping page, click Browse in the Source network session.

Figure 222

Select the production network on the Select Network page to which the original VMs are connected and click OK.

Figure 223

If you use VLAN IDs for networking, select the VLAN ID check box and enter the VLAN ID of the source network.

On the Network Mapping page, click Browse in the Target network session.

Figure 224

Select the DR site network on the Select Network page to which replicas will be connected and click OK.

Figure 225

If you use VLAN IDs for networking, select the VLAN ID check box and enter the VLAN ID of the target network.

Click OK.

Figure 226

On the Network page, click Next.

Figure 227

On the Re-IP page, click Add.

Select the IPv4 rule.

Figure 228

On the New Re-IP Rule page, Enter the IP numbering scheme used at the production site in the Source VM section.

Enter the IP numbering scheme used at the DR site in the Target VM section.

Describe the rule in the Description field.

Click OK.

Figure 229

On the Re-IP page, click Next.

Figure 230

Select the Repository for replica metadata from the drop-down list on the Job Settings page.

Note:

This setting must be specified only for snapshot replicas. Legacy replicas do not use a backup repository for storing metadata.

You cannot store VM replica metadata on deduplicating storage appliances.

You cannot store replica metadata in a scale-out backup repository.

Figure 231

Enter a suffix that will be appended to the original VM names in the Replica name suffix field.

Enter the number of restore points in the field.

Click Advanced.

Figure 232

On Advanced Settings, click Traffic.

Select the Exclude swap file blocks (recommended) checkbox.

Select the Exclude deleted file blocks (recommended) check box.

Figure 233

Select the compression level for replicas from the drop-down list.

Figure 234

Select Storage optimization from the drop-down list.

Figure 235

On the Advanced Settings, select Notifications.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 236

On the Advanced Settings, select Hyper-V.

Keep the default settings.

Figure 237

On the Advanced Settings page, click Scripts.

Keep the default settings and click OK.

Figure 238

On the Job Settings page, click Next.

Figure 239

Click Choose to specify Source Proxy on the Data Transfer page.

Figure 240

On the Backup Proxy page, keep the default settings.

Click OK.

Figure 241

Select Direct on the Data Transfer mode session if you plan to copy backup files over high-speed connections.

Figure 242

Select Direct on the Data Transfer mode session if you plan to copy backup files over high-speed connections.

Select the Through built-in WAN accelerators if you transfer data over WAN or slow connections.

Select a WAN accelerator configured in the source site from the Source WAN accelerator drop-down list.

Select a WAN accelerator configured in the target site from the Target WAN accelerator drop-down list.

Click Next.

Figure 243

Select Get seed from the following backup repository checkbox in the Initial seeding.

Choose the repository where your replica seeds are stored from the list of available backup repositories.

Figure 244

Configure replica mapping if you have ready-to-use copies of the original VMs on the host in the DR site. These can be restored virtual machines (VMs) or replicas created by other replication jobs. Veeam Backup & Replication will use these ready-to-use VMs as replicas after synchronizing their states with the most current state of the original VMs. You can also use replica mapping to reconfigure or recreate replication jobs, such as splitting one replication job into multiple jobs.

Select Map replicas to existing VMs and click Detect.

Figure 245

On the Seeding page, click Next.

Figure 246

On the Guest Processing page, keep the default settings.

Click Next.

Figure 247

Select Run the job automatically on the Schedule page and select your specified schedule.

Define whether Veeam Backup & Replication should retry the backup job if it fails in the Automatic retry section.

Define the time interval the backup job must complete in the Backup window section. The backup window ensures that the job does not overlap with production hours and that there is no unnecessary overhead on the production environment.

Click Apply.

Figure 248

On the Summary page, click Finish.

Figure 249

Verify the job has been added.

Figure 250

Failover Virtual Machine to Disaster Recovery Site

Failing over a virtual machine to a disaster recovery site involves replicating the virtual machine and its data to the disaster recovery site and activating the replicated copy in case of a disaster or other disruptive event that renders the original virtual machine unavailable.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 251

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 252

On the Home page, expand Replicas and select Ready.

Right-click the virtual machine and select Failover now.

Figure 253

Select the virtual machine and click Point on the Virtual Machines page.

Figure 254

Expand the Job name on the Restore Point page, select the necessary restore point, and click OK.

Figure 255

On the Virtual Machines page, click Next.

Figure 256

On the Reason page, the Restore reason, click Next.

Figure 257

On the Summary page, click Finish.

Figure 258

Select Log on the Restore Session page, ensure the failover completed processes successfully, and click Closed.

Figure 259

On the Home page, expend Replicas and select Active. The virtual machine status shows Failover.

Figure 260

The Machine is now failover and running on the DR Host (HV02).

Figure 261

Planned Failover Virtual Machine to Disaster Recovery Site

Planned failover is the smooth manual switching from a primary VM to its replica with minor downtime. Planned failover is proper when you know primary VMs are planning to go offline, and you need to switch the workload from the original VMs to their replicas as soon as possible. For example, you can use planned failover to perform data center migration, maintenance, or software upgrades on primary VMs. You can also perform a planned failover if you see signs of an impending disaster.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 262

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 263

On the Home page, expand Replicas and select Ready.

Right-click the virtual machine and select Planned failover.

Figure 264

On the Virtual Machines page, click Next.

Figure 265

On the Reason page, the Restore reason, click Next.

Figure 266

On the Summary page, click Finish.

Figure 267

On the Restore Session page, select the log.

It performs replication before powering off the virtual machine.

It performs replication again after powering off the virtual machine.

Ensure the processes of the planned failover are completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 268

On the Home page, expend Replicas and select Active. The virtual machine status shows Failover.

Figure 269

The Machine is now failover and running on the DR Host (HV02).

Figure 270

Failover Undo the Virtual Machine to Production Site

One method for completing failover is to use failover undo. When you undo failover, you return to the original VM from a VM replica. When a virtual machine replica is in the Failover state, Veeam Backup & Replication discards all changes made to the replica. This is because the Failover state is intended to temporarily restore the virtual machine to operation quickly in the event of a disaster.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 271

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 272

On the Home page, expand Replicas and select Active.

Right-click the virtual machine and select Undo failover.

Figure 273

Select the Force undo failover checkbox on the Veeam Backup and Replication display windows and click Yes.

Figure 274

On the Restore Session page, select Log.

Ensure the undo failover is completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 275

Expand Replicas and the virtual machine on the Home page to regular type and Ready status.

Figure 276

The Machine is running on the Production Site Host (HV01) now.

Figure 277

Failback to the Original Virtual Machine of the Production Site

Failback is returning operations to the primary site after a disaster recovery event. It reverses the failover process by replicating any changes made to the virtual machine during the Failover state back to the primary site and then redirecting users and applications to the primary site.

Veeam Backup & Replication provides the following failback options:

Failback to the original VM in the original location.

Failback to a VM already recovered to a new location. This VM must be retrieved before you perform failback.

Failback to a VM from a replica in a different location or to any site with different settings. During the failback process, the VM will be recovered from the replica.

Because Veeam Backup & Replication only needs to transfer differences between the original/recovered VM and VM replica, the Failback to the original VM in the original location option helps reduce recovery time and network traffic.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 278

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 279

On the Home page, expand Replicas and select Active.

Right-click the virtual machine and select Failback to production.

Figure 280

Click Populate on the Virtual Machine page to update the replicas ready for the failback list.

Select the replicas and click Next.

Figure 281

On the Destination page, select Failback to the original VM.

Select Quick rollback (sync changed blocks only) If you want to fasten failback, and the original VMs had problems at the guest OS level.

Click Next.

Figure 282

Select Power on the target VM after restoring and click Finish on the Summary page.

Figure 283

On the Restore Session page, select Log.

Ensure the failback is completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 284

The virtual machine is running on the production site host. Ensure the virtual machine functions are working properly.

Figure 285

On the Home page, expend Replicas and select Active.

The VM status changed from Failover to Failback.

Figure 286

Right-click the VM and select Commit failback.

Note:

Select Undo failback if the virtual machine is not working properly.

Figure 287

Click Yes in the Commit Failback display windows.

Figure 288

On the Restore Session page, select the log.

Ensure the Commit Failback is completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 289

Expand Replicas and the virtual machine on the Home page back to regular type and Ready status.

Figure 290

Failback to the Original Virtual Machine restored in a different location

Because Veeam Backup & Replication only needs to transfer differences between the original/recovered VM and VM replica, the failback to the original virtual machine restored in a different location helps reduce recovery time and network traffic.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 291

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 292

On the Home page, expand Replicas and select Active.

Right-click the virtual machine and select Failback to production.

Figure 293

Click Populate on the Virtual Machine page to update the replicas ready for the failback list.

Select the replicas and click Next.

Figure 294

If the original VMs have already been recovered to a new location and you want to switch to the recovered VMs from their replicas.

Select Failback to the original VM restored in a different location on the Destination page.

Click Next.

Figure 295

On the Target VM page, select the replica VM and click Edit.

Figure 296

On the Select Virtual Machine page, select the recovered VM and click Add.

Figure 297

On the Target VM page, click Next.

Figure 298

Select Power on the target VM after restoring and click Finish on the Summary page.

Figure 299

On the Restore Session page, select Log.

Ensure the failback is completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 300

On the Home page, expend Replicas and select Active.

The VM status changed from Failover to Failback.

Figure 301

Right-click the VM and select Commit failback.

Figure 302

Click Yes in the Commit Failback display windows.

Figure 303

On the Restore Session page, select the log.

Veeam Backup & Replication will synchronize the recovered VMs’ states with the current states of the VM replicas to apply any changes that occurred to the replicas while they were running in the DR site.

Ensure the Commit Failback is completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 304

Expand Replicas and the virtual machine on the Home page back to regular type and Ready status.

Figure 305

Failback to the specified location of the Production Site

Veeam Backup & Replication must transfer all of the VM data, including its configuration and virtual disc content, for the failback to the specified location. Choose this option if you cannot use the original VM or restore it from a backup.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 306

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 307

On the Home page, expand Replicas and select Active.

Right-click the virtual machine and select Failback to production.

Figure 308

Click Populate on the Virtual Machine page to update the replicas ready for the failback list.

Select the replicas and click Next.

Figure 309

Select Failback to the specified location (advanced) on the Destination page.

Click Next.

Figure 310

On the Host page, Select the VM and click Host.

Figure 311

Select the failback destination host on the Select Host page and click OK.

Figure 312

Click Next on the Host page.

Figure 313

On the Datastore page, select Configuration files and click Path.

Figure 314

Expand and select the failback destination folder for configuration files on the Select Folder page.

Click OK.

Figure 315

On the Datastore page, select the vhdx file and click Path.

Figure 316

Expand and select the failback destination folder for vhdx files on the Select Folder page.

Click OK.

Figure 317

Click Next on the Datastore page.

Figure 318

On the Network page, select the Network connections of VM and click Network.

Figure 319

Expand and select the failback destination for Network connections on the Select Network page.

Click OK.

Figure 320

Click Next on the Network page.

Figure 321

On the Name page, select the virtual machine and click Name.

Figure 322

On the Change Name page, select the Add prefix checkbox and click OK.

Figure 323

Click VM UUID on the Name page.

Figure 324

On the BIOS UUID Settings page, select Generate new VM ID and click OK.

Figure 325

Click Next on the Name page.

Figure 326

Select Power on the target VM after restoring and click Finish on the Summary page.

Figure 327

On the Restore Session page, select Log.

Ensure the failback is completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 328

On the Home page, expend Replicas and select Active.

The VM status changed from Failover to Failback.

Figure 329

Right-click the VM and select Commit failback.

Figure 330

Click Yes in the Commit Failback display windows.

Figure 331

On the Restore Session page, select Log.

Veeam Backup & Replication will synchronize the recovered VMs’ states with the current states of the VM replicas to apply any changes that occurred to the replicas while they were running in the DR site.

Ensure the undo failover is completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 332

On the Home page, select Replicas.

The virtual machine back to regular type and Ready status.

Figure 333

The new_MANAGEMENT is running at the HPHV01 host.

Figure 334

Review the Virtual Machines’ settings of replication jobs and ensure the Virtual machines replicate the change to the new VM.

Figure 335

Permanent Failover of the Virtual Machine

Permanent failover is one method of completing failover. Permanent failover means permanently switching from the original VM to its replica.

The VM replica ceases to be a replica due to permanent failover and becomes the production VM.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 336

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 337

On the Home page, expand Replicas. Select the Active.

Right-click the virtual machine and select the Permanent failover.

Figure 338

Click Yes in the Process with the permanent failover display window.

Figure 339

On the Restore Session page, select Log.

Ensure the permanent failover is completed successfully and click Closed.

Delete the existing replication job and create a new one for the VM.

Figure 340

Chapter 3: Data Restore

Veeam Backup & Replication supports the following recovery methods:

VM recovery entails restoring entire virtual machines (VMs) to various data protection environments, such as VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Amazon EC2, etc.

Disk export enables you to convert discs from various workloads (EC2 instances, Microsoft Azure VMs, and so on) to VMDK, VHD, or VHDX formats.

Recovery of VM files, guest OS files and folders, and application items.

Veeam Data Integration API —- to retrieve backup content via iSCSI or FUSE and analyze data stored in this backup.

Secure restore entails scanning data with antivirus software before restoring it to production.

Note:

Backward compatibility is provided by Veeam Backup & Replication: backups created with previous product versions can be restored with later product versions. Backups created with later product versions, on the other hand, cannot be restored with previous product versions.

Secure Restore the Entire VM to the Original Location

If the original VM fails, you can use Veeam Backup & Replication to restore an entire VM from a backup file to the most recent state or a previous point.

Before the entire VM restore can occur, the VM image must be fully extracted to the production storage. Veeam Backup & Replication copies the VM data from the backup repository to the chosen storage, registers the VM on the desired Hyper-V host, and, if necessary, powers it on.

Veeam Backup & Replication supports secure restore, which involves scanning machine data with antivirus software before restoring the computer to the production environment.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 341

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 342

On the Home page, expand Backups. Select the Disk.

Expand the backup job name, right-click the virtual machine, and select Restore the entire VM.

Figure 343

Select the virtual machine and click Point on the Virtual Machine page.

Figure 344

Expand the backup job on the Restore Point page, select the restore point, and click OK.

Figure 345

On the Virtual Machines page, click Next.

Figure 346

On the Restore Mode page, select Restore to the original location.

Select the Quick rollback (restore changed blocks only) checkbox If you restore a VM following a problem at the VM guest OS level.

Click Next.

Figure 347

Select the Scan the restored machine for malware before performing the recovery checkbox.

Select Abort VM recovery if malware is found.

Select Scan the entire image checkbox.

Click Next.

Note:

Support Microsoft Windows only.

The antivirus software must be installed on the mount server and support the command line interface (CLI).

The antivirus configuration file must be configured on the mount server.

Veeam Backup & Replication does not perform malware scans for disks or volumes that cannot be mounted to the mount server.

Figure 348

On the Reason page, enter a reason for restoring the selected VMs.

Figure 349

Click OK on the object to delete the warning message.

Figure 350

Select Power on the target VM after restoring and click Finish on the Summary page.

Figure 351

On the Restoring VM page, select Log.

Ensure the restore VM is completed without threats detected and click Closed.

Figure 352

Verify the VM is up and running.

Figure 353

Secure Restore the Entire VM to the New Location

Existing jobs that process the original/recovered VMs do not need to be updated if you restore them to the same host and choose to preserve VM UUIDs. If you configure restore differently and want to process the recovered VMs, you must edit existing jobs or create new ones.

Veeam Backup & Replication supports secure restore, which involves scanning machine data with antivirus software before restoring the computer to the production environment.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 354

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 355

On the Home page, expand Backups. Select the Disk.

Expand the backup job name, right-click the virtual machine, and select Restore the entire VM.

Figure 356

Select the virtual machine and click Point on the Virtual Machine page.

Figure 357

Expand the backup job on the Restore Point page, select the restore point, and click OK.

Figure 358

On the Virtual Machines page, click Next.

Figure 359

Select Restore to a new location or with different settings on the Restore Mode page and click Next.

Figure 360

On the Host page, select the virtual machine and click Host.

Figure 361

On the Host page, select the target host and click OK.

Figure 362

On the Host page, click Next.

Figure 363

On the Datastore page, select the virtual machine’s Configuration files and click Path.

Figure 364

Select the target folder and click OK on the Select Folder page.

Figure 365

On the Datastore page, select the VHDX file of the virtual machine and click Path.

Figure 366

Select the target folder and click OK on the Select Folder page.

Figure 367

On the Datastore page, click Next.

Figure 368

On the Network page, select the virtual machine and click Network.

If the restored VM does not need to connect to any virtual network, select the VM in the list and click Disconnected.

Figure 369

On the Select Network page, select the target network for restoring the VM and click OK.

Figure 370

On the Network page, click Next.

Figure 371

On the Name page, select the virtual machine and click Name.

Figure 372

On the Change Name page, enter a new name or change the name by adding a prefix and suffix to the regular VM name.

Click OK.

Figure 373

On the Name page, select the virtual machine and click VM UUID.

Figure 374

In BIOS UUID Settings, select Generate new virtual machine ID.

Note:

Select Preserve existing VM ID if the original VM was decommissioned.

Click OK.

Figure 375

On the Name page, click Next.

Figure 376

Select the Scan the restored machine for malware before performing the recovery checkbox.

On the if malware is found session, select Abort VM recovery.

Select Scan the entire image checkbox.

Click Next.

Note:

Support Microsoft Windows only.

The antivirus software must be installed on the mount server and support the command line interface (CLI).

The antivirus configuration file must be configured on the mount server.

Veeam Backup & Replication does not perform malware scans for disks or volumes that cannot be mounted to the mount server.

Figure 377

On the Reason page, enter a reason for restoring the selected VMs and click Next.

Figure 378

Select Power on target VM on the Summary page after restoring and click Finish.

Figure 379

On the Restoring VM page, select Log.

Ensure the restore VM is completed successfully and click Closed.

Figure 380

Verify the VM is up and running.

Figure 381

Restore VM Files

If corrupted, you can restore VM files (.XML. VMCX,.VMRS,.VMGS,.VHD,.VHDX). This option is an excellent alternative to restoring the entire VM. You can only restore a single VM file.

When you perform a VM file restore, the VM file is restored directly from regular image-level backups without de-staging VM images from backups first. VM files can be converted to either the original or a new location.

Note:

If you recover a .VMCX file and import it to Microsoft Hyper-V, the VM will be registered under the Veeam Recovery Checkpoint-(<GUID>) name. After import, you can rename the VM if required.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 382

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 383

On the Home page, expand Backups.

Select the Disk and expand the backup job name.

Figure 384

Right-click the virtual machine and select Restore VM files.

Figure 385

Select the restore point on the Restore Point page and click Next.

Figure 386

On the Destination page, select the server from the drop-down list.

Figure 387

Click Browser in the path to folder session.

Figure 388

On the Select Folder page, select the target folder. Click OK.

Figure 389

Select the files checkbox from the VM files to restore list and click Next.

Figure 390

Enter the reason for restoring the selected VMs on the Reason page and click Next.

Figure 391

On the Summary page, click Finish.

Figure 392

Select log on the Restoring VM page, ensure the restore VM files are completed successfully, and click Closed.

Figure 393

Verify restored VM files.

Figure 394

Restore Guest Files (or Folder) for Microsoft Windows

You can restore files from Microsoft Windows VMs with NTFS, FAT, and ReFS file systems using the restore from FAT, NTFS, and ReFS methods.

You can restore files to their original or new location, use Microsoft Windows File Explorer to work with the converted files or launch application item restore for the files.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 395

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 396

On the Home page, click Restore and select Microsoft Hyper-V.

Figure 397

On the Restore page, select Restore from backup.

Figure 398

On the Restore from Backup page, select Guest files restore.

Figure 399

On the Guest files page, select Microsoft Windows.

Figure 400

On the Machine page, expand the backup job.

Select the machine and click Next.

Figure 401

Select the restore point on the Restore Point page and click Next.

Figure 402

Enter the reason for restoring the selected VMs on the Reason page and click Next.

Figure 403

On the Summary page, click Browse.

Figure 404

On the Backup Browser page, expand the disk, select the file, and right-click the file.

Select Restore and click Keep.

Figure 405

Select an account from the Credentials drop-down list on the Credentials page and click OK.

Figure 406

On the Restoring files page, click Show Details.

Figure 407

On the Restoring files page, ensure the restore is successful and click Close.

Figure 408

Close the Backup Browser.

Figure 409

Verify the restored file.

Figure 410

Restore Guest Files (or Folder) for Linux with Host

You can restore files from Linux, Unix and other file systems to their original or new location.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 411

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 412

On the Home page, click Restore and select Microsoft Hyper-V.

Figure 413

On the Restore page, select Restore from backup.

Figure 414

On the Restore from Backup page, select Guest files restore.

Figure 415

On the Guest files page, select Linux and other.

Figure 416

On the Virtual Machine page, expand the backup job.

Select the machine and click Next.

Figure 417

Select the restore point on the Restore Point page and click Next.

Figure 418

Select Specify a different host from the drop-down list on the Helper Host page and click Next.

Figure 419

The Helper Host cannot use the single-use credential.

Figure 420

Enter the IP address of non-hardened repositories to the Host name.

Select the credential from the Credentials drop-down list.

Click Advance.

Figure 421

On the SSH Settings page, keep the default settings and click OK.

Figure 422

Click OK on the Linux Server page.

Figure 423

Click Yes on the Trust this Server warning page.

Figure 424

Click Next on the Helper Host page.

Figure 425

Enter the reason for restoring the selected VMs on the Reason page and click Next.

Figure 426

On the Summary page, click Browse.

Figure 427

On the Backup Browser page, expand the disk, select the file, and right-click the file.

Select Restore and click Keep.

Figure 428

Select an account from the Credentials drop-down list on the Credentials page and click OK.

Figure 429

On the Restoring Files page, click Show Details.

Figure 430

On the Restoring files page, ensure the file restore is successful and click Close.

Figure 431

Close the Backup Browser.

Figure 432

Verify the restored file.

Figure 433

Restore Guest Files (or Folder) for Linux with Helper Appliance

You can restore files from Linux, Unix and other file systems to their original or new location.

Login to the Veeam Backup and replication manager server.

Open the Veeam Backup & Replication 12 Console and click Connect.

Figure 434

Enter the MFA Confirmation code and click Confirm.

Figure 435

On the Home page, click Restore and select Microsoft Hyper-V.

Figure 436

On the Restore page, select Restore from backup.

Figure 437

On the Restore from Backup page, select Guest files restore.

Figure 438

On the Guest files page, select Linux and other.

Figure 439

On the Virtual Machine page, expand the backup job.

Select the machine and click Next.

Figure 440

Select the restore point on the Restore Point page and click Next.

Figure 441

Select Use a temporary helper appliance from the drop-down list on the Helper Host page and click Next.

Figure 442

Click Customize on the Helper Appliance page.

Figure 443

On the FLR Appliance Configuration page, click Choose to pick the host.

Figure 444

Select the host on the Select Host page and click OK.

Figure 445

Click Choose to pick the Network.

Figure 446

Select the network on the Select Network page.

Figure 447

Enter the VLAN ID on the FLR Appliance Configuration page.

Click Configure to configure the IP address of the Appliance if you don’t use the DHCP.

Figure 448

On the Network Settings page, enter the IP address and DNS settings.

Click OK.

Figure 449

Click OK on the FLR Appliance Configuration page.

Figure 450

Click Next on the Helper Appliance page.

Figure 451

Enter the reason for restoring the selected VMs on the Reason page and click Next.

Figure 452

On the Summary page, click Browse.

Figure 453

The Helper Appliance VM is running at the host.

Figure 454

Expand the disk on the File Tools page, select the file, and right-click the file.

Select Restore and click Keep.

Figure 455

Select an account from the Credentials drop-down list on the Credentials page and click OK.

Figure 456

On the Restoring Files page, click Show Details.

Figure 457

On the Restoring files page, ensure the file restore is successful and click Close.

Figure 458

Close the Backup Browser.

Figure 459

Verify the restored file.

Figure 460

Chapter 4: Join us at MVPDays and meet great MVP’s like this in person

If you liked their book, you would love to hear them in person.

Live Presentations

Dave frequently speaks at Microsoft conferences around North America, such as TechEd, VeeamOn, TechDays, and MVPDays Community Roadshow.

Cristal runs the MVPDays Community Roadshow.

You can find additional information on the following blog:

www.checkyourlogs.net

www.mvpdays.com

Video Training

For video-based training, see the following site:

www.mvpdays.com

Live Instructor-led Classes

Dave has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) for over 15 years, and presents scheduled instructor-led classes in the US and Canada. For current dates and locations, see the following sites:

www.truesec.com

www.checkyourlogs.net

Consulting Services

Dave and Cristal have worked with some of the largest companies in the world and have a wealth of experience and expertise. Customer engagements are typically between two weeks and six months.