Quantcast
Channel: Veeam Support Knowledge Base
Viewing all 4487 articles
Browse latest View live

How to Backup a Windows Failover Cluster with Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows

$
0
0

Challenge

Veeam Backup & Replication lets you deploy and manage Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows on computers in your infrastructure. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows adds full support for mission-critical Microsoft Failover Clusters, SQL Server-based Microsoft Failover Clusters, SQL Always On Availability Groups and Exchange Database Availability Groups. Starting from version 9.5 Update 3, Veeam Backup & Replication lets you deploy and manage Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows on computers in your infrastructure. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows 2.1 adds full support for mission-critical Microsoft Failover Clusters, SQL Server-based Microsoft Failover Clusters, SQL Always On Availability Groups and Exchange Database Availability Groups.

This is a “how to” step-by-step guide on backing up your Windows Failover Cluster.

Cause

Before you begin

Сonsider the following:
  • Backup of failover clusters is supported in Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows managed by Veeam Backup & Replication only. You cannot process a failover cluster by Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows operating in the standalone mode.
  • Agent license with a server counter must be installed in Veeam Backup & Replication to enable Agent Management features including failover cluster support.
  • Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows supports Windows Server Failover Clusters running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and later.
  • Workgroup clusters, multi-domain clusters, and mixed OS version clusters are not supported.
  • Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) are skipped automatically during the backup.
  • The following Microsoft Failover Cluster applications are supported: Microsoft SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP4 or newer), Microsoft SQL AlwaysOn Availability Groups, Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups (Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 or newer).
  • When using Basic Availability Groups on Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition, consider that secondary replica node cannot be backed up because the secondary node is not readable. See the following article for more information.
  • AlwaysOn Clusterless Availability Groups are not supported.
  • Managed by backup server job with failover cluster type does not support the file-level backup mode.
  • Recovery must be performed via Veeam Backup & Replication console.

Solution

Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters, Microsoft SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances, SQL Always On Availability Groups


1. Create an Active Directory protection group

Protection Group is a container or folder to organize hosts you are willing to protect 

User-added image

To create a protection group navigate to Inventory, select Physical & Cloud Infrastructure node and hit Add Group button at the ribbon. Select Microsoft Active Directly objects as a type for this Protection Group.

User-added image

At the Active Directory step specify the domain name and account (if required) and select the Active Directory cluster name object.


User-added image

The AD cluster name account can be found in Active Directory Users and Computers or Failover Cluster Manager.

User-added image
User-added image

Make sure that you didn’t exclude any required host at the Exclusion step of the wizard.

User-added image

Specify the common master account and set custom credentials for particular hosts if needed.

User-added image

Check the box to Install backup agent at the Options step of the wizard to install backup agents automatically during the rescan (installation can be performed manually if required).

User-added image

Rescan the protection group to discover the newly added cluster account, all its nodes and install backup agent to every node. Once the rescan is completed you should see the cluster and all child nodes under the protection group

NOTE To avoid installation issues, make sure that all required network and DNS requirements are fulfilled.


User-added image

2. Configure the backup job

Once you install the backup agent on every node, you can create a cluster job. Navigate to Home node, click the Backup Job button at the ribbon and select Backup > Windows computer.

User-added image

Failover Clusters must be processed by backup server jobs with the Failover cluster type. 

User-added image

At the Computers step of the wizard hit Add and select cluster account or the parent protection group for this cluster.

User-added image

NOTE: each cluster node will consume a Server License host counter:

User-added image

Select the backup mode. Only volume-level backup and entire system backup modes are available for the failover cluster job.

User-added image

Define the appropriate application-aware processing options at the Guest Processing step of the wizard. For example, SQL log backup/truncation settings would be applicable to a SQL cluster.

User-added image

Start the job. The cluster job will track node changes and perform log backup respectively.

User-added image

User-added image


Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Group

Starting Veeam Backup & Replication Update 4 Microsoft Exchange database availability groups (DAG) nodes are now automatically processed in a sequential manner, so it is possible to use Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows to process Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups (DAGs).

The procedure of adding a DAG to a Veeam Agent backup job differs depending on the type of the DAG that you want to process:

  • For a regular DAG, the backup job configuration procedure is the same as for any failover cluster mentioned above, so all the steps above are relevant
  • For an IP Less DAG (a DAG without an Administrative Access Point), the backup job configuration procedure is similar to the same procedure for standalone servers (the steps below show it in detail)

Create a protection group with the DAG nodes:

User-added image

Then just add servers that act as DAG nodes to a Veeam Agent backup job for servers configured in Veeam Backup & Replication.



User-added image

User-added image

During the backup process, Veeam Backup & Replication detects that servers in the backup job are part of a DAG, and creates a transactionally consistent backup of Microsoft Exchange databases running on these servers (Veeam Agent process only passive database copies, active ones are excluded from VSS freeze operations).

Application-aware processing should be enabled for a consistent backup, log truncation and application-item restore possibility.

User-added image

User-added image

For Veeam Backup & Replication released before 9.5 Update 4, it is not possible to process a DAG as a regular failover cluster. It is recommended to process each server that acts as a DAG cluster node in a separate Veeam Agent backup job configured in Veeam Backup & Replication. In the backup job settings, specify a backup schedule in a way that these backup jobs start at a different time and do not overlap.

 

HCL - Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance

$
0
0

Challenge

VeeamReadyRepo

Product Information:

Company name: Oracle Inc, America
Product Family: Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance
Status: Veeam Ready - Repository
Classification Description: Verified backup storage that supports all Veeam backup and restore features.

*This Veeam Ready test was performed with storage having a configuration that includes SSD/Flash. As such, this classification only applies to similar configurations in which the same amount or more SSD drives are used. The use of non-SSD drives may negatively impact performance.

Solution

Product Details:

Model number: ZS5-4
Storage Category: Hybrid Storage
Drive quantity, size, type: 80 - 7200 RPM 8TB HDD | 4 - 200GB SSD Write Cache | 2 - 3.2TB SSD Meta Device
Storage configuration: ZFS RAID single parity, narrow stripes w/ 4 write cache SSDs in mirrored profile w/ 2 meta device SSDs in striped profile (for deduplication)
Firmware version: OS 8.8.x
Connection protocol and speed: SMB/CIFS, ISCSI, or NFS | 10GbE
Additional support: All models and configurations of ZFS Storage Appliance models with specifications equivalent or greater than the above

General product family overview:

Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance is a powerful multi-protocol, multi-purpose, enterprise class storage solution that provides the flexibility for both primary and backup storage. Features such as variable compression, data deduplication, and large (1M) block sizes enables efficient, high throughput data storage for backup environments.

 

Veeam testing configuration:

Note: The following settings were used by the vendor to meet Veeam Ready testing requirements and should not be considered best practices. Additional changes or settings may be needed to meet the storage efficiency or performance needs for each environment. For each setting, reference links are provided for further clarification.
 

Veeam Build Number: 9.5.0.1922

Job Settings:

Deduplication: Disabled
Compression: None
Storage Optimization: Local Target (Default)
 

Repository Settings:

Repository Type: iSCSI: Windows | NFS: Linux | SMB/CIFS: Shared Folder
Align backup file blocks: Enabled
Decompress before storing: Enabled
Per-VM Backup Files: Enabled
 

Vendor recommended configuration:

Hardware Settings:

  • Array deduplication used in testing – yes
  • Array compression used in testing – yes (LZ4)
  • Jumbo frames used in testing (MTU=9000)

ReFS. Known issues

$
0
0

Challenge

Backup and Backup Copy synthetic operations such as retention (merging) or Synthetic Full creation on ReFS based repositories could lead to following issues:
  1. Memory exhaustion on Repository Servers with ReFS
  2. Synthetic operations take a considerable amount of time
  3. The Repository server becomes unresponsive or has significantly reduced performance
All of the above could lead to unexpected/faulty backup/backup copy jobs termination.

Cause

As described in Microsoft article KB4016173 the root cause resides in the existing design of ReFS metadata management.

Solution

After performing many tests across multiple installations, our RnD and Solution Architects have found the below recommendations to be most effective for resolving the symptoms described in the "Challenge" section:


Operating System
 

Use the following OS versions to avoid any known ReFS issues described in “Challenge” section:
  • Windows Server 2019 (not officially supported until Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5 Update 4. Lab use only)
  • Windows Server 2016 patched to at least September 2018 updates (KB4343884 or later)
  • Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Note: refs.sys driver file should be 10.0.14393.2457 or later
Veeam and Microsoft recommend keeping all systems fully updated with the most recent Windows Updates for best performance.


Hardware
 

Backup repository should meet minimum system requirements. In particular:
  • CPU: at least 1 core per each concurrent backup proxy task and at least 1 core for each two concurrent repository tasks recommended
  • RAM: Backup repository server running other backup roles should have an appropriate amount of RAM for each role
  • Storage: 64K ReFS volume formatting is recommended


3rd Party Software
 

Uninstall the following 3rd party software that have been reported to cause ReFS stability and/or performance issues:
  • Antivirus software (except Windows Defender)
  • Microsoft Configuration Manager Client
Note: general recommendation is to run an unmodified image of Windows installed from original ISO or MSDN resource to ensure no conflicting or problematic software is installed.

More Information

We continue to closely collaborate with Microsoft ReFS team on improving stability and performance of ReFS. To monitor current state please refer to our forum discussion.

What does question mark in Veeam Explorer for SQL mean?

$
0
0

Challenge

In Veeam Explorer for SQL some of the databases listed have a question mark.

Cause

Question mark indicates lack of metadata for a database which may cause restore to be not fully functioning. Moreover restore points for such databases are not shown in the Enterprise Manager.
Most probable reasons are:
-    Due to lack of permissions metadata was not properly collected. Point-in-time restore will not be available.
-    Database was excluded from application-aware image processing. Such a database is in crash-consistent state.
-    Application-aware image processing was disabled for the whole virtual machine. Databases are in crash consistent state.
-    Database files are located on the disks excluded in job settings. Restore for such a database will not work.
-    you run VESQL from snapshot-only job. VSS metadata is not collected by design, and therefore heuristic search will be used

Solution

If fully functioning restore is essential, resolve the underlying issue. Note that new run of image-level backup is required, although restore from existing backup still will be partly unavailable.

How to Re-create the Database of Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows

$
0
0

Challenge

Veeam Support is instructing you to re-create the database of Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows.

Cause

The Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows database files have been corrupted.

Solution

Perform the following actions:

1. Run regedit.exe and locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Endpoint Backup key. Create the following value under this key:
Name = Recreatedatabase 
Type = DWORD 
Value =

2. Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools and run Services. Restart the Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows service.

A new database instance will be created (this usually happens within 5 minutes).

How to Backup a Windows Failover Cluster with Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows

$
0
0

Challenge

Veeam Backup & Replication lets you deploy and manage Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows on computers in your infrastructure. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows adds full support for mission-critical Microsoft Failover Clusters, SQL Server-based Microsoft Failover Clusters, SQL Always On Availability Groups and Exchange Database Availability Groups. Starting from version 9.5 Update 3, Veeam Backup & Replication lets you deploy and manage Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows on computers in your infrastructure. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows 2.1 adds full support for mission-critical Microsoft Failover Clusters, SQL Server-based Microsoft Failover Clusters, SQL Always On Availability Groups and Exchange Database Availability Groups.

This is a “how to” step-by-step guide on backing up your Windows Failover Cluster.

Cause

Before you begin

Сonsider the following:
  • Backup of failover clusters is supported in Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows managed by Veeam Backup & Replication only. You cannot process a failover cluster by Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows operating in the standalone mode.
  • Agent license with a server counter must be installed in Veeam Backup & Replication to enable Agent Management features including failover cluster support.
  • Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows supports Windows Server Failover Clusters running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and later.
  • Workgroup clusters, multi-domain clusters, and mixed OS version clusters are not supported.
  • Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) are skipped automatically during the backup.
  • The following Microsoft Failover Cluster applications are supported: Microsoft SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP4 or newer), Microsoft SQL AlwaysOn Availability Groups, Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups (Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 or newer).
  • When using Basic Availability Groups on Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition, consider that secondary replica node cannot be backed up because the secondary node is not readable. See the following article for more information.
  • AlwaysOn Clusterless Availability Groups are not supported.
  • Managed by backup server job with failover cluster type does not support the file-level backup mode.
  • Recovery must be performed via Veeam Backup & Replication console.

Solution

Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters, Microsoft SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances, SQL Always On Availability Groups


1. Create an Active Directory protection group

Protection Group is a container or folder to organize hosts you are willing to protect 

User-added image

To create a protection group navigate to Inventory, select Physical & Cloud Infrastructure node and hit Add Group button at the ribbon. Select Microsoft Active Directly objects as a type for this Protection Group.

User-added image

At the Active Directory step specify the domain name and account (if required) and select the Active Directory cluster name object.


User-added image

The AD cluster name account can be found in Active Directory Users and Computers or Failover Cluster Manager.

User-added image
User-added image

Make sure that you didn’t exclude any required host at the Exclusion step of the wizard.

User-added image

Specify the common master account and set custom credentials for particular hosts if needed.

User-added image

Check the box to Install backup agent at the Options step of the wizard to install backup agents automatically during the rescan (installation can be performed manually if required).

User-added image

Rescan the protection group to discover the newly added cluster account, all its nodes and install backup agent to every node. Once the rescan is completed you should see the cluster and all child nodes under the protection group

NOTE To avoid installation issues, make sure that all required network and DNS requirements are fulfilled.


User-added image

2. Configure the backup job

Once you install the backup agent on every node, you can create a cluster job. Navigate to Home node, click the Backup Job button at the ribbon and select Backup > Windows computer.

User-added image

Failover Clusters must be processed by backup server jobs with the Failover cluster type. 

User-added image

At the Computers step of the wizard hit Add and select cluster account or the parent protection group for this cluster.

User-added image

NOTE: each cluster node will consume a Server License host counter:

User-added image

Select the backup mode. Only volume-level backup and entire system backup modes are available for the failover cluster job.

User-added image

Define the appropriate application-aware processing options at the Guest Processing step of the wizard. For example, SQL log backup/truncation settings would be applicable to a SQL cluster.

User-added image

Start the job. The cluster job will track node changes and perform log backup respectively.

User-added image

User-added image


Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Group

Starting Veeam Backup & Replication Update 4 Microsoft Exchange database availability groups (DAG) nodes are now automatically processed in a sequential manner, so it is possible to use Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows to process Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups (DAGs).

The procedure of adding a DAG to a Veeam Agent backup job differs depending on the type of the DAG that you want to process:

  • For a regular DAG, the backup job configuration procedure is the same as for any failover cluster mentioned above, so all the steps above are relevant
  • For an IP Less DAG (a DAG without an Administrative Access Point), the backup job configuration procedure is similar to the same procedure for standalone servers (the steps below show it in detail)

Create a protection group with the DAG nodes:

User-added image

Then just add servers that act as DAG nodes to a Veeam Agent backup job for servers configured in Veeam Backup & Replication.



User-added image

User-added image

During the backup process, Veeam Backup & Replication detects that servers in the backup job are part of a DAG, and creates a transactionally consistent backup of Microsoft Exchange databases running on these servers (this by design processes only passive database copies, active ones are excluded from VSS freeze operations).

Application-aware processing should be enabled for a consistent backup, log truncation and application-item restore possibility.

User-added image

User-added image

For Veeam Backup & Replication released before 9.5 Update 4, it is not possible to process a DAG as a regular failover cluster. It is recommended to process each server that acts as a DAG cluster node in a separate Veeam Agent backup job configured in Veeam Backup & Replication. In the backup job settings, specify a backup schedule in a way that these backup jobs start at a different time and do not overlap.

 

Veeam ONE Free Edition is asking for a license file

$
0
0

Challenge

Veeam ONE will ask for a license file when running in the Free edition for longer than 90 days.  

Cause

This is due to software design. Veeam ONE requires a license file to run, regardless if it is a free license or a paid license.  

Solution

Go to http://www.veeam.com/monitor-free-key, and fill out the information to acquire your free license to run Veeam ONE Free edition. Once you have the license file, apply it via Veeam ONE Monitor client > Help > License information.

More Information

If you have any questions, contact Veeam Support at http://www.veeam.com/support.html

“Storage connection failure” alarm during the backup jobs with storage integration activity.

$
0
0

Challenge

Veeam ONE generates the “Storage connection failure” alarm during the backup jobs with storage integration activity.

Cause

During the backup job with storage integration activity, the storage snapshot is created as a logical unit on the storage device hardware level.
After the snapshot processing is finished, it is being deleted and the vCenter considers it as losing connection with the LUN which is actually the storage snapshot, but not the real storage device.

This causes the vCenter to register one of the following events, which are used to trigger the “Storage connection failure” alarm:

vprob.storage.connectivity.lost
esx.problem.storage.connectivity.lost

Solution

This is behaviour by design. It is recommended to suppress the alarm during the backup activity. See more details of how to suppress the alarms.

NOTE: Starting Veeam ONE 9.5 the suppress algorithm has been changed. Use Scheduled alarm suppression feature instead of Veeam Backup activity for the "Storage connection failure" alarm.

More Information

Should you have any questions, contact Veeam Support.

Forward Incremental – Animation of Method and Retention

$
0
0

Challenge

This article is intended to document how Forward Incremental works, and how its retention is enforced.

Solution


Forward Incremental Forever Backup Method – New in V8

Forward incremental-forever backup method is a default method for backup chain creation. To use this backup method, you must specify the following options in the backup job settings:

  1. Select the Incremental backup mode.
  2. Do not enable synthetic full backups and/or active full backups. If you enable synthetic and/or active full backups, Veeam Backup & Replication will produce a forward incremental backup chain (documented below).

The forward incremental-forever backup method produces a backup chain that consists of the first full backup and a set of forward incremental backups following it.

Veeam Backup & Replication creates a forward incremental-forever backup chain in the following way:

  1. During the first run of a backup job, Veeam Backup & Replication creates a full backup file (VBK) on the backup repository.
  2. During subsequent backup job sessions, Veeam Backup & Replication copies only VM data blocks that have changed since the last performed backup (full or incremental) and saves these blocks as an incremental backup file (VIB) in the backup chain.


User-added image
Within this animation the lettered squares represent blocks on a disk.
 
Information regarding how retention works for this backup method can be found here:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/retention_forever_incremental.html?ver=95u4


Forward Incremental Backup Method

During the first run of a forward incremental backup, or simply incremental backup, Veeam Backup & Replication creates a full backup file (.vbk). During subsequent runs of the backup job, it will only retrieve changes that have taken place since the last run of the job (whether full or incremental) and saves this information as an incremental backup file (.vib). Each full backup files (.vbk) and its incremental files (.vib) that depend upon it are treated as a chain. Meaning that each incremental restore point depends on the one that came before it, the full restore point has no dependencies.

User-added image


Within this animation the lettered squares represent blocks on a disk.

Incremental backup is the best choice if company regulation and policies require you to regularly move a created backup file to tape or a remote site. With incremental backup, you move only incremental changes, not the full backup file, which takes less time and requires less tape. You can initiate writing backups to tape or a remote site in Veeam Backup & Replication itself, by configuring Backup to Tape jobs.

If you decide to use the forward incremental backup method, it is necessary to schedule the creation of periodic active full or synthetic full backups. This will help you avoid long chains of increments, ensure safety of backup data, and allow you to meet the requirements of your retention policy. Below are animated examples of these things.

User-added image


User-added image


User-added image


Within this animation the lettered squares represent blocks on a disk.

For more information please review the follow portions of the Help Center:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/incremental_forever_backup.html?ver=95u4
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/retention_forever_incremental.html?ver=95u4
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/forward_incremental_backup.html?ver=95u4
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/retention_incremental.html?ver=95u4
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/active_full_backup.html?ver=95u4
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/backup_copy_remove_missing_point.html?ver=95u4

Jobs fail with "The host is not licensed for this feature" error message after upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 Update 4

$
0
0

Challenge

After upgrading Veeam Backup & Replication to version 9.5 Update 4, backups of VMs from ESXi 5.0 and 5.1 licensed with VMware Essentials licensing start to fail with the following error: "VDDK error: 16064 (The host is not licensed for this feature)".

Cause

Regression in the VMware VDDK 5.5.5 specific to vSphere ESXi 5.0 or 5.1 hosts which are licensed with the VMware Essentials license.

Solution

Veeam is currently in the process of developing a hotfix for this issue. As a workaround, applying an Evaluation License on the hosts will allow backups to resume normally until a hotfix that brings back an earlier VDDK version is created.

Please install a private fix to address this issue:
  1. Download private fix for Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 U4 and extract on the Veeam Backup Server. 
  2. Right-click on the installation file and click "Run as administrator"
  3. Go through the wizard to install private fix.
  4. Relaunch Veeam Backup Console and let Veeam automatically update hosts added to the Veeam server.
NOTE: There is no need to stop Veeam services.
 

More Information

[[DOWNLOAD|DOWNLOAD PRIVATE FIX|https://storage.veeam.com/Fix_158670_70bd7495f2.zip]]
MD5 for veeam_backup_9.5.4.2615.update4_kb2875.exe: b02cd8c24b68a750eff9bc9e734dcec8
SHA-1 veeam_backup_9.5.4.2615.update4_kb2875.exe for b38b3e4e985239e6369356de4273f0001c00e607

How to configure antivirus exclusions to prevent interaction with Veeam ONE

$
0
0

Challenge

This article documents antivirus exclusions that should help prevent antivirus software from interrupting Veeam ONE operation.

Cause

It is necessary to prevent antivirus software from interrupting Veeam ONE operation.

Solution

Antivirus Exclusions:

Folders on the Veeam Server:
C:\Program Files\Veeam
C:\Program Files(x86)\Veeam
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Veeam
C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Veeam
C:\ProgramData\Veeam
C:\Users\<Veeam ONE service account name>\AppData\Local\Veeam
 
Due to the complex nature of antivirus software some additional exclusions may be needed.
If your antivirus has logging or history, please, check the information presented there to confirm whether the antivirus is affecting Veeam ONE operations.

How to configure antivirus exclusions to prevent interaction with Veeam Availability Console

$
0
0

Challenge

This article documents antivirus exclusions that have been found to help prevent Veeam Availability Console from blocking for proper functioning.

Cause

In some instances, antivirus can prevent certain executables, processes, or agents from being correctly deployed or leveraged from the Veeam Server.

Solution

Antivirus Exclusions:

Folders that need to be excluded on Veeam Availability Console server and Web UI:

  • C:\Program Files\Veeam
  • C:\ProgramData\Veeam
  • C:\Windows\Veeam
  • C:\Program Files\Common Files\Veeam
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files

Folders that need to be excluded on computers with VAC management agents:

  • C:\Program Files\Veeam
  • C:\ProgramData\Veeam
  • C:\Windows\Veeam
  • C:\Program Files\Common Files\Veeam
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
  • \\localhost\admin$\Veeam
  • \\localhost\admin$\Veeam\Availability Console\Agent for Windows\VeeamAgentWindows.exe

Files:

  • VeeamAgentWindows.exe
  • ManagementAgent.exe
  • VAC.CommunicationAgent.x64.msi
  • VAC.CommunicationAgent.x86.msi

Due to the complex nature of antivirus software, some additional exclusions may be needed.
If your antivirus has a logging or history system please review this to see actions it may have taken that may affect Veeam Availability Console operations.

More Information

Should you have any question, contact Veeam Support.

How to configure antivirus exclusions to prevent interaction with Veeam Availability Orchestrator

$
0
0

Cause

This article documents antivirus exclusions that should help prevent antivirus software from interrupting Veeam Availability Orchestrator operation.

Solution

Antivirus Exclusions:

Folders on the Veeam Availability Orchestrator Server:

  • C:\Program Files\Veeam
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Veeam
  • C:\Program Files\Common Files\Veeam
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Veeam
  • VBRCatalog ( [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup Catalog] CatalogPath value)
  • C:\Windows\Veeam
  • %programdata%\Veeam

Due to the complex nature of antivirus software some additional exclusions may be needed.

If your antivirus has a logging or history system please review this to see actions it may have taken that may affect Veeam Availability Orchestrator operations.

More Information

Should you have any questions, contact Veeam Support.

HCL - Western Digital IntelliFlash

$
0
0

Challenge

VeeamReadyRepo

Product Information:

Company name: Western Digital
Product Family:  IntelliFlash T-Series, HD-Series
Status: Veeam Ready - Repository
Classification Description: Verified backup storage that supports all Veeam backup and restore features.

Solution

Product Details:

Model number: T4100
Drive quantity, size, type: 3x 500GB SSD | 13x 2TB HDD
Firmware version: 3.7
Connection protocol and speed: iSCSI, 10GbE
Additional support: All models and configurations of T or HD-Series with specifications equivalent or greater than the above

General product family overview:

T-Series and HD-Series enterprise storage arrays accommodate different grades of storage media—from hard disks to high-performance flash memory. Using patented IntelliFlash™ software architecture, data is organized and placed on the most appropriate media to deliver optimal performance with the best possible economics. Native SAN and NAS protocols enable you to simplify data management by storing application data, virtual machines, and unstructured data—all on a single array.

 

Veeam testing configuration:

Note: The following settings were used by the vendor to meet Veeam Ready testing requirements and should not be considered best practices. Additional changes or settings may be needed to meet the storage efficiency or performance needs for each environment. For each setting, reference links are provided for further clarification.
 

Veeam Build Number: 9.5.0.1038

Job Settings:

Deduplication: Enabled (Default)
Compression: Optimal (Default)
Storage Optimization: Local Target (Default)
 

Repository Settings:

Repository Type: Windows
Align backup file blocks: Enabled
Decompress before storing: Enabled
Per-VM Backup Files: Enabled

EMC Data Domain Storage with Veeam Backup & Replication: Configuration Best Practices and Performance Expectations

$
0
0

Challenge

This article documents general performance expectations, best practices, and configuration advice, when using an EMC Data Domain appliance with deduplication as a repository for Veeam Backup & Replication.

Solution

For further information regarding how Veeam Backup & Replication works with EMC Data Domain DDBoost please review: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/emc_dd.html


Performance Expectations

EMC Data Domain Deduplication Storage Systems provide both high compression and deduplication ratios so that data can be kept for extended periods. When a Data Domain is configured as a repository for Veeam Backup & Replication, write performance may vary depending upon the particular EMC Data Domain Deduplication System model, protocol, and backup infrastructure architecture.

When attempting to read data from a Data Domain it must rehydrate and decompress each block, for this reason operations which read from the Data Domain will perform slower than non-deduplicated storage, this is more noticeable with operations which use random I/O. All restores will occur as fast as the environment can accept new information, and as fast as the Data Domain can decompress and rehydrate the blocks.

For quick recovery you may consider using fast primary storage and keeping a several restore points (3-7) for quick restore operations such as Instant Recovery, SureBackup, Windows or Other-OS File restores since they generate the highest amount of random reads. Then use the DataDomain as a secondary storage to store files for long term retention. If an EMC Data Domain Deduplication System will be used as primary storage, it is strongly suggested to leverage alternative restore capabilities within Veeam Backup & Replication such as Entire VM restore and VM files restore. This may result in faster recovery capabilities when used with EMC Data Domain Deduplication Systems than Instant Recovery and File Level Restore operations.

Instant Recovery

  • This type of restore can be effected adversely by the aforementioned limitations of a Data Domain appliance, and also the type of VM being restored. Highly transactional VMs will require more IOPS from the Data Domain during the Instant Recovery than others. With this in mind you can expect to only be capable of running only a few Instant Recoveries simultaneously. Instant Recovered VMs that are started from a backup file stored on a Data Domain may react or start slowly as the majority of their read operations will be hindered by the Data Domain.
  • For VMware users it is highly advised when performing an IR that the user select to have virtual disk updates redirected to a high performance Datastore. This will improve performance by caching written blocks to low latency storage.
  • It is advised that if the VM is intended to be made permanent that the VM be migrated to production storage as soon as possible after the Instant Recovery has begun.

File Level Restores

When performing Veeam Backup & Replication File Level Restore (FLR) capabilities slow recovery times may be experienced. During Veeam FLR recovery capabilities, a significant amount of read activity occurs when accessing the Veeam “service data” metadata for each individual file as the Veeam backup files are not arranged in sequence. This read activity must be performed to determine the location of the data block(s) associated with each file during granular restore sessions. This significant level of random access is not recommended with archive tier storage devices because they are designed for optimal performance with sequential read operations. Veeam recommends implementing EMC Data Domain Deduplication Storage Systems as a secondary target for these use cases as the more random read operations, the slower the restore will be with EMC Data Domain Deduplication Systems.

  • The backup browser may take longer than usual to open if an increment is selected and furthermore by that increments distance from the full restore point.
  • Navigating between folders within the Backup Browser may take additional time as each folder’s content must retrieved from the backup file to display it.

Backup

  • Reverse Incremental performance will be very poor due to its highly random I/O.
    Note: When the Backup Job is configured with a DDBoost repository, Veeam Backup & Replication will prevent Reversed Incremental from being selected by the user.
  • Synthetic Full creation will be very slow to a Data Domain, unless using DDBoost.
  • Synthetic Full with Transforms are not advised.

Backup Copy

  • A retention longer than 30 is not advisable as restore operations will diminish in performance.
  • The Health Check option may take a very long time as it is performing a read operation.

Replication

  • Using the Datadomain to store Replica metadata is not advisable.
    Note: Veeam Backup & Replication will prevent the user from selecting a DDBoost repository.


Veeam Backup & Replication Configuration

Parallel processing (global option):

This option significantly accelerates the backup process and decreases the backup window since virtual disk data is gathered simultaneously. It also dramatically increases fragmentation in the backup files causing high random read for any restore operation. The greater volume of VMs or disks processed simultaneously will increase fragmentation and result in slow restore times. You may consider disabling Parallel Processing, this will decrease backup performance, but increase restore performance.

Storage optimization (job option):

Setting the storage optimization to Local 16TB+ has been shown to improve the effectiveness of Data Domain’s deduplication. The larger this value is, the smaller the preparation phase will be for a backup task and less memory will be used to keep storage metadata in memory.

Inline-deduplication (job option):

Since EMC Data Domain Deduplication Systems have excellent hardware deduplication and compression capabilities, it is highly advised that Veeam built-in deduplication be disabled to decrease load on the backup proxy.

Decompress backup block before storing(repository option):

Veeam strongly recommends enabling this option so that raw data is sent to the EMC Data Domain Deduplication System, leveraging its global deduplication and compression capabilities. Leaving Veeam compression enabled may significantly impact EMC Data Domain deduplication capabilities resulting in high load and slow backup jobs.

Use Per-VM Backup Files(repository option):

Veeam recommends enabling this option so that there is improved performance writing and reading data from the EMC Data Domain Deduplication System. This option is enabled by default when adding the repository as a Deduplicating Storage Appliance.


Backup Mode

  • For CIFS/NFS presented repositories Forward incremental mode with periodic Active full backups is recommended to avoid the rehydration penalty during synthetic operations.
  • For DDboost enabled repositories Forward incremental mode with either Active full or Synthetic full backups is recommended. Synthetically produced full backups will generally have the best restore performance and reduce the time VM is run off of a snapshot during the backup job run. However in some environments an Active Full job may run faster.
  • Transforming previous backup chains into rollbacks is not advisable for both repository types.
  • For forever forward incremental backup and backup copy on DDboost enabled repositories, the option “Defragment and compact full backup file” should be enabled if available. In most cases a weekly schedule is appropriate. This helps to avoid excessive growth of pre-compression data size for the full backup file.

Repository Performance Expectations and Configuration

If DDBoost is not licensed on the Data Domain system it must be added as a CIFS type or Linux type repository. It is advised to use a Linux server with the volume mounted via NFS as a relay server to help improve performance. Under some circumstances, CIFS or NFS communication may perform better than DDBoost with Veeam Backup & Replication v8 because of the limitation of a single thread per backup job when using DDBoost. DDBoost has been shown to improve performance when performing Synthetic Fulls.

 

With Veeam Backup & Replication v9, support for EMC Data Domain Boost is enhanced with the introduction of the following capabilities:

  • Support EMC Data Domain Boost 3.0
  • Reduced impact of storage fragmentation during restore operations even with enabled parallel processing. This feature allows Veeam to store the VM backup in the dedicated backup chain so that fragmentation ratio will be minimum.
  • Reduce the impact of the block size so you may define any block size without impact on the restore process. Veeam will be able to read data granularly so amount of the redundant will be minimum.

With DDBoost

If the Data Domain System is licensed for DDBoost please proceed to configure it using the following steps.

  1. Launch the creation of a new Repository, on the Type tab select Deduplication storage appliance.
  2. Select the deduplication storage as EMC Data Domain.
  3. On the next tab configure the information to for connecting to the Data Domain appliance.
  4. On the Repository tab click Browse and select the necessary location from the list of available paths.
  5. The default settings can be taken for the last steps in repository configuration.
    Unless your environment requires you to specify a different vPower NFS Server.

Without DDBoost

CIFS

  1. Launch the creation of a new Repository, on the Type tab select CIFS
  2. On the next tab configure the path to which the Repository will write to, and set credentials to access that share.
  3. On the Repository tab within the advanced section, enable “Decompress backup data blocks before storing”
  4. The default settings can be taken for the last steps in repository configuration.
    Unless your environment requires you to specify a different vPower NFS Server.

NFS

The Data Domain will need to be configured for NFS access, and configure a Linux server to mount the volumes from the Data Domain via NFS. Please refer to the following links for further information regarding connecting Linux to the Data Domain via NFS:

http://forums.veeam.com/veeam-backup-replication-f2/veeam-datadomain-and-linux-nfs-share-t8916.html

http://tsmith.co/2014/veeam-and-datadomain/

  1. Launch the creation of a new Repository, on the Type tab select Linux
  2. On the next tab select the Linux server that we be connected to. If it is not present in the list select “Add New…”
  3. On the Repository tab specify the path on the Linux server that leads to where you mounted the Data Domain via NFS. On this tab in the advanced section enabled “Decompress backup data blocks before storing.
  4. The default settings can be taken for the last steps in repository configuration.
    Unless your environment requires you to specify a different vPower NFS Server.

 


VMware backup job fails with "Exception of type 'Veeam.Backup.AgentProvider.AgentClosedException' was thrown"

$
0
0

Challenge

After upgrade to Veeam 9.5 Update 4, VMware backup jobs might fail with the error "Exception of type 'Veeam.Backup.AgentProvider.AgentClosedException' was thrown" while backing up virtual machines from vSphere 6.0 if a backup proxy has IPv6 enabled on one or more network interfaces.

Cause

It is a known issue affecting VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) 6.0.
 

Solution

Disable IPv6 on the network interfaces of the backup proxy.

More Information

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2125497

How to create merged Veeam licenses (v9.5 U3a and earlier)

$
0
0

Challenge

This KB article is to create merged licenses that are for Veeam Backup & Replication v9.5 Update 3a and earlier. For Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 Update 4, please follow this guide: https://www.veeam.com/kb2879

This KB only applies to versions Veeam Backup & Replication v9.5 U3a and earlier, Veeam ONE v9.5 Update 3a and earlier, and Veeam Agents v2.


A license file installed to your Veeam software replaces the information from the previous license. A merged license file allows for increased socket capacity by combining licenses from multiple Support IDs.

Please note that the merged license key will use the earliest support expiration date of all product keys.

Solution

NOTE! Licenses can be merged only when they have the same:

  • Account Name
  • Product Name and Edition
  • Product Version
  • Licensing Terms
  • License Administrator
  • They must all be Active on Support.

Your License Administrator may obtain a merged license file by following the steps below.

  1. Log on to the Veeam My Account dashboard and go to License management >> Production Licenses (https://my.veeam.com/#/licenses/production)
  2. In the Action column for the appropriate product, select Merge
    User-added image
  3. From this page, select each of the boxes to the left of all the individual licenses you would like to merge
    User-added image
  4. In the box that appears below, select the appropriate version of the key for your software and whether you would like to download the license directly or have a copy of the key emailed to your License Administrator email.
    User-added image

More Information

Please note that the license auto-update feature does NOT correctly update merged licenses created on the license management portal. If you have enabled auto-update, disable it before installing a merged license from the license management portal.

VMware backup job fails with "Exception of type 'Veeam.Backup.AgentProvider.AgentClosedException' was thrown"

$
0
0

Challenge

After upgrade to Veeam 9.5 Update 4, VMware backup jobs might fail with the error "Exception of type 'Veeam.Backup.AgentProvider.AgentClosedException' was thrown" while backing up virtual machines from vSphere 6.0 if a backup proxy has IPv6 enabled on one or more network interfaces.

Cause

It is a known issue affecting VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) 6.0.
 

Solution

Disable IPv6 on the network interfaces of the backup proxy.

More Information

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2125497

End-of-Support Details for Veeam Products

$
0
0

Challenge

Veeam Lifecycle Policy

End-of-Fix
When a product version reaches this stage, no further Updates, Patches or Hotfixes will be created for it (exceptions may be made on case-by-case basis). A version that has reached End of Fix, but that has not reached End of Support is still fully supported. However, if Veeam determines that an issue you are facing is fixed in a generally available version, you will be required to update to it.

End-of-Support
When a product version reaches this stage, this version will no longer be supported by Veeam. To get support, you need to have an active maintenance contract, and perform an upgrade to at least the version that has not reached End of Support stage yet.

End-of-Life
When a product version reaches this stage, it is no longer available for download from Veeam web site. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.

Solution

Please review the link for the official dates:
http://www.veeam.com/support/releasestatus.pdf

More Information

The latest version of all Veeam products can be found at: https://www.veeam.com/downloads.html

Previous version of Veeam software products can be found at: https://www.veeam.com/older-versions-download.html

Further details can be found in Veeam's EULA

Backing up Hyper-V guest cluster based on VHD set

$
0
0

Challenge

VHD Set is a new shared Virtual Disk model for guest clusters in Windows Server 2016. VHD Set files can be included in application-consistent checkpoints and backed up, but there are some limitations.

Cause

Please make sure the following requirements are met:
  • each guest VM should have the cluster feature installed
  • all members of guest cluster should be on-line
  • VHDSet shouldn't be used as Cluster Shared Volume (CSV)
  • folder on CSV containing VHDSet files should have proper permissions settings
  • guest operating system should be Windows 2016
  • All VHDSet files must reside on CSV or SMB shares
  • Microsoft supports legacy shared VHDX on Windows 2016, but this feature cannot be used like a workaround, because it cannot be included in application-consistent checkpoints, therefore Veeam doesn't support backup of such disks on Windows Server 2016
Otherwise backup job might fail on checkpoint creation with one of the errors listed below.
 

Solution

Error code: '32768'. Failed to create checkpoint on collection 'Hyper-V Collection'
This issue occurs because Windows can't query the cluster service inside the guest VM. To fix this issue, make sure that the cluster feature is installed on all guest VMs and cluster service is running.

Error code: '32770'. Active-active access is not supported for the shared VHDX in VM group
This issue occurs because the VHDS disk is used as a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV), which cannot be used for creating checkpoints. To fix this issue, you need to use each disk as a shared disk instead of a Cluster Shared Volume. This can be done by using the "Remove from Cluster Shared Volume" option in cluster manager GUI.

Error code: '32775'. More than one VM claimed to be the owner of shared VHDX in VM group 'Hyper-V Collection'
This issue occurs because the shared drive was offline in the guest cluster. To fix this issue, make sure that all shared drives in the cluster that are part of the backup are online.

Error Event 19100 Hyper-V-VMMS 19100 'BackupVM' background disk merge failed to complete: General access denied error (0x80070005) This issue occurs because of a permission issue. To fix this issue, the folder that holds the VHDS files and their snapshot files must be modified to give the VMMS process additional permissions. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Determine the GUIDS of all VMs that use the folder. To do this, start PowerShell as administrator, and then run the following command: 
    get-vm | fl name, id
    sample output: 
    Name : BackupVM
    Id : d3599536-222a-4d6e-bb10-a6019c3f2b9b
    Name : BackupVM2
    Id : a0af7903-94b4-4a2c-b3b3-16050d5f80f
  2. For each VM GUID, assign the VMMS process full control by running the following command:
    icacls <Folder with VHDS> /grant "NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\<VM GUID>":(OI)F
    Example:
    icacls “c:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\SharedClusterDisk” /grant "NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\a0af7903-94b4-4a2c-b3b3-16050d5f80f2:(OI)F"
    icacls “c:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\SharedClusterDisk” /grant "NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\d3599536-222a-4d6e-bb10-a6019c3f2b9b:(OI)F"
Viewing all 4487 articles
Browse latest View live


<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>