The update that’s so big, it should have been 9.9

Many software companies are releasing updates to deliver bug fixes, hotfixes and sometimes some additional new features. Veeam Software is no different; but, every time these guys releasing a new update, that same update will include new functionality which will keep tech-savvy people like us busy and excited.

Two days ago, Veeam Software released Veeam Backup & Replication, VeeamOne Update 3, and Veeam Agent 2.1. On this blog post, and for the first time, I asked Veeam ANZ SE Local team to share with me the features they like, and the features their customers are waiting for to provide you with real-life feedback from the field. To keep this blog post short and to align with the blog post title, I chose nine features from all three release products.  So, let’s get started with our review.

Upgrade Process

The new Veeam updates delivered and deployed are on top of the existing Veeam Backup & Replication product, now with the option to upgrade all the Veeam core components remotely to minimise downtime; components such as the Veeam proxies, repositories and more.

The upgrade process using the wizard is very easy to use. All that is needed is to download the upgrade package, and to run it on the Veeam Backup & Replication server. After the upgrade process has started, you need only to follow the steps; it is that easy.

1. Veeam Physical Protection

This feature is an important advance, so I will start with it. With the new release, Veeam users will be able to manage Veeam Backup Agents directly from the Veeam Backup and Replication Console.

With this new feature, users can create protection groups that define sets of physical, or cloud, computers, and then apply job policies to manage and protect them. The discovery process of the physical or cloud workload will be based on Active Directory, network and CSV file discovery.

More than that, the discovery process can be scheduled to run at anytime that is suitable for your organization. Also, the Agent deployment options provided are automatic Auto-update, CBT driver installation and Reboot.

2. Service Provider Keeps Your Data Recoverable

In an era of malicious and ransomware attacks, sometimes even when you are implementing the best protection, someone, somehow, will successfully attack your data. They may even destroy it by way of deletion or encryption to demand money. With the Veeam Cloud Connect Insider Protection feature, even if you have been attacked and your data encrypted or deleted from your cloud repository, your Service Provider can recover your old data; that is, if you have an agreement to retain deleted backup files enabled on the cloud repository.

3. HyperV 2016 VM’s with non-snapshottable disk

Some storage admins like configure their data storage so that it is connected directly to their Virtual Machine, instead of passing it through the hypervisor. Such a configuration will cause Veeam Backup & Replication job to fail; this is because the in-guest iSCSI initiation is not supported. by default, Veeam Update 3 will ignore this type of disk and storage configuration, to keep the backup job running successfully. To disable this feature, the storage and/or backup admin can create the following registry key:

Key name: HyperVIgnoreNonSnapshottableDisks (DWORD)

Under:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication registry

Server: Backup Server

4. Seeding Backup for Agents

Veeam Agent for Windows and Linux is designed to protect a physical, or cloud, workload. For example, one of the challenges of backing up a cloud workload is moving the initial backup data to the backup repository. This is especially a challenge if the backup repository is located in a remote location. You now need to consider the data egress costs and the time it will take to complete your backup. This is why Veeam Update 3 introduced Veeam Backup Agent seeding and more.

To seed the backup, you create a local backup repository using Veeam Console. After the first backup is complete, you transfer the backup to the centralized repository. You then rescan before you modify the Managed by Veeam Backup Server job to use the new centralized repository. You then map the backup as shown in the screenshot shown above.

5. Data Location Tagging

This is essentially the same concept as VMware Tagging. It is a newcomer to the Veeam Backup and Replication product, and it used to assign Tags to Veeam components and objects;  such as, local, cloud repositories, VMware ESXi, Cluster and more, for automatic labelling of the backup data to provide for data sovereignty handling purposes.

To understand this feature,  let us examine the following example; a customer wishes to make sure that all the backup from SYDSaCluster will be backed up to the GlobalRepo. To accomplish this, the customer can create a location with the name of SYDInfra and assign it to the VMware Cluster.

And to the GlobalRepo as shown below:

After that has been configured, and at any time the user wishes to create a backup job that does not align with this policy, he will receive a warning during the job creation notifying him that he is trying to backup from the SYDSaCluster to a un-authorized backup repository.

 

If the warning is ignored during job the creation, he will be notified every time the backup job runs.

6. Failover Cluster Support for Windows Agent

One of the most requested features, the Failover Cluster, is already here. With the new Veeam Update 3, you can protect your Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters, such as SQL Server Failover Clusters and SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups, with new agent-based failover cluster backup jobs. With these, you can transparently restore guest files and application items from cluster backups.

 

7. Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure

The updated functionality of this feature now supports Microsoft Azure 4TB virtual Disks. It also supports more Azure regions, such as Germany and China.

8. VeeamOne Data Sovereignty Overview and Violations Report

VeeamOne Update 3 also adds more reports to improve working with the Veeam Backup and Replication Update 3. The most noticeable features and enhancements include Veeam Agent Monitoring and Reporting, Location tagging, and more.

The following report lists all the protected objects, backups and replicas grouped by location tag

 

9. Veeam backup Agent targetting Microsoft OneDrive

The last feature I will review on this blog, to keep it short, as promised, is Veeam Agent Backup destination to Microsoft OneDrive. If you are deploying Veeam Backup Agent 2.1 on a Windows 7, 8 or 10 machine, you will be able to target your backup to be stored on your Microsoft OneDrive. That way, your data will be available for restoration at any time, and anywhere. To configure the OneDrive as a Veeam Backup Agent destination, you must choose the Microsoft OneDrive option from the list of destinations available.

After several easy and guided steps to sign into your Microsoft OneDrive Account…

…You will be able to start Veeam Backup and store your data on to your Microsoft OneDrive account.

Summary

No doubt about it, this is a very big release, as Veeam software is claiming on their website and throughout the social media. I think this is a feature-rich release with many features and enhancements to keep most technical people busy during the holiday season. If you wish to learn more about the complete list of features and enhancements, please refer to the following links to learn more: Veeam Backup & Replication, VeeamOne ,Veeam backup agent  and Veeam Hyper-V Backup.

I hope this blog post provides you with a quick overview of the coolest features liked by me, and the Veeam ANZ SE Team. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Veeam R&D for such a great feature rich release; for me, it is a great Christmas present for my lab.