Veeam Nutanix Integration Easy as 1-2-3

What does it take to integrate and protect Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV) cluster with Veeam?, How much time and effort must you spend on the deployment and configuration to protect your Nutanix AHV infrastructure with Veeam?  We have tested the early beta version of the Nutanix AHV cluster in our

labs and we will tell you about it here. Before we start, and if you are new to the Veeam Nutanix AHV, we recommend that you review this Link to learn more about the architecture of the integration. Now, let’s get started. The integration process is simple to deploy and easy to master.

Step 1: Download

Our testing will start by downloading the Veeam Nutanix integration beta package. You can test the early beta versions by contacting your local Veeam SE Team. The Veeam Nutanix AHV integration comes as a “.vmdk” file with a size of 1.79 Gb.  This “.vmdk” file must then be uploaded to the Nutanix AHV Cluster for the next step. The easiest way to upload the “.vmdk” to the Nutanix AHV cluster is to use the Nutanix PRISM Image upload facility. The image below has the Image Configuration option highlighted in red.

Click on Image Configuration, and then select the “.vmdk” file you just downloaded. Proceed with the upload.

The image following has the following settings:

Name:    VProxy

Annotation:    <blank>

Image Type:   DISK

Storage Container:    default-container-47608614340430

Image Source:    Radio button selected – “Upload a file CHOOSE FILE veeam-backup-…_331_2.-1.vmdk

Note: The upload bar may indicate 100% showing that the upload has completed; but, verify that it has completed by checking the task under the PRISM Tasks.

Steps 2: Deploy and Configure the Nutanix AHV Veeam Proxy

Our next step is to deploy the Veeam Nutanix AHV Proxy. Wait for the “.vmdk” file to complete uploading. When the uploading is complete, we have to create a Virtual Machine (VM) on the Nutanix AHV Cluster. The minimum specification for the VM is:

1 x CPU,

2 x Cores, and

4 Gb RAM

The figure following shows the VM General Configuration options panel. The selection in this examples are:

Name:    VeeamNxProxy

Description:    <optional>

VCPU(S):    1,

Number of Cores per VCPU:     2,

Memory:     4.

The next step is to attach the “.vmdk” as an Operation Clone from the Image Service Disk. The figure following has these example settings:

Type:    DISK,

Operation:     Clone from Image Service,

Bus Type:     SCSI

Image:    VeeamProxy

Size (GB):     8  Note: Please note that changing the size of an image is not allowed.

The next step is to run the VM after the provisioning has completed, and acquire the IP address from the console. In the figure below, the example IP address for the Web Console is:

https://192.168.1.240:8100

You will need this Web Console address to access the WebGui to continue with the configuration.

Next, use the IP address in a browser to access the Veeam Web Console.  You will be required to provide a new password after your first login.

Browse to the Veeam Console Settings (cogwheel symbol in the menu bar). See the figure below for the Settings icon.

The Settings drop-down menu shows four options; we will add configuration settings to three of them:

1. Veeam Servers,

2. Nutanix Clusters, and

3. Appliance Settings.

Added Veeam Server:

The settings here are:

DSN Name or IP:    VeeamSrv,

Port:     10006

Description:    <blank>

User Name:     veeamsalabadministrator

Password:  **********

Manage AHV Nutanix Cluster:

The settings here are:

Cluster name or IP:     192.168.1.89 (example)

Port:    9440

Description:     <blank>

User Name:     admin

Password:      ***********

The last thing set the appliance settings:

The address settings here are shown in the following figure.

Step 3: Backup your Nutanix Cluster

Now comes the fun part. Create a backup job to backup those VMs running in the Nutanix AHV cluster. We must do one thing before we configure the backup job;  open and browse to the Backup Repositories on the Veeam Backup and Replication console. When there, press the option for “Access Permission – Allow to everyone“. This step is to allow the Veeam Nutanix Proxy to write to the Veeam Repository.

Note 1: We kept the default configuration to allow access to everyone

Note 2: The backup job must be created from the Veeam Web Console of the Veeam Nutanix Proxy.

Next, browse to the Backup Jobs. From the options, press +Add, then run with the normal Veeam backup job configuration shown in the figure below.

With the job configured and set running, you can monitor the backup job status while it runs on the Veeam Backup & Replication console:

 

Conclusion

We spent some time testing the Veeam Nutanix AHV integration in our lab. We found the user experience very smooth and straightforward; even the deployment is an easy process. As this is the first version of the release, you must use the Web Console to configure your backup job; but the storage or the repository will be managed from the Veeam Backup and Replication Console.  We believe this probably will be changed in a future release.

The bottom line is that the Integration is working, and is easy to deploy, configure, and backup your Nutanix AHV Cluster VMs.