Are you concerned about your Office 365 backup files and data when using Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365? Well, you are not alone. Many Service Providers are asking for advice on the best way to backup the repository for Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 to backup tape. They need this to maximize their protection, and to reduce their storage consumption footprint.
Before we start our demonstration, let’s review a few of the features of Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365. The feature we are most interested in today is the one that offers a repository retention scheme where users can set their retention periods for their backups. The retention periods are in years, and can be 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 25 years, or forever. These settings are made at the repository level, and must be set up on each backup repository used.
So why do you need to backup the repository to a Tape?
There are several reasons why you want to backup the VBO365 repository to a Tape:
- Storage consumption: The size of some repositories can become very large, with comparable time and costs to retain for long periods. It is a good idea to set retention periods per repository to control the size and costs, and to use tapes for longer retention times.
- Costs: The costs of other storage mediums are often higher than the cost of tape storage. In a multi-tenanted environment, such a Service Provider environment, it is a welcome saving.
- Security: In the era of Ransomware, it is a good idea to have backups saved on an off-line storage medium for better data security.
Configuration
Let’s start with the configuration processes needed for a successful back up of the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 repository to tape. To begin; we assume you are already running and have correctly configured the following components:
- Veeam Backup and Replication;
- Veeam Tape Infrastructure;
- Veeam Backup for Office 365 Installed and Configured.
We begin the configuration for the backup by adding the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 servers to the Veeam Backup and Replication Managed Servers. This process is very important; after the servers have been added to the Veeam infrastructure, we can then browse the filesystem. Here, we can select the VBO365 repository files we want to backup to the tape.
To add the VBO365 servers to Veeam Managed Servers, you must run the Veeam Console and browse to the Backup infrastructure, Managed Servers; press Add Server.
After you have run through the process of providing the VBO365 Server a DNS, or IP address, and have provided the server with the correct credentials, Veeam will install two services. They are the Veeam Installer Service, and the Veeam Backup Transport service.
That is all the preparation you require to start backing up the VBO365 repository to tape.
Next, Let’s take a closer look at configuring the backup job. As usual with Veeam products, the process is very easy and straightforward; therefore, I won’t run through the entire process.
To start, browse to the Veeam Backup & Replication option. Then expand the Tape Job option and select Files. See the highlight in the figure.
Provide your backup job with a name. Make sure you select the VBO365 Server from the drop-down list to be able to browse the server filesystem; then select the VBO365 repository files or folders you wish to backup:
During the configuration process, you must now select and configure the Full and Incremental backup Media pools, and then schedule when each will run:
The last step in this configuration process is to select from the additional options. In the figure below, I have retained the the defaults.
Restore
Let’s run through the restoration process to verify that our backup worked, and that is can be used after a disaster, or when we need it. The restoration process will be initiated from the Veeam Backup and Replication console, Go to the Restore tab, then Tape, then Restore Files…
From the Chose Object popup, select the files or folders you wish to restore. See the figure below.
Next, Choose the Destination. Your built in options are to Original Location, or to a different path that you enter from the “This server” radio button. In this demonstration, I have chosen to restore to the VBO365 server Desktop. In the figure below, the path is C:\Users\administrator\Desktop
Last, we now select the desired restoration options from the Options > Options tab. We have checked the radio button for “Leave the existing file” in this example.
After the restoration process is complete, you will be able to double-click on the .adb file to start the VBO365 Email explorer to restore any mailbox item in the recovered data.
Conclusion
Tape backup is still a valid technology; in many cases it can be cheaper than most other storage options. Of course, there are many downsides to using tapes as a backup medium, but in the era of cost saving pressure, increased requirement for data security, and business demands for protection against malware, tape can be your best friend. This blog post is intended to help those many Service Providers who asked about better data protection. I hope the steps and products I have described here are sufficiently detailed, and importantly, easy enough to follow, to get you started on safe and effective tape backup. Please share, and/or comment, to maximize the learning experience.
