Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication 10 E-Book

Chris Childerhose

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 240

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Veeam is one of the leading modern data protection solutions, and mastering this technology can help you to protect your virtual environments effectively. This book guides you through implementing modern data protection solutions for your cloud and virtual infrastructure with Veeam. You will even gain in-depth knowledge of advanced concepts such as DataLabs, cloud backup and recovery, Instant VM Recovery, and Veeam ONE.
This book starts by taking you through Veeam essentials, including installation, best practices, and optimizations for Veeam Backup & Replication. You'll get to grips with the 3-2-1 rule to safeguard data along with understanding how to set up a backup server, proxies, repositories, and more. Later chapters go on to cover a powerful feature of Veeam 10 – NAS backup. As you progress, you'll learn about scale-out Repositories and best practices for creating them. In the concluding chapters, you'll explore the new proxy option available in both Linux and Windows. Finally, you'll discover advanced topics such as DataLabs, cloud backup and recovery, Instant VM Recovery, and Veeam ONE.
By the end of this book, you will be equipped with the skills you need to implement Veeam Backup & Replication for your environment and disaster recovery.

Leseprobe

Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication 10

Protect your virtual environment and implement cloud backup using Veeam technology

Chris Childerhose

BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI

Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication 10

Copyright © 2021 Packt Publishing

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Contributors

About the author

Chris Childerhose is an information technology professional with over 25 years of experience in network/systems architecture, network and systems administration, and technical support. He is a Veeam Vanguard, a Veeam Certified Architect, and a Veeam Certified Engineer. He also has the following certifications: vExpert, VCAP-DCA, VCP-DCV, and MCITP. He currently works for ThinkOn as the lead infrastructure architect, where he designs the infrastructure for all client services offered. Chris is also an avid blogger on all things virtual, focusing on Veeam and VMware.

Writing a book is harder than I thought and more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. None of this would have been possible without my wife, Julie. She stood by me during every struggle and all my successes, including many nights writing. She always pushes me in my career endeavors and I will be forever thankful for this.

I'm eternally grateful to Rick Vanover of Veeam, who took the time to do a technical review of all my chapters when he didn't have to. He was great at suggesting changes or edits and even contributed to a couple of chapters with his perspective. I truly have no words to thank him for this amazing selflessness to help a fellow Veeamer.

To all my colleagues and fellow Vanguards who spoke words of encouragement and praise about me writing a book, it is truly humbling to have a great community in the Veeam Vanguards as well as colleagues that support your work.

About the reviewer

Robert Verdam is a very experienced technical consultant with extensive experience in designing, installing, configuring, supporting, and troubleshooting a wide range of cloud and on-premises solutions. Robert is also a skilled developer and he breathes automation. His developing skills mostly focus on PowerShell and Python development.

His broad certifications include VMware VCIX-DCV (VMware Certified Implementation Expert for Datacenter Virtualization) and Cisco CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional). He currently holds the VMCE 2020 (Veeam Certified Engineer) certification and is one of the few Dutch Veeam certified architects (VMCA), and as such, he is also very knowledgeable on the Veeam product portfolio and all related products.

Table of Contents

Preface

Section 1: Installation – Best Practices and Optimizations

Chapter 1: Installation – Best Practices and Optimization

Technical requirements

Understanding the components of Veeam Backup & Replication

Understanding the best practices and optimizations for Veeam installation

Installation of Veeam Backup & Replication v107

Configuring and optimizing proxy servers

Setting up repository servers for success

Understanding the scale-out repository

Summary

Chapter 2: The 3-2-1 Rule – Keeping Data Safe

Technical requirements

Guest perspective from Rick Vanover of Veeam

Introducing what the 3-2-1 rule is

The importance of the 3-2-1 rule37

Understanding how you apply the 3-2-1 rule to backup jobs

Exploring what media is best suited for use with the 3-2-1 rule

Scenario 145

Scenario 248

Scenario 350

Scenario 452

Scenario 555

Summary

Section 2: Storage – NAS Backup, Linux, SOBR, and OBS

Chapter 3: NAS Backup

Technical requirements

Understanding NAS backup and what's new in version 10

File proxy64

Cache repository64

Storage repositories65

Learning how to configure NAS backup shares

Discovering how to create NAS backup jobs

Working with NAS backups – optimization and tuning

Understanding the NAS restore options

Summary

Further reading

Chapter 4: Scale-Out Repository and Object Storage – New Copy Policy

Technical requirements

Understanding scale-out repositories and what is new in version 10

Configuring standard repositories for use in a scale-out repository

Setting up a scale-out repository

Setting up an S3 object storage repository for use with a scale-out repository

Configuring the capacity tier for a scale-out repository, including the new copy policy

Summary

Chapter 5: Windows and Linux – Proxies and Repositories

Technical requirements

Understanding Windows and Linux proxy servers and what's new in version 10

Distinguishing the differences between Windows and Linux proxy servers

Configuring proxy servers and the different backup modes available

Understanding Windows and Linux repository servers

Advantages of using a Windows physical server126

Disadvantages of using a Windows physical server127

Advantages of using virtual servers127

Disadvantages of using virtual servers127

Discovering the different filesystems to be used with Windows and Linux

Setting up jobs and configuration best practices with each filesystem

Summary

Further reading

Chapter 6: Object Storage – Immutability

Technical requirements

Understanding Object Storage

Explaining how to use Object Storage within Veeam Backup & Replication

Understanding Object Storage Immutability and what it means

Discovering how Immutability helps to protect your backup data

Immutable backups – A great way to beat ransomware

Working with Object Storage Immutability configuration and backup job settings

Summary

Further reading

Section 3: DataLabs, Cloud Backup, and Veeam ONE

Chapter 7: Veeam DataLabs

Technical requirements

Understanding Veeam DataLabs – What are they?

Distinguishing between the components that make up a Veeam DataLab

Virtual Lab169

Application Group171

SureBackup job171

Configuring the Veeam DataLab components within Veeam

Configuring the virtual lab175

Adding an application group188

Creating a SureBackup job195

Understanding how to best use a Veeam DataLab

Summary

Further reading

Chapter 8: Cloud Backup and Recovery Using Veeam Cloud Connect Provider and the Insider Protection Feature

Technical requirements

Exploring cloud backup and recovery – choosing a service provider

BaaS – Backup as a Service208

DRaaS – Disaster Recovery as a Service221

Discovering what ransomware is

Investigating and understanding cloud protection with a service provider – Insider Protection

Summary

Further reading

Chapter 9: Instant VM Recovery

Technical requirements

Exploring Instant VM Recovery – what is it?

Discovering the requirements and prerequisites for Instant VM Recovery

Investigating and understanding the Instant VM Recovery process and steps

Exploring the migration and cancelation steps for recovery

Summary

Further reading

Chapter 10:Veeam ONE

Technical requirements

Exploring Veeam ONE – an overview

Single server architecture – typical deployment270

Distributed server architecture – advanced deployment271

Understanding Veeam ONE – installation and configuration

Installing Veeam ONE v10274

Discovering monitoring – vSphere, vCloud, and Veeam

Accessing reports

Exploring Veeam ONE for troubleshooting

Veeam ONE community resources

Summary

Further reading

Why subscribe?

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

Veeam is one of the leading modern data protection solutions, and learning this technology can help you protect your virtual environments effectively. This book guides you through implementing modern data protection solutions for your cloud and virtual infrastructure with Veeam. You will even gain in-depth knowledge of advanced-level concepts such as DataLabs, Cloud Backup and Recovery, Instant VM Recovery, and Veeam ONE.

Who this book is for

Readers of this book will be VMware administrators or backup administrators with some existing knowledge of Veeam and the topics covered in this book. They will know some virtualization and backup concepts to understand what is discussed in each chapter. Veeam is one of the leading modern data protection solutions, and learning this technology will help users protect their environments. Most readers will want to implement many of the topics discussed and investigate Veeam ONE for monitoring/reporting their infrastructure.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Installation – Best Practices and Optimizations, will cover the installation, best practices, and optimizations for Veeam Backup & Replication. You will learn how to set up things such as the backup server, proxies, repositories, and more. There will be a reference to the Veeam Best Practice site as well. Once best practices are covered, we will dive into further optimizations with repository servers, proxy servers, and more.

Chapter 2, The 3-2-1 Rule – Keeping Data Safe, will discuss the all-important 3-2-1 rule of backups: three copies of data, two on different media, and one offsite. We will discuss the importance of keeping your data safe, and using this method is one of the best ways to do this. We will discuss some of the different media types that we can use, including tape for air-gapped protection.

Chapter 3, NAS Backup, will cover the powerful new NAS backup feature of Veeam 10. We will look at the flexibility of the different protocols supported, CBT (short for Changed Block Tracking), and snapshot-friendly backups. We will dive into how to configure NAS shares on the Veeam server, create a backup job, and even go through the restore process.

Chapter 4, Scale-Out Repositories and Object Storage – New Copy Policy, will dive into scale-out repositories and best practices for creating them. We will also discuss different filesystems, such as ReFS and XFS. Capacity Tier will be addressed as a way to manage a SOBR (short for Scale-Out Backup Repository) capacity by offloading data. Included in this will be the new copy policy in version 10 that tells Veeam to offload to Capacity Tier as soon as the backup files are on the SOBR.

Chapter 5, Windows and Linux – Proxies and Repositories, will dive into the new Linux repository options using Reflink and Fast Clone and the Windows repositories. We will discuss recommended Linux versions, set up Reflink, and then configure the XFS repository in Veeam. We will show how to enable Fast Clone and the recommended best settings when creating a job for this storage to take advantage of the Fast Clone technology. We will dive into the world of proxy servers – the workhorses for Veeam Backup. We will discuss the pros and cons of using Windows versus Linux proxies and where each of them plays a role. We will then discuss best practices for setting them up and configuration, as well as the different modes that each of them can use during the backup process, including snapshot integration.

Chapter 6, Object Storage – Immutability, will discuss the rise of object storage and the role that it plays with Veeam. We will discuss how to configure and use it within Veeam, including the Immutability options. We will also discuss some vendor offerings, including WORM options for object storage. We will even touch on how this can also be considered air-gapped protection for your backups.

Chapter 7, Veeam DataLabs, will dive into one of the great features of Veeam: DataLabs. We will discuss how to set it up, including the three main requirements: a virtual lab, application groups, and SureBackup jobs. Each of these is addressed in detail, including settings and best practices. We will also discuss how DataLabs can help dev/QA departments test new applications or patches and test new software. We will even touch briefly on storage snapshot integration.

Chapter 8, Cloud Backup and Recovery Using Veeam Cloud Connect Provider and the Insider Protection Feature, will discuss another way for users to protect their data by using a Veeam Cloud Connect provider and the Insider Protection feature. We will discuss how this can protect data from ransomware and how it gets configured. We will look at Veeam Backup & Recovery options for cloud providers and why they should look into this as an option. We will explain how this also protects users from an insider attack on the Veeam infrastructure and how it can save backup files.

Chapter 9, Instant VM Recovery, will discuss what Instant VM Recovery is and how it works. We will dive into why a user would want to use it for recovery purposes directly to VMware in vCenter or ESXi hosts. We will explain the benefits of using Instant VM Recovery for testing purposes and how you can restore VMs for the dev or QA testing of applications, patches, and so on.

Chapter 10, Veeam ONE, will cover Veeam’s monitoring and reporting utility: Veeam ONE. We will discuss how Veeam ONE can help monitor your environment from backup servers, VMware, and vCloud Director. We will also discuss the reporting aspect and schedule reports to help with your daily administration tasks. We will also see how Veeam ONE can benefit any organization using Veeam.

To get the most out of this book

You should have at least 6 months of hands-on knowledge of using Windows/Linux servers as well as some experience of virtualization with VMware. It would be best if you were comfortable with setting up servers and configuring them with storage. You should also have some backup knowledge and have already used Veeam, even for basic tasks, since many topics in the book look at the more advanced features of Veeam Backup & Replication.

You also need Windows Server set up to install Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam ONE. You can download the Veeam Availability Suite ISO file and trial license from http://www.veeam.com.

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself. Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/9781838980443_ColorImages.pdf.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: “The following is the datastore mounted to the host, home-esxi02.home.lab, for the Instant VM Recovery process.”

A block of code is set as follows:

html, body, #map {

height: 100%;

margin: 0;

padding: 0

}

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

[default]

exten => s,1,Dial(Zap/1|30)

exten => s,2,Voicemail(u100)

exten => s,102,Voicemail(b100)

exten => i,1,Voicemail(s0)

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

$ mkdir css

$ cd css

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: “The first thing to create is the virtual lab, so select the ADD VIRTUAL LAB option toward the right-hand side of the screen.”

Tips or important notes

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Section 1: Installation – Best Practices and Optimizations

The objective of this section is to teach the reader the best practices and optimizations for installing Veeam. This section will also include the 3-2-1 backup rule for safeguarding data. You will be able to apply the best practices and optimizations to your installation of Veeam.

This section contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Installation – Best Practices and OptimizationsChapter 2, The 3-2-1 Rule – Keeping Data Safe

Chapter 1: Installation – Best Practices and Optimization

Veeam Backup & Replication v10 is part of Veeam Availability Suite, which is ready for the modern data center and allows you to back up all of your workloads, including Cloud, Virtual, and Physical. It is simple, yet flexible, when it comes to meeting your most challenging business requirements. In this chapter, we will discuss the installation of the software, what components make up Veeam Backup & Replication v10, and some best practices and optimizations. There will be practical examples throughout the chapter of how to optimize specific elements that make up the Veeam environment. We will also touch on some of the websites, including the Best Practices Guide for Veeam, among others, to give you the resources to help set up Veeam in your environment. As they say with Veeam – It Just Works.

In this chapter, we're going to cover the following main topics:

Understanding the components of Veeam Backup & ReplicationUnderstanding the best practices for Veeam installation and setupConfiguring and optimizing proxy serversSetting up repository servers for successUnderstanding the scale-out repository

Technical requirements

To ensure a successful installation, you will require the following:

A Windows 2016/2019 server with the required disk space to install the application (2012 R2 is also currently supported). Windows 10 and other modern Windows desktop operating systems are also supported.The latest ISO file from www.veeam.com, which requires registration on the site and allows you to obtain a trial license. As of the time of writing, version 10.0.1.4854 is the current release.

Understanding the components of Veeam Backup & Replication

The Veeam Backup & Replication software has several components that together make up the complete architecture that is needed to protect your environment.

Veeam Backup & Replication has the following components:

Backup Server: Installed on either a physical or virtual server, this is the core component of Veeam Backup & Replication that controls and coordinates backups, replication, recovery verification, and restore tasks. It manages job scheduling as well as resource allocation. It also contains global configuration settings for the environment.Proxy Server: These are the workhorses of the environment as they offload tasks from the backup server and are the data movers between the backup server and repositories. It is the proxy servers that you can scale to add processing tasks to the environment.Repository Server: This is the backup target where all backup files (VBM – metadata, VBK – full backup file, and VIB – incremental) get written. The repository servers can be Windows- or Linux-based and have different filesystems, such as NTFS, ReFS, and XFS.Enterprise Manager Server: This server is an optional component and gets installed when you want to manage multiple backup servers in a single pane of glass. You can see backup jobs within your environment from multiple backup servers. Enterprise Manager also allows you to search all Microsoft Windows guest OS files within all current and archived backups with one-click restore. This optional component uses a separate SQL server and backup catalog service for indexing the guest operating systems.Built-In WAN Acceleration: This is also an optional component that allows for better movement of data between sites. It helps minimize data transfer by comparing the data blocks before the transfer, so only new blocks are sent across the WAN. It also accelerates backups by up to 50x between sites.File Explorers: These are built-in applications used during restore and look very similar to Windows Explorer. They allow you to browse the restore point to select specific files or data to be restored. There are explorers for Active Directory, Microsoft SQL, Oracle, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft OneDrive for Business.

You can reference the Veeam Backup & Replication File Explorers at the following website:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/explorers/explorers_introduction.html?ver=100

The following diagram will show all the aforementioned components:

Figure 1.1 – Veeam Backup & Replication components

In a simple setup, where all components are installed on one server but can scale as needed, you will require at least the backup server, proxy server, and repository server.

When you have multiple offices, you may wish to deploy Veeam Backup & Replication in a more advanced setup, as illustrated here:

Figure 1.2 – Advanced or distributed architecture installation

This deployment depicts the advanced or distributed setup of the application across more than one office where Enterprise Manager would see both backup servers.

Now that you have a better understanding of the components that make up Veeam Backup & Replication, we will now get into the installation, as well as best practices and optimizations, in the next section.

Understanding the best practices and optimizations for Veeam installation

The installation of Veeam Backup & Replication v10 is a straightforward process, and this section will go through the operation of the install as well as touch on best practices and optimizations for your environment. Setting up Veeam, if not done right, can lead to components not working correctly and poor performance, among other things. However, if you set up Veeam correctly, it will protect your data and environment with little configuration.

Installation of Veeam Backup & Replication v10

Before installing Veeam, we need to ensure that you have a server deployed, either Windows 2016 or 2019, with enough disk space for the installation. The disk layout should be similar to the following:

OS drive: This is where your operating system resides and should be used only for this purpose.Application drive: This will be your application installation drive for Veeam and all its components.Catalog drive: Veeam uses a catalog that can generate around 10 GB of data per 100 VMs backed up with file indexes. If this were to be a significant storage requirement for your deployment, it may be advisable to allocate to a separate drive.

Once your server is ready, and you have downloaded the ISO file and mounted it, complete the following steps for installation:

Run the setup.exe file on the mounted ISO drive:

Figure 1.3 – Main installation screen

Click either on the Install button under the Veeam Backup & Replication 10a section on the left or the Install link on the right side under Standalone components. At this point, you will see the License Agreement window, so you need to select the two checkboxes to place a checkmark and then click Next to continue.You will now need to provide a valid license file, be it a purchase or a trial. If you do not have it at this part of the installation, you can click Next to continue, and Veeam will operate in the Community (Free) Edition. When you obtain the license file, you can install that within the application:

Figure 1.4 – License dialogue window

The next screen is where you choose which components you want to install and which directory. Veeam recommends that all of them are selected:

– Veeam Backup & Replication: The main application.

– Veeam Backup Catalog: Used when you turn on Guest OS Indexing within your jobs. This option takes all the Guest files and stores them in a catalog where you are then able to use advanced searching across all restore points and conduct 1-click file restores from the Enterprise Manager console.

– Veeam Backup & Replication Console: This is where you go to view, create, and edit jobs, and manage the environment.

After clicking Next, the installer will then do a system check for any pre-requisites required, and if something is missing, you will be prompted and have the option to install the missing components:

Figure 1.5 – System Configuration Check – missing components

Click the Install button to have the missing components installed.Once all the components have passed, you can click Next to move to the following screen. Unlike in previous versions of Veeam Backup & Replication, the next screen does not give you the option to input a user account to run the services. Instead, with version 10 of Veeam, you need to select the checkbox next to Let me specify different settings and then click Next.You will now have the opportunity to enter a user account for the Veeam services, better known as a Service Account. There are some recommended settings for this service account:

– You must have Local Administrator rights on the Veeam server.

– If you are using a separate SQL Server and not the Express edition that comes with the install, you require permissions to create the database.

– You will need full NTFS permissions to the folder containing the catalog.

For all the detailed permissions, please visit https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/required_permissions.html?ver=100:

Figure 1.6 – User account for services

For this setup, I am using an account that I created on my lab server. In contrast, in a production scenario, you would already have a service account set up in Active Directory to enter at this step:

The next screen lets you select the type of SQL install you will be using, and in a lab scenario, using SQL Express is good enough. If you are in an enterprise environment, the recommended best practice is to use an external SQL Server for best performance. Also, note that you can use Windows authentication or SQL Server authentication:

Figure 1.7 – SQL Server instance for Veeam

After selecting the appropriate options, click Next once again.The next window is the TCP/IP port configuration. Should you want to use different ports, you can adjust them here, but the default ports should suffice. You then click Next to move to the Data Locations screen:

Figure 1.8 – Data Locations – directory selection

Here, you indicate the application drive for the Instant recovery write cache, which mounts restore points during recovery and the dedicated drive for Catalog folder for guest OS indexing.

The installer is now ready to first complete installation of the local SQL Express instance and then the application. Veeam will also set your user account that you selected to initiate all the services:

Figure 1.9 –Ready to Install and check for updates

After reviewing the setup, click Install to proceed with the installation and start setting up the components that work together with the backup server.

We will now proceed to configuring the required settings for Veeam to work with VMware:

Repository Server: The server used to store the backup files.Proxy Servers: The servers that perform all the backup tasks.VMware vCenter Credentials: Used to connect and see your clusters, hosts, vApps, and Virtual Machines (VMs). vCenter Server is not required as standalone ESXi hosts are also supported if licensed in VMware:When you first launch the Veeam Backup & Replication console, you are taken directly to the Inventory tab, and Virtual Infrastructure will be highlighted:

Figure 1.10 – The initial console screen

This screen is where we will begin adding the virtual center to enable the backup of your virtual machines. Click on the ADD SERVER option to start the process. You will then get prompted to select what kind of server to add. Choose VMware vSphere and then either vSphere or vCloud Director:

Figure 1.11 – vSphere or vCloud Director selection

You would typically select vSphere; however, if you have vCloud Director in your environment, you may also want to choose this option. When you choose vSphere, you will get prompted for two things to complete the connection:

– The DNS or IP address of your vCenter server.

– Credentials; these can either be a vsphere.local user or a domain account set up for access.

Important note

You do have the option of selecting Microsoft Hyper-V and Nutanix AHV, but this book is focused mainly on VMware vSphere.