The new Veeam Sure Backup Technology that checks that your VM will be able to recover from a backup is shown in this video. VERY cool, good example of how you can backup a system that is corrupted and have a false sense of security that it can be recovered without the use of SureBackup:
Virtualization, High Performance Computing, Enterprise Computing
You are currently browsing the archive for the Veeam category.
Veeam Backup has an option to write the last backup time to a vCenter attribute. This is a nice feature that enables anyone using the VMware VIC client to see the last time a VM was backed up.
This feature makes it easy to write a script to ensure all VMs are backed up by querying this attribute with PowerCLI. Veeam emails you the status of all VMs it knows about ( that are in backup jobs ), but it is possible someone could add a VM that does not get added to your existing Veeam backup jobs.
The script to check for this issue is below.
1. Modify the script below to have the name of your vCenter server in $vCenterServer
2. Configure your Veeam Backup job to write to the “Backup” attribute on completion ( The default is Notes attribute, which is often used by Admins for other items ).
3. This script assumes that every VM is backed up at least once a day.
4. Run this script at the PowerCLI command prompt. See this 5 minute guide to PowerCLI to get started.
function get-backedup ($vm)
{
# This should be one line
$val = $vm.CustomFields |where {$_.key -eq "Backup" } | select -Property Value
$today = Get-Date -Format "M/d/yyyy"
$backupDate = $val.Value
return ( $backupDate -like "*$today*" )
}
Connect-VIServer $vCenterServer
$vms = get-vm
foreach ($vm in $vms)
{
if (get-backedup($vm)) {
write-host -foregroundcolor green "$vm is backed up"
} else {
write-host -foregroundcolor red "$vm is NOT backed up"
}
}
A customer recently asked me how often they needed to do a “full” backup with Veeam so they would have a full backup in the event there was corruption of one of their differentials. With Veeam Backup’s synthetic backup, this scenario doesn’t exist!!
Veeam uses a synthetic backup which means EVERY backup gives you a full backup, at incremental speed, in a file called jobname.vbk. This .vbk file does NOT depend on any past differentials ( which have the extension .vrb).
The fantastic thing about synthetic backup is never taking the time and space penalty after your 1st backup for a full backup, with all the comfort of a traditional full backup.
The veeammeup blog has a good technical description of this wizardry of how synthetic backup works, which I duplicate here.
The way Veeam’s Synthetic Backup works is that after the first full backup, all subsequent backups are incremental, meaning just the changes from the last backup run, forever. Veeam Backup “injects” the changes into the full recovery file (.VBK) and then also saves any data replaced during this process into the reversed incremental changes file (.VRB). The .VBK file is always a full recovery file and the largest file in the directory. The .VBK file also has the most current modified date as it gets updated after each backup cycle.
The .VRB files do not change, as they contain the .VBK data blocks which were replaced by incremental data for that particular incremental backup run. To restore or roll-back to a particular date/time, all related .VRB files are applied to the .VBK file in the required order to get you back to that point-in-time.
The retention policy specifies how many of the .VRB files you want to keep, this also then corresponds to how “far” you can roll-back. If the retention policy is set to 14, then the 15th time the backup job runs it will delete the oldest .VRB file.
If you archive the .VBK and associated .VRB files as a set to tape, you can recover them back to disk if needed and import them into Veeam Backup to roll-back or recover to any point in time in that set.
So to be clear, if you accidently delete the .VRB file(s) you can get back to your full, as the .VBK is the “full” file. (This should never happen, but I had a customer who had an admin delete these files on their filer to free up some space before they knew the implications).
We love PowerShell at HiperLogic, because we use it to automate just about everything.
Veeam Backup has PowerShell integration, and this post is about creating a small script to meet a user requirement to get a list of VM’s in a backup job called “mytestjob”. The customer wanted to integrate this information into another program via powershell glue.
To run this code, run the following from the powershell console:
add-pssnapin "VeeamPSSnapIn"
$job = Get-VBRJob -name "mytestjob"
$job.GetObjectsInJob() | foreach { $_.Location }
$job = Get-VBRJob -name "mytestjob"
$job.GetObjectsInJob() | foreach { $_.Location }
One other interesting easter egg of things to come, run this powershell line
Get-VBRJob |get-member |select-string "HyperV"
Veeam has announced the next release of Veeam Reporter Enterprise, now known as Veeam Reporter 4.0. This release is currently in Beta.
This new release builds on Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), which will benefit customers by removing the need to have Microsoft office applications installed for reports, allows access from any client, and allows Veeam to ship reporting packs faster and outside of major releases. Note there is no charge for SSRS with SQL Server Express (free.)
There is a new web dashboard for 4.0, this new dashboard can be customized and embedded into other websites like Sharepoint.
Veem Reporter 4.0 now includes historical performance data which allows for trouble shooting and capacity planning.
Finally new functionality has been added to support new vSphere technologies such as host profiles and distributed switches, integration with Veeam Business View, and Visio diagram support for up to 6000 VM’s.
Veeam has announced that the next release of Veeam Backup and Replication will have some exciting new features, including the new SureBackup technology we have covered in this blog before.
Another major change in Veeam Backup and Replication 5.0 ( Scheduled for Q3 2010) is that there will now be TWO editions, Standard Edition 5.0, and Enterprise Edition 5.0
Note that ALL THE CURRENT FEATURES of Veeam Backup and Replication 4.1.1 are in Standard Edition, plus all the new 5.0 features. NO current features have been removed and moved to the Enterprise edition, which is very good for existing customers. All existing Veeam Backup and Replication Customers ( on maintenance) will get 5.0 Standard Edition at no charge. Veeam is creating an Enterprise Edition to target new high end features that not all customers may want to pay a premium for.
Currently, there are differences in three areas between Standard and Enterprise Edition:
Recovery verification: Standard Edition will provide basic recovery verification (verifying the latest backup
of a VM by manually mounting and testing the backup file), while Enterprise Edition will offer automated
and more advanced recovery verification (including testing any available restore point, not just the most
recent one).
Windows guest file system indexing: Standard Edition will maintain an index of Windows guest files in
current backups, while Enterprise Edition will also include files in archived backups, for using google like search functionality.
Universal application‐item recovery: Enterprise Edition will include universal application‐item recovery
(Standard Edition will not). This is the ability to restore individual application objects, such as exchange email
messages, directory objects, or database records, from a regular backup. Note that individual file level recovery is STILL available in both editions, just like it always has been.
Customers who are current on maintenance will receive Standard Edition v5.0 as a regular product update at no additional charge. Standard Edition will include all the functionality in the current v4.1 software plus the major new features described in this blog, and the usual fixes and improvements.
For customers that want the enhanced functionality of Enterprise Edition, the Enterprise upgrade fee will be waived on licenses purchased on or before August 31st, 2010. You must have maintenance on all sockets purchased all the way up to the time you decide to upgrade, no later than 3 months after the 5.0 Enterprise release. ( We recommend customers always stay on maintenance, so this should be a non-issue).
Many customers want to know if they should upgrade to Enterprise, or stick with Standard? For customers that want the enterprise features mentioned, you should upgrade. But Note that all FUTURE purchases of Enterprise will be $330 per socket MORE expensive than Standard edition. (MSRP is 659 on Standard, 989 on Enterprise.) With this in mind, you may want to buy any more sockets you anticipate you will need this year BEFORE June 18th to save money.
If you do NOT need the new Enterprise features, then you may not want to take advantage of the free upgrade to Enterprise because all future Enterprise sockets will be $330 more expensive than Standard sockets. In the case you don’t need the new Enterprise features now or in the future, you may want to stick with Standard Edition.
If there are any questions on the new Veeam Backup and Replication 5.0, please contact HiperLogic and we will help you determine what is best for your particular situation
SureBackup is a major new announcement from Veeam that was revealed on March 22nd ( See http://www.veeam.com/surebackup/) that allows **automated** validation of your backup jobs, a first in the virtualization ( or physical ) world.
SureBackup does this magic by booting all of the VM’s in your backup image in a sandbox environment ( Called the Virtual Lab ) to ensure your VM’s are 100% consistent and restorable.
SureBackup at a high level works by dynamically mounting a on-the fly NFS datastore that Veeam creates that presents VM’s directly from the compressed de-duped backup images. ( This is the Veeam Patent-Pending technology). This Virtual Lab is setup on an isolated network (customizable) and dedicated resource pool (customizable) on your existing ESX server farm. *NO* extra storage is required since it runs directly from the backup file.
A beneficial side-effect of this is universal item level recovery, for example you can pull an individual Exchange mailbox, SQL Server table, or any other “application” specific item that is not just a plain file ( Veeam already has file level recovery ) through the SureBackup Virtual Lab. You can run these VM’s directly from the compressed de-duplicated files, you aren’t required to extract or pull out the VMDK’s and therefore don’t require any additional storage space.
The SureBackup feature will release with the next version of Veeam Backup and Replication 5 ( sometime late summer). This is a simple upgrade, and you will be able to use this feature with your old Veeam Backup 4.0 backups and your new 5.0 backups.
If you haven’t heard, the “legacy” backup method of using VMware VCB will be removed from the next release of vSphere, and the “modern” method will be to use the VMware Storage APIs for Data Protection (VADP). From the letter available here at VMware’s site:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of our vSphere backup product strategy, ongoing enhancements, and end of availability plans for VMware Consolidated Backup.
VMware Backup Product Strategy
VMware released vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) with the vSphere 4.0 release in May, 2009. VADP is the next generation of VMware’s backup framework. We have also been working with several backup partners to integrate VADP into their solutions to make backup of vSphere Virtual Machines fast, efficient and easy to deploy compared to VCB and other backup solutions. Several of our major backup partners have already released VADP integrated backup products and we expect most of the major backup partners to have VADP integrated backup software by the upcoming feature release of the vSphere platform in 2010.Future Product Licensing
Given the strong interest and adoption of VADP by our backup eco-system and the benefits offered by VADP compared to VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB), we are announcing the End of Availability for VCB starting with next vSphere feature release in 2010. Starting with the next vSphere platform feature release, VCB will be removed from vSphere platform. VADP integrated backup products (including VMware Data Recovery) will be the recommended option for efficient backup and restoration of vSphere Virtual Machines. This will allow us to focus new value added feature development on VADP instead of two backup frameworks (VCB and VADP).”
This means if you plan on upgrading to vSphere and use VCB, you will want to have in your planning and budgeting a way to migrate to a backup vendor that supports VADP. Contact your preferred backup vendor today to see what their plans are for VADP support.
I personally recommend Veeam Backup and Replication ( HiperLogic is a Veeam Gold Partner, so maybe I am a bit biased) for the simple matter of fact that ESX 3.5 users can use it today with their 3.5 installation, and migrate seamlessly to current and future vSphere releases. There is some peace of mind that the mechanism you back up with today will let you restore tomorrow.
VMware has a backup appliance bundled with vSphere that uses VADP known as vDR (VMware Data Recovery), but as of the current vSphere release I typically don’t recommend it, see the post on this subject vDR vs Veeam Backup. It is quite possible that VMware’s vDR product will get some more development pumped into it once VCB is removed from vSphere this year, by then though Veeam SureBackup will be out.
Now that VMware Data Recovery 1.0 (vDR) is released and included with many VMware bundles ( Other than VMware Essentials and VMware Standard Edition), customers ask us questions on when to use vDR 1.0 vs. an enterprise solution like Veeam Backup and Replication 4.1. ( HiperLogic sells/supports both products.)
Our general opinion is that vDR 1.0 is not a production level backup tool yet , and everything vDR 1.0 does, Veeam Backup and Replication does ( e.g. data deduplication, VSS support, full VM and file level recovery, etc).
Note that vDR is a 1.0.x release. VMware rolls out great features on an aggressive schedule. However, if 1.0, 1.01, 1.0.2, 1.2 bugs/issues with your backups gives you trouble sleeping at night, stick with Veeam Backup and Replication or similar enterprise level tool that is time tested and customer weathered.
The following table highlights some of the major differentiators that you will want to consider when trying to decide if vDR 1.0 offers sufficient protection for your environment.
| Feature | VMware vDR | Veeam Backup and Replication 4.1 |
| Windows/Linux Image and File Level Recovery | Yes | Yes |
| De-duplication of Backups | Yes | Yes |
| Suppports more than 100 VMs per appliance | No | Yes |
| Full GUI and Command Line/PowerShell support | No | Yes |
| Email reporting of backup job status | No | Yes |
| Built-in Replication for Disaster Recovery | No | Yes |
This is not an exhaustive list of course, this is just some of the “biggies”. The next release of Veeam Backup and Replication 5.0 will really set a new bar.
A study of companies that lost data in a disaster conducted by the U.S. Small Business Administration revealed 50% never reopened, and 90% went out of business within two years. With a list price cost of Veeam Backup coming in at less than $1,000 per dual socket ESX server, Veeam Backup continues to be an excellent insurance policy against disaster for SMB and the Enterprise.
Updates ( Last Update 7/13/2010 for vSphere 4.1 )
vDR doesn’t support linked Virtual Center’s.
vDR appliance has a limit of 1TB per data store, max 2 data stores per appliance.
vDR 1.2 Now has File Level Restore (FLR) for use with Linux, though from the 1.2 release notes there are changes to the guests needed to work in many cases 6/11/2010
Veeam Monitor 4.5 now includes Business View which enables you to group, view, manage and report on virtual machines based on criteria such as business unit, department, location, purpose and service level agreement.
Before Veeam Business View, VMware Administrators were challenged by the one-dimensional technical view of their Virtual Machines provided by VMware vCenter which shows virtual machines grouped by datacenters, clusters, or hosts.
With Veeam Monitor 4.5, it becomes a snap to view, report, and alarm on multiple business criteria automatically vastly improving the usefulness of monitoring data.
Note Veeam Monitor 4.5 has a free edition, and is available here.
HiperLogic is hosting a Lunch and Learn event on October 14, 2009 in Ypsilanti, Mi with the Veeam engineers showing all the new tools including Veeam Monitor 4.5. To attend please Contact Us.
To see the new Veeam 4.5 in Action, check out this video:
Tags: VMware Monitoring