2.) In simple arrangements a Windows based Physical proxy might also be the Repository (aka storage target). 1.) They offload job processing CPU cycles from your cluster. Typically physical proxies are used for one of three reasons. Question whether a physical proxy is needed. This is a very reasonable, and simple configuration that should be adequate for a lot of environments.ħ. Let Veeam use the default SQL Server Express instance on the Veeam Job Manager VM. Use this time to get familiar with the product, and begin protecting the jewels as quickly as possible.Ħ. Architectural adjustments are easy to do with Veeam, so go ahead and get Veeam pointed to the target, and start running some jobs. Keep the design simple, even if you know you will need to adjust at a later time. These virtual proxies have a special setting in FVP that will instruct the VMs being backed up to flush their write cache to the backing storageĥ. Because of that, I have a virtual proxy living in each cluster, with backup jobs configured so that it will use a specific virtual proxy. I have the data stores that house those VMs only accessible by their own cluster (a constraint of FVP). In my case, I use PernixData FVP in two clusters. If there is more than one cluster to protect, consider building a virtual proxy inside each cluster that it will be responsible for protecting, then assign it to jobs that protect VMs in that cluster. The deployment documentation has good information on this, but for starters, make it 4vCPU with 5GB of RAM.Ĥ. Make sure to give the Job Manager VM enough resources to play with – especially if it will have any data mover/proxy responsibilities. It will be helpful to understand how utilized the physical links get, and for how long.ģ. Set up SNMP monitoring on any physical ports used in the backup arrangement. Have the job Manager server, any proxies, and the backup targets living on their own VLAN for a dedicated backup network.Ģ. These tips focus not so much on ultimately what may suite your environment best (only you know that) or leveraging all of the features inside the product, but rather, getting you up and running as quickly as possible so you can start returning great results.ġ. Optionally, a physical server not just acting as a storage target, but also as a physical proxy would look something like this below:īelow is a combination of both, where a physical server is acting as the Proxy, but like the virtual proxy, is using an SMB share to house the data. If one wanted a rebuilt server (Windows or Linux) acting purely as a storage target, that could be in place of where you see the NAS. This is a simplified arrangement of what I use. In this arrangement below there would be no physical servers – only a NAS device. I will show a few of the simplest arrangements: There are a number of different ways to set up the architecture for Veeam.
Moving away from array based features for protection has enabled the protection of VMs to better reflect desired RPO and RTO requirements – not by the limitations imposed by LUN sizes, array capacity, or functionality. Using a data protection solution that utilizes VMware’s APIs provides the simplicity and flexibility that was always desired. It has completely changed the operational overhead of protecting our VMs, and the data they serve up.
I’ve been using Veeam Backup and Recovery in my production environment for a while now, and in hindsight, it was one of the best investments we’ve ever made in our IT infrastructure.