The much anticipated release of Veeam Backup and Replication v11, took place on February 24th, 2021. After a suitable testing period, it was successfully deployed to BackOnline’s Cloud Connect infrastructure and we now have some tips, tricks, and best practices for our current and future clients.
Firstly, a real old but gold tip – ALWAYS backup your configuration database to your BackOnline Cloud Connect repository. By default, the configuration database is automatically backed up to the default repository, normally the C drive of the Veeam Backup server. Whilst moving this to another repository is a good first step. having it automatically sent off-site, is a far better strategy. This will ensure that your Veeam environment can be quickly rebuilt in the event of a disaster with the fastest possible recovery time.
Secondly, with the release of Veeam Availability Suite v11, Veeam now has support for native backups of Microsoft Azure and AWS workloads. This means, BackOnline can now offer protection not only for traditional on-premise infrastructure, but also your public cloud infrastructure!
5 Best Practices when using Veeam v11
- Ensure you are following the tried and tested 3-2-1 rule. Local backup storage should be separate from production storage. The third copy must be offsite, either on tape, external HDD or cloud storage (Cloud Connect or BackOnline Object Storage)
- Ensure local repositories are formatted as ReFS, for advanced performance and deduplication.
- Take advantage of automation whilst still reaping the low per GB cost of Tape. BackOnline can offer Tape-as-a-Service to clients with long term retention requirements who no longer want to manage on-site tape infrastructure. Enjoy all the pros, none of the cons.
- For replication, carefully consider your storage performance requirements across each application group – this will be the single biggest issue to impact the effectiveness of your DRaaS
- Ensure your Veeam environment is installed and maintained according to the guidelines at www.veeambp.com and that you regularly review these best practices.
