Protecting Veeam Backup & Replication Configuration
Protecting Job Settings
As recommended by best practice for disaster recovery you can place Veeam Backup & Replication installation on a virtual machine and protect it with backups or replicas. Out-of-the box Veeam automatically creates configuration backups on the default backup repository. These configuration backups contain all the information about Veeam Backup & Replication jobs (passwords are not stored by default) and can be used to restore all jobs and their metadata (you will be asked for all required passwords during the restore process). Please refer to the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide for further details: http://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/free/vbr_config.html
Tip: If encryption is enabled for configuration backup the passwords are also stored in the configuration backup files.
Planning for Disaster Recovery of Veeam Backup Server
If you have the backup server in the primary site it is recommended to replicate the Veeam backup server VM to the secondary site (verify network and IP mapping settings before you begin; refer to http://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/index.html?replica_job.html for details). If the configuration database is external, ensure this server is also replicated to the secondary site.
If the server is replicated successfully in the event of a disaster you may start its replica in the secondary location without having to reinstall Veeam Backup & Replication. This will help to reduce overall Recovery Time Objective (RTO).
If performing a configuration backup it is also recommended to place one copy of the backup on the secondary site. You can configure another repository for that purpose. Use Veeams File Copy Job to place a copy of the configuration backup at the DR site.
All data required for a restore is directly placed within the backup file (which VMs are in the backup file as well as deduplication and encryption information), even in the event that configuration database is lost or damaged you can set up a new Veeam backup server and import the backup files there, or even use the stand-alone “Extract” utility (both a command line and a graphical version are provided). Then you will be able to restore VMs, files and application data without restoring the configuration database.
Note: Backup copy jobs do not process configuration backups. Remember that configuration backups are not processed with backup to tape jobs; if you want to store configuration backups on tape use file to tape jobs instead.
Antivirus on Veeam Servers
Antivirus software monitors all 'write' operations on the operating systems and this also extends to Veeam backup files. Data that is processed by a backup proxy and repository can overload the antivirus system so that it blocks the backup files, this can slow down the backup process or even lead to backup file corruption. To avoid this it is recommended to add the following items to the list of antivirus exclusions on all Veeam servers including Veeam backup server, proxy server, repository server, WAN accelerator server, tape server, and others.
Folders
C:\Program Files\Veeam
C:\Program Files(x86)\Veeam
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Veeam
C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Veeam
VBRCatalog ([HKLM\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup Catalog] CatalogPath value)
NFS (Configured in each repository, stored in [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Veeam\Veeam NFS] RootFolder value)
C:\VeeamFLR\\ *
All Veeam repository folders
All Veeam WAN accelerator folders
c:\programdata\veeam
Folder on VM Guest OS (if VSS is used)
C:\Windows\VeeamVssSupport
Files
VeeamAgent.exe
VeeamAgent64.exe
.vmdk .vbk .vlb .vib .vrb .vbm
Some additional exclusions may be also needed.
Tip: If the antivirus has a logging or history system you can review its logs to detect whether it has taken any actions that affected Veeam Backup & Replication operations.
Consider that other services or process may be using ports configured for the Veeam vPower NFS Service. To avoid possible issues it is recommended to stop the Veeam vPower NFS Service if you do not plan to use it. Make sure that none of the NFS ports are used by other software (including antivirus systems). For more information please refer to this Veeam Knowledge Base article: http://www.veeam.com/kb1055.