How Veeam’s Backup and Replication Solution Works

As a leader in backup solutions, Veeam® provides a single platform for secure, cloud-based backups for hybrid and cloud environments. Its Availability Suite™ enables customers to achieve total visibility and accessibility across an enterprise, whether at the edge or in the cloud. With Cloud Data Management™ capabilities, Veeam’s products help secure data loss through automated backup and recovery processes while providing analytics and governance across physical, virtual, and cloud deployments. Veeam’s Availability Suite v11 consolidates its product line into a singular solution for better performance and greater agility.

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How Does Cloud Backup Work?

Cloud backup is a strategy for copying files, applications, and other digital assets to a public or private cloud for storage. The intent is to provide a secure location for maintaining current copies of critical data in case the original content becomes unusable and needs to be restored, or alternatively, if it is lost or damaged. Cloud backups can take multiple forms. Some solutions require hardware appliances to facilitate backing up data. Others offer backup and recovery software, such as Veeam’s Availability Suite.

• Hardware Appliances: Hardware-based solutions require a backup appliance to be installed on-premises. The device includes the backup software and some storage capacity that, when installed, can link to cloud backup service providers.
• Software-enabled: These solutions do not require hardware to send digital assets to the cloud. If using the public cloud, companies are responsible for the backup software and its implementation. If using a service provider, the software and implementation are included in the backup and recovery services.

No matter which option is used, the first step is to complete a full backup of the files, databases, and applications to be included in the ongoing process. Depending on the amount of data, network-attached storage devices may be used to reduce the time required to finish the initial backup. In these scenarios, the data is backed up to the NAS device, which is then sent to the cloud provider for copying to the cloud. Once the initial backup is complete, incremental backups are performed on an ongoing basis.

Veeam Backup Solutions

Veeam’s Backup and Replication product combines backup, replication, and continuous data protection into one single platform. It supports workloads for virtual, physical, application and cloud environments — plus, it can be deployed on Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and IBM public clouds. Veeam offers three storage products plus a free edition for virtual machines.

Backup and Replication

Veeam’s backup software was designed for performance and cloud vendor independence. It provides instant recovery of data for maximum uptime and interfaces into NAS, Microsoft SQL, and Oracle databases for reduced downtime when data must be restored.

• Security was built into the product: It has immutable backups to protect against ransomware and other cyber threats. The product supports policy-based protections and user-defined RPOs to keep data available and secure. The solution offers the visibility needed to manage enterprise-wide backup and recovery.
• Cost is always a concern: With Veeam products, backups are faster. Asynchronous replication is available to reduce bandwidth when data must be sent over long distances. Storage can easily scale, helping organisations only pay for what they need. The products are designed for maximum performance at a minimal cost.

Data can be available for testing, mining, and DevOps, in addition to disaster recovery and business continuity. APIs allow for integration with public clouds and third-party vendors. Whether it’s virtual, physical, or cloud deployments, Veeam’s Backup and Replication product offers the same capabilities.

Cloud Edition

The Cloud Edition includes the same functionality as the Backup and Replication product with added features for control of a cloud backup implementation. The cloud edition can automatically store VMware and Hyper-V backups to public and private cloud storage providers. With Cloud Edition, organisations can perform the following:

• Separate cost estimates for storage requirements by cloud providers.
• Specify storage limits by gigabytes or cost.
• Control bandwidth in real-time.
• Throttle usage during business hours.
• Compress data before transfer.

These features reduce transmission time and storage costs while letting companies retain control over their cloud storage.

Community Edition

The Community Edition is designed for VM environments. Configuring the system is straightforward, and backups can occur while the VM is running. It’s a perfect solution for VMware’s ySphere and Microsoft’s Hyper-V. The license does not have an expiration date and supports up to ten workloads. With the Free Edition, users can look inside their virtual machines to restore individual items. The solution provides such features as cloning, copying, exporting, and managing VM instances.

Essentials

Essentials provides the same functionality as Veeam’s base product, except on a smaller scale. It is designed for small businesses. Essentials offers a single platform that automates deployment, configuration, and management of backups. It centralises monitoring, management, licensing, and reporting. The product includes deduplication, compression, and RPOs to deliver the same cost savings as Veeam’s other products.

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Veeam Data Management Options

Veeam knows that managing a backup environment is just as important as having one. If businesses cannot see into their repositories, they cannot ensure that their digital assets are secure. Veeam offers three management solutions for its cloud data management platform and one tool for service providers.

>> Which cloud-based back solution is right for your business? Find out here! <<

Backup Management

The Backup Management Pack delivers visibility into the health and performance of a backup’s infrastructure. It tracks backup jobs and reports status, so organisations know if their backups are completed. It also provides a topology of the infrastructure, making it easier to visualise operations. It also reports on the availability and service status for servers, proxies, and repositories.

System Centre Management

This management pack extends System Center’s monitoring capabilities. The solution provides added visibility to backup and virtual environments, making it easier to locate problems before they become critical. This tool can reduce downtime and includes support for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere environments.

VMware Management

With the VMware Management Pack, organisations can monitor their VMware infrastructure directly from Microsoft System Center. The distributed architecture is centrally managed for better scalability and deploys automatic failover and load balancing. User-configurable features such as optimised performance providers and data publication methods reduce the overhead associated with many management solutions.

Service Provider Console

For its service providers, Veeam offers a Service Provider Console that centralises deployment, monitoring and managing of Veeam products. It supports cloud-based service such as backup or disaster recovery as a service. This solution is available to all VCSP partners for free. The console helps service providers:

• Automate deployment, configuration and management of backup agents.
• Centralised monitoring and management.
• Manage resources.
• Streamline billing, chargebacks and reporting.

All in all, it provides insights into Cloud Connect.

Monitoring and Analytics

With Availability Suite v11, Veeam delivers a solution to help businesses monitor and analyse their backup operations. Veeam One uses intelligent monitoring and automation to help organisations identify and resolve issues as quickly as possible. These 24/7 monitoring tools automate data collection and analysis, providing companies with current information on system status. The built-in intelligence can detect suspicious activity, so problems can be resolved before data is lost. The advanced features enable organisations to initiate remedial action across the enterprise. Veeam One provides a comprehensive view of the backup infrastructure, so administrators can address small issues before they become major problems. The Community Edition is a no-cost version of Veeam One that supports up to 10 workloads of Veeam Backup and Replication, an agent for Microsoft Windows or Linux, ySphere and Hyper-V infrastructures. No license is required.

How to Get Started

Doing business in a complex world often requires complex solutions. Veeam’s Availability Suite is designed to simplify the management of a backup infrastructure while delivering complex solutions that ensure secure operations. But putting together a comprehensive solution can be challenging, not to mention time consuming. A service provider, such as Nexstor can help businesses navigate the technology landscape to find the best solution for their needs. They can help traverse the on-premise, hybrid, and cloud configurations to deliver the most cost-effective solution. For many, implementing a cloud-based backup solution is another step on the digital transformation journey. Our Veeam Cloud Connect Pricing calculator can provide preliminary data on costs, and our free trial enables companies to see how Veeam backup works. If you’re ready to move your backup infrastructure into the 21st century, contact us at Nexstor to discuss how to protect your digital assets.