From Veeam 12 to Veeam 13: Building a Future-Proof Backup & Recovery Platform
In the coming period, we will take an important step in further strengthening our digital resilience. Our current Veeam 12 environment will be migrated to Veeam 13, based on the new Virtual Appliance architecture. At the same time, we will replace our existing, technically end-of-life backup hardware with a completely new infrastructure.
For VNOG (Veiligheidsregio Noord- en Oost-Gelderland), cyber resilience is essential because our services directly support public safety and crisis response, where continuity really matters. VNOG is a regional public safety organisation responsible for fire and rescue services, we provide essential fire-fighting services and assistance in the event of accidents, disasters and crises to the 870,000 citizens of North and East Gelderland in the Netherlands.
The new design is distributed across two data centres. Within our vSAN environment, which hosts approximately 180 Windows and Linux servers, Veeam Virtual Appliances will be deployed. This approach further reduces the dependency on traditional Windows-based Veeam components and enables us to build the platform around a more security-by-design and hardened architecture.
For backup storage, we will implement new Object First Ootbi appliances. From both data centres, backups will be written efficiently and with high performance to the new backup repositories. This creates a separated and robust backup architecture in which immutability and ransomware protection are key design principles.
Microsoft 365 is also an integral part of our continuity strategy. For approximately 2,000 users, Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, Teams and SharePoint will be protected through Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 & Entra ID protection. This allows us to bring the protection of both our on-premises infrastructure and cloud data together under one broader Backup & Recovery strategy.
An important part of the target design is the implementation of a “single pane of glass” for monitoring and reporting. From one centralised view, we want to gain insight into the status, performance and protection of the complete Backup & Recovery infrastructure — from our Veeam Virtual Appliances and Object First storage to the protection of Microsoft 365.
With this migration, we are not simply replacing Veeam 12 with Veeam 13. We are building the next generation of Backup & Recovery: more secure, easier to manage, immutable and designed for cyber resilience and business continuity. An infrastructure that not only enables recovery after a technical incident, but is designed with the reality of modern cyber threats in mind.
Unfortunately, we experienced a cyberattack in 2020, before we were customer of Veeam. That experience taught us some hard but valuable lessons. Above all, we learned that cyber resilience really matters. In today's threat landscape, resilience is no longer just an IT objective — it is essential to business continuity.
