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932 Topics
7,639 Comments

MicoolPaulVeeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard

Veeam Backup Service Fails to Start – AKA How I broke my lab this time…

It feels like everyone is always trying so hard to be perfect, I’m certainly not! But I’m happy to learn from and share my mistakes. I was messing about recently with Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator and made some changes to my lab, and all was fine when I shut down. A few days later I fired up the lab again, but my Veeam Backup & Replication server wouldn’t start its core “Veeam Backup Service” service. I over-engineered my response expecting it to be something far more complex than it actually was, and here’s my story. Hour 1: The Service Won’t StartI fired up my Veeam Backup & Replication server, ready to write my next blog post, uh-oh, the service won’t start! I jumped into the logs and couldn’t see anything of any note, really!This was my log, if you don’t load/can’t read images, the final three lines contained the following:[db] Minimal supported database server version is 10.0.1600.22[db] Connecting to SQL Server (CurrentUser=[NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM], ServerInstance=[W

1 year ago

wesmrtVeeam MVP

published in Blogs and Podcasts

Veeam BR - Testing vSphere Backups with SureBackup

Hello everyone!In this post, I will explain how to utilize one of the key features of Veeam Backup & Replication, which is the ability to test the integrity of created backups. Introduction Creating the Virtual Lab Creating the Application Group Creating the SureBackup Job Testing the SureBackup Job Introduction SureBackup uses created backups to initiate VMs in an isolated environment within the hypervisor and then perform tests like heartbeat, ping, and application validation using scripts. It's a fantastic functionality to ensure that your backups are intact when needed.SureBackup utilizes the following components:Application Group - Group of VMs to be tested together. With the Application Group, we can define the startup order of VMs and set tests for each of them. Virtual Lab - The Virtual Lab is an appliance created by Veeam B&R on the hypervisor to act as the gateway of the isolated network that will be created. SureBackup job - The SureBackup job where you can schedule

5007

8 months ago

regnorVeeam MVP

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Cancel hanging task in VMware ESXi via commandline

I’ve seen this multiple times now with VMware. You cancel a task via vCenter or the ESXi UI and it just stays there hanging and nothing further happens. Normally this situation resolves itself after some time, but just last week I had a case where the task never stopped. While the Webclients weren’t really helpful in that case, we were able to cancel this task with the ESXi commandline.Warning: Interupting certain tasks, for example snapshot consolidations or Storage vMotions, can lead to issues or corrupted VMs. So only do this if you don’t have any alternatives and need the task to be canceled. And better have a backup at your hand.SolutionStart the SSH service on the ESXi host where your VM is registered Connect via SSH Query the VM ID: vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms Query all tasks for this VM: vim-cmd vmsvc/get.tasklist “VM ID”Check the Task information: vim-cmd vimsvc/task_info “haTask….” Is the task still state still active? Note: The screenshot is just an example; the task state is s

30 days ago

MicoolPaulVeeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Veeam B&R: Performance Impact of Pending Tasks

Alt Text: Blog Post Title on colourful backgroundTell me if you’ve seen this situation before. You’ve got some servers & applications that need protecting. You create your backup jobs as necessary, there’s different backup jobs for your various application-integration requirements, backup frequencies, and retention requirements, it’s starting to sprawl. Inevitably there’s some job scheduling overlap. Backup jobs are waiting for other backup jobs to complete, the running tasks section of your Veeam Backup & Replication Server is ticking upwards, no biggie right? It’ll clear down eventually! Well… Let’s explore that shall we? Background/Test Scenario I wanted to see just how much having multiple running jobs would impact VBR, when those jobs were all in a pending state, barring one. I then wanted to compare this impact vs scheduling backup jobs within chains.I created a Windows VM, installed the OS, then powered it down, so I’d have a static test VM to backup. I configured my bac

7 months ago

MicoolPaulVeeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

☁️ Welcome to Cloud City ☁️

Hello everyone! @HangTen416 & I are delighted to introduce to you all the latest ‘thematic’ Veeam User Group: Cloud City. What is Cloud City? Cloud City is a Veeam User Group focused on Veeam’s Public Cloud and SaaS Product Offerings. We wanted to create a dedicated space in the community for people to share their knowledge and ask questions related to these products, or the relevant services that provide the platform these products interact with. Where can I find out more? Firstly, you can check out the group here: https://community.veeam.com/groups/cloud-city-107This page has more information on the purpose of the Veeam User Group, and you can join the group via this page. @HangTen416 and I are also going to be hosting an introduction meeting on the 9th May, be sure to register and check it out if you’re interested: During this session we’ll talk more about the purpose, some community guidance on what content we intend to focus on and encourage, and our plans for (virtual) meetin

11 months ago

vNote42On the path to Greatness

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

[curiosity] New kind of Ransomware: software does not demand a ransom but good actions

Some kind of funny: A new kind of ransomware was found in India. It does not demand a ransom but donations like: new clothes to homeless, feed kids in branded pizza outlets and provide financial help to anyone who needs urgent medical attention but cannot afford it. If victims can proof good actions, they receive decryption kid. Please don't misunderstand, I am still against cyber attacks like Ransomware, but at least the needy here have something out of it.https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/goodwill-ransomware-detected-in-india-makes-victim-donate-to-poor-provides-financial-help-to-needy-patients/articleshow/91736850.cms

1 year ago

leduardoserranoVeeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Deploying and using a Yara rule with Veeam

Hi! In the recent Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1, Veeam brings many new features and capabilities related to data security and integrations with cybersec tools. One of them is the capability to scan backup files with Yara rules.This is a great feature due to the native flexibility of Yara rules and its wide use in the community.In this demonstration, we will see how to create a simple Yara rule, associate a malicious file with a VM, and obtain uncompromised recovery points through a scan operation. Everything is effortless and intuitive. I hope it is helpful for the community!

2 months ago

MicoolPaulVeeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Veeam Backup & Replication – Linux Agent Deployment & Management with Active Directory

Title Image: ‘Veeam Backup & Replication - Linux Agent Deployment & Management with Active Directory’ against a colourful background.Veeam Backup & Replication has some nice out-of-the-box features for Veeam Agent management if you’re using Microsoft Windows or Linux Operating Systems. I don’t like talking about a possible solution though until I’ve tried it for myself. This way I can gauge the problems that’ll occur by how I’ve tripped up in testing.This brings me to the topic of today, Linux + Veeam Backup & Replication Agent Management.Nowhere within Veeam’s documentation could I find references to what was/wasn’t supported for creating an Agent Protection Group. I see this as a potential risk, without stating which operating systems you can target via the mechanisms such as Computers from CSV file or Microsoft Active Directory Objects etc, how do you know if it will actually work? I could add IBM AIX servers to a CSV file, but that won’t work in reality as I’d need

10 months ago

coolsport00Veeam Legend

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

SysAdminDay Story: Humbling Experience

I really struggled with sharing this story because it’s quite embarrassing. But, if it helps 1 person, it’s worth it. And, not all ‘save the day’ stories are about us being flawless Systems Admins/Architects...we are human, but rather how well we’ve setup and configured our recovery processes. Thanks to @Madi.Cristil for prompting me to “go for it” and just share. 😊I did end up saving the day, but it was at the cost of my own initial negligence the issue arose in the first place, albeit an honest mistake. Interestingly enough, a fellow former Veeam Vanguard (now Veeam employee) and I were discussing this very configuration mishap potential via direct message in the Vanguard Slack channel prior to it actually happening to me.CatastropheSo, what did I actually do to cause the catastrophe at my organization? First, let me start by giving a high-level overview of my backup environment. I use physical servers, with Windows OS, as combo Repo/Proxy devices for my backup environment. I also u

8 months ago

wolff.mateusVeeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Veeam File Extensions

Using Veeam we can have various types of files. But do you know all of those file extensions? Here is a list of the main files: .vbm - backup chain metadata file.vbk - full backup file.vib - incremental backup file.vrb - reverse incremental backup file.bco - configuration backup file.lde - veeam explorer exported file.ldf - Microsoft SQL Server Log file.mdf - Microsoft SQL Server master database file.vsm - Microsoft SQL Server transaction log backup.vom - Oracle database log file.lock - lock file.vblob - file that stores data from the file share (NAS) backup job.vindex - binary metadata file that describes backup files (names and versions) of file share backup job.vslice - binary metadata that describes allocation of data in VBLOB backup files Have you in mind any other kind of file extension that are associated with Veeam?Put here on the comments that I will add to this list.

5 months ago

rildo.girouxNew Here

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

VMCA 2022 - Finally passed after 3 try's

Hi Guy’s The path to success is rarely linear; it often winds through setbacks, challenges, and moments of doubt. My journey through the VMCA (Veeam Certified Architect) exam epitomizes this truth, culminating in a well-earned victory with a score of 79%. It's a story of resilience, growth, and the satisfaction that comes from persevering against the odds.Adding a unique layer to my journey is the fact that I have spent the last seven years dedicated to working with Veeam, a prominent player in the realm of data protection and management. This experience has given me an extensive and intimate understanding of the intricacies of data backup, recovery, and virtualization management.The VMCA exam was no small feat during my first two attempts, with scores of 55% and 64% respectively. Yet, each outcome held within it a lesson, a piece of the puzzle that would eventually lead me to success. These results could have deterred me, leading to discouragement and abandonment, but they had the opp

7 months ago

marcofabbriVeeam Legend

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

VMCA 2022 Official Prep FULL Guide

I created this topic to put some order to @haslund 20 threads about his fantastic VMCA 2022 Official prep course, so we avoid dispersing information, questions and answers unnecessarily.@Kseniya hope this help our community.Remember to tag @haslund when you need an official answer and to thank him for all his amazing work, of course :) Sources of first topic:

1 year ago

Chris.ChilderhoseVeeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Ninja POD with the Vanimal - December 7th

In case anyone missed it back on December 7th I was on the Ninja Pod podcast with @DrObject talking all things Veeam related as well as discussing my book. You can catch it below.

3 months ago

MicoolPaulVeeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

The Many Forms of Modern Authentication – An Exchange Server Story

Hi everyone.If you missed it, Microsoft just released H1 2023 for Exchange Server 2019. Included in this release is the ability to use Modern Authentication in an Exchange Server only environment. In Case You Missed it, What is Modern Authentication? There are numerous resources describing the functionality of Modern Authentication in technical detail, but my goal here is to provide a conceptual overview of Basic Authentication vs Modern Authentication. Basic AuthenticationBasic Authentication, as the name might suggest, is a simplistic form of authentication. A client attempts to communicate to a resource that is protected, and the resource requests a username & password, you supply a valid username & password, and you’re granted access to the resource. Every time you want to access this resource, you need to provide the username & password. This was actually one of the main driving forces behind security considerations such as mandating HTTPS on websites, to avoid credent

11 months ago

Nico LosschaertVeeam Legend

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

SysAdmin Story : a Veeam feature saved a school

I work already more than 6 years at my current company as a system consultant specialized in backup, DR, hypervisors and storage but at the first place being the Veeam Expert 🤣.In those 6 years I have seen a lot, but one of the things I will never forget, is a story that I want to share with you 🤗. When : It happened more than 2 years ago Who : It happened to a customer of us, a secondary school What happened : They were using multiple standalone Hyper-V hosts with local storage.They all were using RAID5 on the data-volume (where the .VHDX files = HyperV virtual hard-disks are located) of their hyper-v hostsAs you know : in a RAID5 setup, only 1 disk may fail...On their most critical Hyper-V host 2 disks were stuck, so the volume was broken and all data was lost on that hyper-v server!On that server a couple of virtual machines were running including one of their most important server : their big file-server!That was not the only issue : the hyper-v host was not in warranty anymor

8 months ago

MicoolPaulVeeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Backups, Trust, Boundaries, and Cloud Security Considerations in 2022

Cloud adoption continues to increase as organisations are either taking their first steps into the cloud, or progressing their IT strategies, whether it’s a full cloud migration, multi-cloud or delivering a hybrid architecture.A great workload to leverage the cloud has been as a backup repository. By using the cloud, we can meet multiple improvements to our 3-2-1-1-0 minimum strategy for backups. In case you aren’t familiar with the 3-2-1-1-0 strategy, it is:3 copies of data, across 2 different backup media types, 1 of which must be off-site to the production environment, 1 backup at least must be offline or “immutable”, with 0 backup validation errors. Security BoundariesOne threat that the 3-2-1-1-0 strategy doesn’t cover explicitly is the concept of security boundaries. It is entirely possible to achieve all 3-2-1-1-0 objectives purely within your own environment, or exclusively within a single cloud, but there are problems with either approach, as we’ll look into now. Internally Ma

2 years ago

Michael MelterVeeam Legend

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

SOBR Archive Tier – Explained and Configured – Part 4 of 4

This is part four of the blogpost. If you want to read it from the beginning, head here: SOBR Archive Tier – Explained and Configured – Part 1 of 4 | Veeam Community Resource HubIn this last part, we will cover the free section of our feat and put things together in VBR.Setup within VBRNow it’s time to create the new object storage inside your VBR console. Add a backup repository of the type “Object storage”.Add new object repository to be used as archive tier. Choose the appropriate hyperscaler. For the archive tier currently only AWS and Azure are supported. We’ve used Azure in the example.Only Amazon S3 (AWS) and Azure can leverage the archive tier.Now the differentiation from capacity tier is made by selecting “Azure Blob Storage Archive Tier” instead of just “Azure Blob Storage”.Make sure to select the special option for the archive tier.Give the new repository a nice name and description within VBR.Very inventive name, isn’t it?And provide your storage account name and the shared

11 months ago

Link StateVeeam Legend

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

[GUIDE] How To deploy & schedule Veeam Agent Protection Group MS Cluster step by step

How To deploy Veeam Agent Protection GroupAre two physical nodes of an MS cluster and MSSQL instance in the clusterReference:Installing Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows - Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows GuideGetting Started - Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows GuideInstallation and Configuration - Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows GuideCreate new Protection GroupThe account used to perform a consistent backup of an MSSQL DB must be entered either in the Local group Administrators or enter the user side MSSQL studio with permissions of DBA Admin\Owner.You require different sets of Microsoft SQL permissions in the following cases:Installation (remote or local): current account needs CREATE ANY DATABASE permission on the SQL server level. After database creation this account automatically gets a db_owner role and can perform all operations with the database. If the current account does not have this permission, a Database Administrator may create an empty database in advance and grant t

1 year ago

JMeixnerVeeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

USB Disk as Veeam Repository in a private Environment

I had some – in review stupid – error with an backup of a single private computer with the free version of the Veeam Agent for Windows.I had told the owner of this machine to use the Veeam Agent for backup, because it is free and reliable. That I am using the products of this company professionally and didn’t have much problems with them and that they are very easy to use.So this poor little owner downloaded the agent, installed it and configured a backup job according to the procedure and recommendations I have given to him.The he tried to run the backup and after a short time – BANG Error.He called me and told me that there is a problem. I asked him to send the error message to me and I will have a look at it.19.02.2022 14:29:59 :: Error: Shared memory connection was closed. Failed to upload disk. Agent failed to process method {DataTransfer.SyncDisk}. Exception from server: There is not enough storage space available on the data medium. Failed to write data to the file [S:\VeeamBack

2 years ago

CarySunVeeam Vanguard, Veeam Legend

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

How to Install Hyper-V integration services in the ubuntu Linux VM

If the Hyper-V integration services are not installed, you cannot restore any data from Veeam Backup.Please follow the steps to install Hyper-V integration services in the Ubuntu Linux VM of Hyper-V. 1.Login to Hyper-V host.2.Open PowerShell as Administrator.3.Run the command as follows.Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName "ubuntu2310" 4.Open the Hyper-V Manager tool.5.Right-click the VM and select the Settings. 6.Select Integration Services on the Settings of the VM page. 7.Select the Guest services checkbox on the Integration Services page and click OK. 8.Run the command as follows to ensure the Integration Services of the VM are enabledGet-VMIntegrationService -VMName "ubuntu2310" 9.Login to the Linux Server.10.Run the command as follows to edit modules.vim /etc/initramfs-tools/modules 11.Add hv_modules to initramfs-tools modules.hv_vmbushv_storvschv_blkvschv_netvsc 12.Run the following command to update the apt packages.sudo apt update 13.Run the following command to upgrade t

3 months ago

Geoff BurkeVeeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Happy Upcoming New Year, A non Kubernetes DEMO

Hi Folks,I decided to talk about something a bit different today. A non Kubernetes quick video. One of the main components of Zero Trust when it comes to Backup and Replication is not put all of your components together, otherwise it can get messy like in my video. Whishing everybody a great upcoming New Year!

3 months ago

jorge.delacruzCommunity Manager

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

[Scripts] Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 - Audit Email/Audit Users

Hello, a few years ago I wrote a few articles about this very interesting, and common topic:They were very well received in my opinion, with tons of comments, and lots of views. But since then, many changes have happened, first to the Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 APIs, secondly Microsoft disabling SMTP and making our life difficult with OAuth for simple stuff like this.Good news are:The first blog post have been updated with the OAuth steps, so if you are struggling with that, please take a look now :) I wrote two very simple PowerShell Scripts to make your life easy.Automating the painful Microsoft/Google Oauth for VB365 Audit Mail SettingsIf you want to automate this process, because do this manually is the biggest pain I had in this 2023 by far. You will find the script here:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VeeamHub/powershell/master/VB365-AuditRestoreOperations/vb365-AuditEmailSettings-OAuth.ps1Very simple to modify and run. You will need the Client/Client Secret/Tenant ID, but

2 months ago

olivier.rossiVeeam MVP

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Object Storage: Secure access to ObjectFirst-based repositories

IntroductionRansomware attacks are top of mind for all IT professionals and backups are the last line of defense.The single most important best practice is to make sure you can recover from your backups by: Implementing immutability Encrypting your backups Verify recoverability Have a recovery plan Harden and limit access to your backup infrastructure, especially the repositories. Ample security guidance can be found in Veeam's user guides and best practices.Curated by Veeam Solutions Architect and Systems Engineers, Veeam has also published a library of Technical Security Blueprints to address joint Vendors configurations. In this post, I would like to focus on Hardening and Limit Access to ObjectFirst repositories. For those unfamiliar with ObjectFirst, it is a Veeam dedicated S3-Compatible Object Storage appliance that implements Out Of The Box Immutability (Ootbi) and leverages Veeam Smart Object Storage API.My colleague, SteveF, has blogged about the SOS API and ObjectFir

4 months ago

CarySunVeeam Vanguard, Veeam Legend

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

Fix Sending e-mail report issue after upgrade to Veeam Backup and Replication 12/12.1

The email notifications are not working after upgrading from v11 to v12 (v12.1), including sending the test email.There are warnings on the backup jobs: " Sending e-mail report Details: The remote certificate is invalid according to the validation procedure. " Every time you send an email report, Veeam Backup and Replication v12.1 validates the certificate received from your email server during email report configuration, indicating that the certificate has likely been modified. It's easy to fix this issue, you need to open the global email notification settings and save the configuration again, accept the verify certificate prompted and save the settings.

1 month ago

wesmrtVeeam MVP

posted in Blogs and Podcasts

How to configure EC2 Instaces to create Application-Aware backups usin Veeam Backup for AWS

In this article I will explain how to configure the AWS SSM on EC2 Instances to Veeam Backup for AWS be able to create VSS Snapshots for those instances.Veeam Backup for AWS depends on AWS SSM to create the VSS Snapshots, so before enable the Application-Aware option in the policy we need to configure the instances correctly with all the necessary components. Let’s start creating a IAM policy with all permissiona that we need: { "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Sid": "VisualEditor0", "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [ "ec2:DescribeInstances", "ec2:CreateTags", "ec2:CreateSnapshot", "ec2messages:AcknowledgeMessage", "ec2messages:DeleteMessage", "ec2messages:FailMessage", "ec2messages:GetEndpoint", "ec2messages:GetMessages", "ec2messages:SendReply", "ssm:DescribeAssociation",

9 months ago

Page 15 / 38

Blogs and Podcasts

932 Topics

Veeam Backup Service Fails to Start – AKA How I broke my lab this time…

Veeam BR - Testing vSphere Backups with SureBackup

Cancel hanging task in VMware ESXi via commandline

Veeam B&R: Performance Impact of Pending Tasks

☁️ Welcome to Cloud City ☁️

[curiosity] New kind of Ransomware: software does not demand a ransom but good actions

Deploying and using a Yara rule with Veeam

Veeam Backup & Replication – Linux Agent Deployment & Management with Active Directory

SysAdminDay Story: Humbling Experience

Veeam File Extensions

VMCA 2022 - Finally passed after 3 try's

VMCA 2022 Official Prep FULL Guide

Ninja POD with the Vanimal - December 7th

The Many Forms of Modern Authentication – An Exchange Server Story

SysAdmin Story : a Veeam feature saved a school

Backups, Trust, Boundaries, and Cloud Security Considerations in 2022

SOBR Archive Tier – Explained and Configured – Part 4 of 4

[GUIDE] How To deploy & schedule Veeam Agent Protection Group MS Cluster step by step

USB Disk as Veeam Repository in a private Environment

How to Install Hyper-V integration services in the ubuntu Linux VM

Happy Upcoming New Year, A non Kubernetes DEMO

[Scripts] Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 - Audit Email/Audit Users

Object Storage: Secure access to ObjectFirst-based repositories

Fix Sending e-mail report issue after upgrade to Veeam Backup and Replication 12/12.1

How to configure EC2 Instaces to create Application-Aware backups usin Veeam Backup for AWS

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