Blogs and Podcasts

While helping an SE with a POC, I encountered an odd obscure error when trying to install a repository on one VM and a proxy on another VM. The error message was received after we added the VMs as managed Windows servers and during the actual repository and proxy install.The error I received was:“Installing package Transport Error: Error 1920. Service Veeam Data Mover Service (VeeamTransportSvc) failed to start.  Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.” I was a little panicked when I saw this as I have not encountered this error before, and the service installs work.After my initial panic, my attention immediately turned to an account permissions issue.  The account being used is a domain account that was a member of the local administrators group on the servers.  The account used was able to start and stop other services. A check of Google yielded little insight.  It did point me to the Veeam KB 1059 – which discusses this error.The first step it mentioned

You may have seen this: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/softbank-backed-cohesity-reaches-deal-to-acquire-veritas-unit-1.2032340 I don’t know what this will mean. The backup world is huge but still. Any thoughts?  

There are new Veeam Sales Professional (VMSP) and Veeam Technical Sales Professional (VMTSP) 2023 accreditations available in ProPartner Portal.This year the two accreditations do not consist of one single learning path, but on a base “Sales Foundation” part and five different learning streams. With the completion of the base module and one learning stream you will get a badge to show off…The learning streams for the VMSP and VMTSP are:✅ Public Cloud✅ Ransomware & DR✅ Microsoft 365✅ Container Protection✅ Cloud Service ProviderSource: Veeam ProPartner Portal - Veeam IQSo Veeam ProPartners, go and get them 😊

I am sure someone else will find this blog post very useful. I have been doing extensive research since I created this blog post below.  So I purchased Beelink EQ12 3x recently. Beelink EQ12 mini PC since it has an Intel 12th Alder Lake-N100 processor (4C/4T, up to 3.4GHz, 25W TDP), delivers 25% more power than N5105. The low power consumption makes this mini-computer great for light work, 4K video playback etc. At this time, this Mini PC costs 329.00, and there is a promotional voucher of 45 euros. So it will be about 284 euros. Other Additions- Got a TP-Link TL-SG108E 8-Port Gigabit Switch (Plug and Play, Gigabit Ports, VLAN, QoS)- A Synology 923+ [I got this due to my Veeam Legend and vExpert status]. Here is a post on how to set up DS923+, and many more to come. The next would be on how to protect DS923+.- Wyebot wireless intelligence (To be reviewed as well)- I'm considering purchasing a NGFW appliance and would appreciate your insight.  Today, I completed these blog posts based o

Blog URL - Veeam VBR - 12.1 Upgrade Veeam released the 12.1 update back in November 2023, and with it comes upgrades to most components, including Veeam Backup & Replication. Today, I will walk through the upgrade process in my HomeLab to update my current Veeam Backup & Replication server from 12.0 to 12.1. Many enhancements came with Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1, including some of the following -Inline Malware Detection Early Threat Detection Scan Backups with YARA Four-eyes Authorization KMS Integration Object Storage Backup AI Assistant (ChatGPT like) Postgres DB Support for Veeam Cloud Connect (previously was SQL before 12.1) A full list of the enhancements in Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 can be found here - Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 - What's New.***NOTE - You must download the Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 ISO file to follow the steps.***At the time of this writing the version of Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 is - 12.1.0.2131, bu

Also this year you will be able to find me during VeeamOn. When I attent this one, I have been present at all editions organized so far. (Good memories on Vegas, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami,...)The data resilience high mass will take place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from June 3 to 5.Are you still hesitating to attend? I will give you some good reasons to reserve a spot in your calendar.Stay Informed and Updated VeeamOn provides a platform for attendees to stay informed about the latest developments, updates, and innovations in backup, recovery, and data management technologies. This includes insights into Veeam's products and services, as well as broader trends and best practices in the industry. Attending keynotes, sessions, and workshops can help professionals stay ahead of the curve in their knowledge and skills. Things do move in hypervisor land. How will Broadcom - VMWare evolve ? This will certainly have an impact on how we organize our backups on the different platforms. Will V

When you will download data from Exchange Online – Microsoft will throttle your traffic. In previous years to change it, you should open a support ticket to MS. Now you can temporarily change this directly on Microsoft 365 admin center. This can be especially useful for initial full backup for multiple mailboxes. How to setup this? Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center and in the top right corner open help and just type “ews”. Then you have to run tests as a results you will have option to select duration 30, 60 or 90 days with higher throughput speed.select one of available value and update settings. 

THERE IS NOW NATIVE FUNCTIONALITY TO DO THIS EASILYHello, 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

  Live Optics allows you, your Dell EMC technologists, or Dell EMC partner consultants to understand vital information about your Veeam environment. Live Optics provides you with a simple process to upload your Veeam database backup and present your data in a clear and understandable way, so that you can make informed decisions to optimize your backup infrastructure.Your Veeam database backup will usually be a file with a .bak extension.  Sometimes, due to common community based knowledge, the files have a .dmp extension.Pre-RequisitesThe following list is are required to follow the instructions below.You are a user with Administrative access to Veeam You have downloaded the latest version of the Live Optics Collector InstructionsTo create a SQL backup for Veeam, see the following Veeam KB article:https://www.veeam.com/kb1471?destination:https://www.veeam.com/kb1471=?x-clickref=1100ld5oeEIGNote: There is no need to further .zip or compress the file. The Live Optics collector will do th

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!  

  Sometimes, it is necessary to go back to the basics. After all, we have many protocols and stacks that drive IT solutions. I was rereading my notes from an SNIA training and came across this post from Erik Smith. A good overview of what's under the hood of the various types of implementations and protocols for data storage. This post is a bit old but reflects the many storage classic protocols and integrations. 😀Reference:https://brasstacksblog.typepad.com/brass-tacks/2016/07/storage-protocol-stacks.html

Hi Everyone It’s Ootbi!Ootbi is Everywhere and now at the Hub! Today Ootbi showed up at the Veeam Community Hub. Ootbi took one look and loved it. So many brilliant people posting interesting and helpful topics! Ootbi decided to participate as well and hijacked NKGG’s account! Its ok Ootbi is NKGG’s friend so all good.Remember though in real life never let anyone use your account or credentials anywhere for anything!So who and what is Ootbi? Ootbi stands for Out of the box Immutability! Ransomware is getting worse all the time so you really want Ootbi Everywhere!Why don’t we take our first look at Ootbi?Here is the login screen:Login Screen After logging in we get a cool dashboard with information:DashboardOotbi is simple and intuitive. There are some performance metrics on the bottom of the dashboard:performanceOotbi runs very smoothly but if you ever need to contact support you won’t have to wander around trying to find logs all over the place, Ootbi servers them up for you:Support B

Hi Folks, As always in the world of $$ money people will stretch meanings and at times outright make false statements. There is no point in going after them time and time again. Instead just make sure to read and understand the guidelines provided by the source. Veeam have created a great white paper on Zero Trust in Data Protection. They have spelled things out to make it easy for everyone to understand. You can read it here: https://www.veeam.com/whitepapers/pragmatic-approach-to-implementing-zero-trust_wp.pdfAt the end of the day the goal is to defeat ransomware. So approaches that don’t follow what Veeam have stated means that you are taking more risk. Be very careful as I have seen advertising using the terminology of Zero Trust but describing something that is doing the exact opposite of Zero Trust. Again people can sell what they like, just don’t label something chewing gum if it is in fact asphalt. 

Hi Everyone, So I am being sent on a secret mission and decided to do a video training people how not to look like a Veeam Agent when on secret missions!!  

Frequently I'm ask in how to monitor backup jobs of Veeam externally Veeam servers.I know that we can do this easy with Veeam One. But here I’m going to show you a solution to monitor backup jobs having only a Veeam Backup Server (without VEM or VONE).So, the application I’m talking about is Checkmk. Checkmk is a monitoring software usually used on NOC (Network Operations Center) environments. However, this is an easy tool to deploy and very light to hav in our backup environment. VersionsCheckmk has a free and commercial version:Checkmk Raw Edition (CRE) – Free and 100% Open Source. It even incorporates Nagios into its core. You can use it to monitor entire environments. Support for this release is available through the Checkmk community forum.Checkmk Enterprise Free Edition (CFE) – version already based on the standard edition, with Checkmk Micro Core (CMC), which means that it is no longer based on Nagios and is aimed at small IT environments with a single site and up to 25 monitore

  Hi! This demonstration shows how to use IO Meter, PowerShell scripts, Veeam Backup & Replication, and the Veeam One alarm remediation action to simulate a Ransomware attack response!The Secure Restore operation is performed with Veeam Instant Recovery associated with Windows Defender antivirus scan, and the backup files are stored in an immutable Linux Hardened Repository!The clickbait is a Teddy Bear icon 😃This is a Hyper-V test environment.Below we have the PowerShell script for the compromised VM. It just changes the wallpaper and blocks the keyboard and mouse input for some time.It is necessary to have the IO Meter running in the background. Change the wallpaper name per your desired simulation.Start-Sleep -Seconds 5#Change Desktop$MyWallpaper="C:\skull-virus-malware.png"$code = @' using System.Runtime.InteropServices; namespace Win32{ public class Wallpaper{ [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Auto)] static extern int SystemParametersInfo (int

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/exploring-2024s-tech-landscape-and-beyond-sottc-episode-09/id417182376?i=1000641900858In this episode, Anthony Spiteri hosts Michael Cade as they explore the technological landscape for 2024. They discuss the advancement and integration of AI across various sectors and use cases, including their everyday applications. We also examines the current trends and future potential of Kubernetes, changes in data platforms, and the critical nature of platform engineering. We also addresses the potential implications of VMware's acquisition by Broadcom and the ongoing need for skill development in the tech industry as that evolves. The episode concludes with forecasts for the tech landscape in 2024, particularly looking at Veeam's role and innovations and it's role in data protections.https://veeam.podbean.com/e/sottc-2024-e09-2024-tech-landscape/

This is a very simple calculator that uses backup size from the Veeam official calculator, the tape capacity, and the number/ retention amount required. Based on this information, it will tell you how many tapes you will need. http://tape.skitchlab.com

It’s that time of year again where we need to plan for the year ahead and be sure that any upcoming end-of-life or end-of-support dates from our dependent software vendors are addressed.Why does this matter when I’m just trying to protect the data?Times change, and software changes with them, until it’s no longer supported. At any point, a patch to an operating system, a .NET framework update, or anything else really, could end up with the software no longer being backed up properly, or not working at all in production. Without valid support there’s no process to get a fix, and whilst your backup software may still be in support with Veeam, if the vendor won’t fix the problem, it’s time to start panicking.With this in mind, let’s explore the software & operating systems being declared end of life in 2024 so we can start planning our upgrades/migrations if necessary. VeeamLets start with Veeam’s, products that have an end of fix or end of support within 2024. As a recap, Veeam have

After changing the hostname of your VBR server, you might have issues accessing the integrated PostgreSQL database. For example when creating a new database or restoring configuration, you see the following error: “SSPI authentication failed for User XYZ”While the database connection itself uses “localhost”, the pg_ident.conf references the hostname itself for administrative access.So after changing the hostname, you need to replace the old hostname with the new one inside the pg_ident.conf file. Also you can add additional or different users to access the PostgreSQL instance. The default path to this files is “C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\15\data\”.There’s a KB article from Veeam which mentions this error. This also includes how to check the PostegreSQL logs: https://www.veeam.com/kb1471

In today's data-driven landscape, where information reigns supreme, safeguarding data against potential threats and ensuring its swift recovery in the event of an unforeseen disaster is paramount. Among the array of strategies that bolster robust backup and recovery protocols, data classification stands out as a foundational element that often dictates the efficacy of these practices. Understanding Data ClassificationAt its core, data classification involves the systematic categorization of information based on its sensitivity, value, and criticality to an organization. This process assigns labels or tags to data sets, enabling businesses to prioritize their protection efforts, allocate resources efficiently, and adhere to regulatory compliance requirements. Classification typically involves labeling data as public, internal-only, confidential, or highly sensitive, among other classifications, based on predefined criteria. Strengthening Backup ProceduresData classification forms the be

With the newest release V12, Veeam Backup & Replication is now capable of implementing immutability with HPE StoreOnce Catalyst stores. HPE calls this ‘Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Controlled Data Immutability (ISV-DI)’. With this post I want to quickly describe the requirements and configuration steps.RequirementsThere are some requirements, that need to be met in order to use immutability with StoreOnce systems.you need to have a Gen4 StoreOnce system with at least firmware 4.3.2 you need to configure Dual Authorization Maximum ISV Controlled Data Retention needs to be set to 365000 in the StoreOnce Catalyst Store you need to use forward incremental backup jobs and/or enable GFS for Backup Copy Jobs → For more information check the helpcenter Enable Dual AuthorizationWith Dual Authorization certain tasks on a StoreOnce require a second factor before they’re executed. This second factor isn’t a OTP token or something similar but rather a second user/password which you need to

On December 5th, 2023, Veeam unveiled a significant update to our Data Platform. This release introduces enhanced capabilities in detecting and identifying cyberthreats, facilitating faster responses and recovery from ransomware attacks, and ensuring comprehensive protection for our customers' data with robust security and compliance features. Our latest release incorporates an extensive range of supplementary features associated with cloud-native backup and backup services for AWS. This document will delve into these newly added capabilities. Veeam Backup and Replication 12.1 Backup of object storageProtect production data residing in both on-premises and cloud object storage with the powerful new backup and recovery functionality. Built on a storage-agnostic architecture, Veeam helps you to achieve your object storage recovery objectives without additional hardware investments. And when it comes to recovery, we ensure your recovery time objectives (RTO) are met by providing flexible

Hey everyone,Just a quick one from me here, I was playing about in my lab installing Veeam B&R and Veeam ONE v11a (because, why not?!), when I hit a strange issue. I’d snapshotted my VM prior to installing Veeam ONE so that I could revert back and try different methods (and play with automation). The first time I installed Veeam ONE, it worked PERFECTLY. Next day I revert the VM and tried to install it again, and I got an error that it failed to create the website and wouldn’t install!It seemed strange that a virtual machine I’d powered off before snapshotting would have two different outcomes when in both scenarios I booted the VM up and installed Veeam ONE in an identical way.So I started to dig into this and found the problem was caused by a dependency. When Veeam ONE installs, the following dependencies are required:Microsoft IIS ASP.NET 4.5 Component .NET Extensibility 4.5 Component Default Document Component HTTP Errors Component Static Content Component Windows Authenti