Blogs and Podcasts

I was recently hospitalized due to a knee injury after a fall. While lying there, between medications and recovery, I thought — “Wouldn't it be great if we could restore our body to a previous healthy state with just one click?”Until that day comes (maybe in some sci-fi future 😄), I’m even more grateful that in IT, backup and restore is a reality — not just a dream.Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to restore critical systems, save companies from major incidents, and bring entire environments back to life — thanks to Veeam.It's funny how life reminds us of what truly matters. Backup is not just about data. It’s about continuity, resilience, and the power to recover when it matters most.I may not have been able to restore my knee instantly, but I'm grateful that in my career, I’ve helped restore what really keeps businesses alive.

Another great little thing is the possibility to display timestamps in job log in VBR console. As you know, logs in console look like this:You see start and end-time. But when happened steps in between? With v11 you can display timestamps too! Just right-click in headline and click Timestamp In my opinion this is very helpful! 

I have been working on some ideas involving RAG and Vector Databases, this initial post just explains what they are and how they can be used.  https://vzilla.co.uk/vzilla-blog/my-thoughts-on-retrieval-augmented-generation-rag-and-the-power-of-vector-databasesThe next steps is potentially a post on how do we protect these vector databases when bad things happen, the spoiler alert being these are like no other databases, they need protecting but also those backups can be used to do some interesting things. 

When you designing  your primary and DR kasten setup:both setup need to be installed at same namespace. Backup location settings need to be samecheck backup policy from catalog :kubectl -n kasten-io exec -it deploy/catalog-svc -c catalog-svc -- curl "http://catalog-svc:8000/v0/artifacts/search?key=manifest-policy&value=kasten-io-k10-disaster-recovery-policy"

I’d like to draw your attention to a small but significant feature that was introduced in Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1: Syslog support. As documented in the user guide (and in Veeam KB4522 with a few extra details), VBR 12.1’s syslog conforms to the industry standard RFC 5424 specification and supports UDP, TCP, and TLS transports.This feature opens the door to a huge array of security solutions. As you’ll see, this creates new opportunities for customers to incorporate VBR’s application events and malware signals into their broader security architectures and workflows to fortify their digital immune system.Veeam Backup & Replication, Meet Microsoft SentinelAs an example of what’s possible with syslog, I will walk you through how to set up VBR to send events to Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft’s cloud-native SIEM.Solution diagram - Veeam Backup & Replication sends event data to Microsoft Sentinel using syslog and Azure Monitor AgentUsing Azure Arc and the Azure Monitor Agen

In my previous article, I walked through the process of setting up Microsoft Sentinel and configuring Azure Arc and Azure Monitor Agent to collect Veeam application events using syslog. It had a great response from the Veeam community both externally and internally, and I’m happy to share part two with you today. Let’s dive right in. Analytics rulesNow that you have your Veeam events ingesting into Sentinel, it’s time to define the business logic that scans the data for notable events. These are called analytics rules. Based on the rules you define, Sentinel will create alerts and incidents based on the events occurring in your environment.You have a few options to create rules. For our example, we’ll use the scheduled query rule option to run a query every 15 minutes. However, as with many cybersecurity scenarios, time is of the essence, and the sooner you are aware of an event, the sooner you can respond and minimize impact.Accordingly, Microsoft provides an option for an NRT query r

I have been working at Veeam going on 9 years now and most of this time has been working with the VCSP/MSP team. Over the years there is always the question for a Veeam appliance to simplify deployment for the MSPs wanting to backup and protect their customers. Obviously as a software-based product you can always create a Veeam branded appliance, basically you pick the hardware vendor of your choice and install Veeam on it and you have an appliance 😀. At VeeamOn this year, a Veeam software appliance was announced along with an appliance partner mentioning an appliance as well. So, I thought it was a good idea to put up a post to break down options that I see coming from these offerings as well as just what is an option based on just the install.I would say there are basically 4 types of deployments that can be done, and they each have pros and cons. My goal is to cover these here at a high level and hopefully help guide you if you decide to venture into building one. This is not a com

With the topic of data freedom and the shakeup in the market caused by Broadcom. Customers are looking for alternative hypervisor choices.Nutanix AHV has been coming up lately as one alternative. In order to prepare a demo for a customer a little preparation is needed. Attempting to perform an IVMR without the preparatory steps will cause a blue screen stop code for a Windows VM see figure 1 below.  The reason for this is that Nutanix requires specific drivers for the Windows boot device. The drivers can be downloaded from the Nutanix downloads website see links below. The release notes will tell you how to download drivers see figure 2 below. You should also install Nutanix Guest Tools see link below, or they can be installed once from the hypervisor once the VM is migrated. I installed them on the Windows VM. Once the VirtIO drivers' and Nutanix Guest Tools packages are installed see figure 3, take another backup and perform another IVMR from the restore point with the drivers instal

Virtualization remains a cornerstone of modern IT infrastructure, with VMware ESXi historically recognized as a market leader for its robust enterprise features and mature ecosystem. However, as technology evolves, organizations—particularly small to mid-sized businesses—are increasingly prioritizing simplicity, scalability, and cost-efficiency.Enter Scale Computing’s SC//Platform—a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution designed to unify compute, storage, and virtualization in a single, integrated platform. This article offers a professional comparison between VMware ESXi and Scale Computing SC//Platform, outlining key architectural differences, licensing models, core features, and considerations for migration and vendor lock-in.Core Architecture & ManagementVMware ESXi is a Type-1 hypervisor that runs directly on bare metal, providing a solid foundation for virtual machine (VM) hosting. It is typically paired with VMware vCenter Server for centralized management, enabling a

kasten can edit multiple resource with transform sets which gave flexibility to change multiple object especially when restoring DR or different domain. put resource category and leave resource name empty. resource info put regular expression to change resource content (host of route) regex config example hosts before transform: elasticsearch-ui-elastic.apps.ocp.demo.localkibana-ui-elastic.apps.ocp.demo.local example hosts after transform: dr-elasticsearch-ui-elastic.apps.ocp.demo.localdr-kibana-ui-elastic.apps.ocp.demo.local It is important that host of route to be unique in cluster. By this transforms you can guarantee uniqueness of hosts 

Nutanix has issued another end of sales document for Nutanix Mine. They want existing customers to migrate to Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). There is currently no migration path for Nutanix Mine customers. They will have to build out a new cluster and copy their backups to the new cluster that is licensed for Nutanix Unified Storage. Please have customers reach out to the Nutanix reps to acquire appropriate licensing upgrade paths. I have attached the current EOS document below. Once the Veeam Nutanix Mine online documentation is updated it will also reflect this new document attached. The last supported version for Mine v4 will be Veeam Backup and Replication v12.x. Veeam Nutanix Mine System Requirements (Veeam Nutanix Mine documentation - update pending with new Nutanix EOS doc) 

 Sometimes, we need to remember some basic concepts to understand what happens "under the hood" in operations we perform on a day-to-day basis, such as performing an application-consistent backup and how to troubleshoot it. So, what is Microsoft VSS?Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is a volume backup framework in Microsoft Windows Operating Systems.It integrates with many applications and backup solutions, like Veeam Backup & Replication, to provide application-consistent backups. Why is VSS used? Some enterprise applications maintain transactional interdependencies between data files, logs, metadata, and in-memory data.For these applications, an application-consistent backup ensures that all these transactional elements are synchronized when captured by the backup requestHere, we show examples of applications integration with Microsoft VSS for consistent backups:Databases: SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL; Email Server: Microsoft Exchange; Enterprise Applications: SAP, Microsof

Hi AllI have been working on a 1 stop shop for everything Veeam Data Platform 12.3 documentation wiseThis includes a break down on the subscription offerings, and deploying and configuration information forVeeam Backup And ReplicationVeeam Enterprise ManagerVeeam ONEVeeam Recovery OrchestratorIts not an entirely complete guide, some bits I dropped out of the scope, as Veeam has SO much stuff and this was already getting long, so I covered what I felt was the most important featuresIts sectioned out to make it easier to read and due to the massive scope on itMost bits should adhear to best practicesI hope this helps people get the most out of Veeam, as I feels its the best out there and offers so much value in its feature sethttps://blog.leaha.co.uk/2025/04/22/veeam-data-platform-12-3-ultimate-deployment-guide/

Hi Everyone,Over the past few months, like many others, my role has shifted slightly.After years of working deeply with VMware technologies (vSphere, NSX, vSAN, Veeam integrations, etc.), I’m now also helping customers explore adjacent or complementary solutions — especially in Kubernetes-native environments.One technology that comes up a lot is KubeVirt — a way to run VMs inside Kubernetes clusters, alongside containers.It's not intended to replace vSphere, and it’s certainly not a "better vs worse" situation. It's simply different — and the learning curve can catch you off guard if you approach it expecting it to feel like vCenter.While working with KubeVirt, here are a few key takeaways I thought might be helpful to share: Storage is very different: Instead of datastores and VMDKs, you deal with Kubernetes PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) and CSI drivers. Live migration depends heavily on ReadWriteMany or block volumes. Networking needs a shift in mindset: Concepts like vSwitches and

Although this article on my blog is a bit older, it’s still relevant and maybe useful for some of you, who are running a DD with Retention Lock in Compliance mode. Let’s go:  Here is a short step-by-step guide on how to expand the capacity on a Dell Data Domain with Retention Lock Compliance Mode enabled. For a 'normal' Data Domain system, this is relatively easy to do via the Dell PowerProtect DD System Manager website. You select the Licenses option in the Administration section and simply swap the existing license for the new/updated license (obtained via the Dell Digital Locker ).   If you try this on a Retention Lock Compliance System, you will receive the following message: ErrorDD Retention Lock Compliance Mode is enabled. Operation requires Security Officer credentials and can be performed only via the Command Line Interface.   Command Line Interface / CLI For example, connect to the Data Domain via Putty. After successfully logging in (in this example, with the sysadmin accoun

  For those who follow the Veeam Data Trends reports, the latest 2025 report has been released. 1,300 organisations were surveyed, of which 900 had experienced at least one cyber attack in the past 12 months.This year’s research also includes insight from Coveware by Veeam’s own incident response data. Six Major Ransomware Trends for 2025 were highlighted:Law Enforcement Forces Threat Actors to Adapt Data Exfiltration Attacks Grow Ransomware Payments are Decreasing Emerging Legal Consequences of Ransom Payments Collaboration Reinforces Resilience Against Ransomware Budgets Rise for Security, but More is Needed Get your copy of the Risk to Resilience : 2025 Ransomware Trends & Proactive Strategies report here:https://go.veeam.com/ransomware-trends 

Veeam Backup & Replication Version 12.3.1.1139 – March 2025 Release OverviewVeeam Backup & Replication version 12.3.1.1139 was released on March 19, 2025. This update includes important security patches, new features, and enhancements. In this post, we'll cover the main highlights, such as security updates, improved platform support, and added functionalities.Security UpdatesVeeam Backup & Replication 12.3.1.1139 includes critical security patches addressing important vulnerabilities:CVE-2025-23120 (Critical - CVSS 9.9): This vulnerability allows authenticated domain users to execute remote code, making it a serious concern for domain-joined backup servers. It’s worth noting that this vulnerability only affects domain-joined backup servers, which goes against the Security & Compliance Best Practices. It's crucial for users to apply this update as soon as possible.New Features and EnhancementsThis release introduces several new features and enhancements across various pl

We should be plotting something!  As part of the presentation at VeeamON 2025 with ​@Geoff Burke, we introduced the new Grafana Dashboard, inspired by ​@jorge.delacruz's work for several Veeam products.The dashboard supports one or multiple clusters containing one or multiple nodes.For both the cluster and the nodes, the following details are available:Cluster and Node status Including Update and join/leave status Capacity status CPU & Disk I/O Network graphs (S3 and Internode) Internode graph will be empty if there is only one node in the cluster S3 Service Storage UsageThe following things are required:Grafana InfluxDB 2 Git Linux OSGrafana dashboard screenshotYou need to install some software if you are not already running a Grafana dashboard for Veeam. To get things started, follow Jorge's blog post. You could skip the Telegraf parts.After successfully installing Grafana and InfluxDB 2, you can continue installing the dashboard according to the procedure on the GitHub reposit

Over the past few months, I have been studying and testing different options for secure and immutable backup storage with Veeam Backup & Replication. I tried to compare the features of the available options:Veeam Hardened Repository Object Storage Repositories Deduplicating Storage AppliancesOf course, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. The best choice always depends on specific requirements and the environment. Some products even cross traditional category boundaries, making direct comparisons even more important.I would love to hear your opinions on the advantages and disadvantages, your real-world experiences, and any corrections or additional insights you might have. In the article, I also summarized the key parameters of selected products.Any feedback is very much appreciated!Choosing a secure backup storage solution for Veeam

!-->If you've ever worked with tape backups, you probably know that setting up a tape library with Veeam can seem a bit complicated at first.!-->However, once you understand how everything fits together and follow the correct steps, the whole process becomes much more manageable.!-->In this post, I’d like to share my hands-on experience with this integration, from detecting the library, configuring the environment, creating tape jobs. !-->Installing the Medium Changer Driver !-->Before anything else, it’s important that Veeam correctly detects both the tape library and the tape drives.!-->After connecting the device via SAS or FC through the HBA, installing the correct drivers is a critical step.!-->Go to IBM Fix Central and download the drivers for the SO, library and your LTO drive models.!--> !-->!-->On Windows, make sure the Medium Changer is listed as IBM 3573-TLMedium Changer. If it shows up as Unknown Medium Changer, Veeam might not be able to ident

 Veeam’s latest report, From Risk to Resilience: 2025 Ransomware Trends and Proactive Strategies, reveals alarming insights into the evolving ransomware threat landscape. Surveying 1,300 IT and security leaders, the report highlights:69% of organizations experienced a ransomware attack in the past year. 10% of organizations recovered more than 90% of their data post-attack. 57% recovered less than 50% of their data.Key trends include:Data Exfiltration Attacks: Cybercriminals increasingly steal sensitive information without encrypting systems. Decreasing Ransom Payments: More organizations are opting not to pay ransoms, emphasizing the importance of robust recovery strategies. Law Enforcement Impact: Coordinated efforts have disrupted major ransomware groups, but smaller and independent attackers are on the rise. Collaboration is Crucial: Enhanced communication between IT and security teams, along with partnerships with law enforcement, strengthens defenses.The report underscores the im

In my previous post, we installed the Nutanix CE in our Supermicro E300-9D server,Now, is time to config initial aspects, to then continue running and setting up our Server.This is how it looks right now:Now, we are going to go to settings, top left menu, click and select SettingsHere, on the left, we can see all settings, lets navigate through them and configure some important aspects as shown on the screenshots:I added the following details to my cluster:We already know that the CVM is the Controller VM with takes care of all aspects of our Cluster, Storage, Compression, Dedup… etc.From here, we can choose the memory size of our CVM, for now, 20GB to keep it «light» for the labPulseNTPemail alerting and digestThese were the «common» settings I normally touch / check the very beginning, now, lets jump into something super important, Inventory.This means, looking for cluster updates, software, AHV, firmwares, drivers, etc.Easy to use, Simple run an Inventory, if detects anything to be

I was inspired by several forum questions, where I would like to present, mainly for new members.               There are requirements of several level of encryption. This could be enabled onBackup level – encryption inside of backup job (for VM) (for agent is encryption on repository and for plugin is on database level) Platform level – encryption of VM should be provided Transport level – encrypted transport of backups to repository For companies of sensitive data with highest security is not enough only to have encrypted backup and VM, but as well transport of backups. Hot-Add Method               Veeam can take a snapshot and create link of snapshot (cloned VM) and attach virtual disks on Veeam Proxy. This is provided via ISCSI Hot-Add method, where backed up VM and Veeam proxy are running on the same ESX host.               This is best practice. So, the best is used with so many proxy servers as how many ESX hosts we have, because is best performance, latency of backup.          

NetApp has released new All SAN Array models AKA ASA.R2 (ASA A1K, ASA A70, and ASA A90). These models will only support REST API. Veeam supports ONTAP integration only with ZAPI (ONTAPI). NetApp continues to support ZAPI and has no official EOA for it yet see NetApp doc below. I extracted a piece of this doc that says there is no firm date for EOA.CPC-00410 - Deferral of ONTAPI (ZAPI) End-of-Availability AnnouncementThis correspondence is an update to our previous announcement from February 2023, which stated the end of availability (EOA) of ONTAPI (ZAPI) in January 2024. Upon reassessment and recognizing our customers' continued reliance on ONTAPI, we have decided to prolong offering ONTAPI. Consequently, the EOA for ONTAPI is now deferred until further communication.Note: Veeam also only qualifies GA versions of ONTAP. Once the GA version is available, it will show up on our Veeam documentation site link below😀.Veeam NetApp ONTAP SupportThanks,Pete

First of all : Wishing you a happy new year with the hope that you will have many blessings in the year to come. 1. ObjectiveThe objective of this deep dive is to detail the steps to follow to activate the Inline Malwares Detection feature.2. Introduction2.1 Description of Inline Malwares DetectionVeeam Backup & Replication 12.1 introduces a new security feature called “Encryption Detection”. It is an online entropy analysis that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to detect previously unencrypted data that becomes encrypted in processed disk images.This allows for the detection of a potential ransomware attack. “Inline Entropy” analyzes data on the fly during backups.Veeam is not intended to replace detection tools (EDR/XDR, Antivirus) that must be installed and configured on production environments, but rather complements them to facilitate forensic analysis and determine healthy backup points.Detecting data encryption as quickly as possible is a key element