Blogs and Podcasts

In the ever-evolving landscape of information technology, the safeguarding of critical data remains paramount. Among the crucial elements ensuring data integrity and recovery, versioning and retention policies stand tall, forming the bedrock of robust data protection solutions. This article, "Versioning and Retention Policies," aims to delve deep into these foundational components, offering insights and strategies crucial for IT experts aiming to build comprehensive data protection frameworks.Understanding the Essence of Versioning in Data BackupsAt the heart of any effective backup strategy lies versioning—a mechanism that enables the preservation of multiple iterations of data over time. The importance of versioning cannot be overstated; it serves as a safeguard against data corruption, accidental deletions, and the ever-looming threat of cyberattacks.Data Recovery and Resilience Versioning within backups se

Hey! There are many new features in the Veeam Data Platform 23H2 release. Discover some of them in the video below and at the following links: https://www.veeam.com/whats-new-backup-replication.htmlhttps://www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_12_1_whats_new_wn.pdfhttps://www.veeam.com/veeam_console_8_0_whats_new_wn.pdf Download the trial version here:

Hi Everyone, As always after a move I was going through old stuff and found my lucky winner post from 2017. At the time on the Veeam Forums there was a contest to win a trip to VeeamON 2017 in New Orleans.. I was not sure whether to post or not. Fear of being laughed at or ridiculed was strong, but luckily I had managed to make a fool of myself so often during my schooling years the phobia had somewhat lessened! In short folks don’t be shy and get creative! You never know where it may get you.Here is the poem that I wrote about Veeam: A good morning starts with coffee and creamwhile viewing a backup report that is colored in green.There was a time when nothing of the sort would be seenThose were the bad old backup days before the arrival of VeeamBroken restores will break an Admin's spleenBut by using Veeam one's health remains keenNo backup operator wants to face an angry user who turns meanInst

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.  

In the realm of IT infrastructure and data management, the terms "replication" and "backup" are often used interchangeably, leading to misconceptions about their functionalities. While both processes involve duplicating data, they serve distinct purposes in safeguarding data integrity and availability. Understanding the fundamental disparities between data replication and backup is pivotal for designing a robust data protection strategy. The Essence of ReplicationReplication primarily focuses on mirroring data from one location or system to another in real-time or near-real-time. It ensures data consistency across different environments, enabling high availability and disaster recovery. The goal of replication is to maintain synchronized copies of data to facilitate continuous operations and minimize downtime in case of hardware failure or site disasters.The synchronicity of replication is also its biggest weak point – all errors i

Just a short post today - I cherry picked a couple of my favourite features of 12.1. There were so many to choose from, but the features I love best in new releases are often the big heroes that hide in the shadows.  Maintenance mode enhancements — running Cloud Connect Replication jobs and Cloud Connect CDP policies will now be stopped gracefully and prevented from starting automatically for the duration of the maintenance mode. This one has long been a thorn for us Service Providers. You put the environment into maintenance mode, but replicas continue to come through. I’m excited to see this new feature being implemented! Now maintenance on CC environments are going to be much less troublesome! PostgreSQL database support — following multiple optimizations and QA testing, starting from v12.1 we’re removing the previous recommendation not to use PostgreSQL as a configuration database for  Veeam Cloud Con

Hi Everyone,My most liked new features in Veeam 12.1  

Recently I added to my home lab, an Ubuntu Server with a Hardened Repository for Veeam Backup, you can find more info here (Spanish).Now, the thing is, I want to be able to get notified if some user logs into the server via ssh, as a extra control, since I disable the SSH service when I dont use it.Also the idea came, to be able to get notified from other applications via telegram, so wasn't a crazy idea at the end.You can easily find how to create a Bot, and how to get your ID, so Im not going to dive into that, from previous entries, or the internet.So first, once we have create

We all have seen the raft of big-ticket new features but there are a lot of ‘small’ things in this release as well. One of my favourite features is the Disk Space check when doing an upgrade. This should make performing upgrades a smoother process, especially for those managing multiple VBR deployments. The private hotfix check is another welcome addition.What’s your favourite ‘small’ feature in this release? 

Author's note:Today's article lays the foundation for best practices for a general backup strategy. The description mentions many terms and procedures that will be discussed in more detail in later articles. In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, the importance of a comprehensive data backup strategy cannot be overstated. IT experts tasked with safeguarding valuable data understand the critical role that backups play in ensuring business continuity and mitigating potential risks associated with data loss or corruption. To establish a reliable data protection solution, it's essential to embrace key best practices that encompass robust strategies, security measures, automation, and seamless integration into disaster recovery plans. Align Backup Strategies with Business NeedsA fundamental step in crafting an effective backup strategy is aligning it with the specific needs and objectives of the

Hi Everyone,Recently I took an old powerful desktop and leveraged Proxmox in order to turn it into a cheap and non intrusive (furniture wise) virtual lab. My previous lab was an old but pretty powerful IBM Thinkpad. I was not using virtualisation just various flavours of Kubernetes on an Ubuntu 20.04 server OS. Old Thinkpad​​​​​​I had done quite a bit of work on my old lab despite its humble characteristics and I was also thinking about re-inventing this laptop with some mini Linux distribution or even FreeBSD. I had already setup a VBR server in my Proxmox setup with a Linux repository so I added my Thinkpad to a protection group, installed the agent and ran a full backup. This was easy enough and I believe has been covered here many times so I will jump to the BMR restore.I downloaded the

I thought I’d put my thoughts on Veeam Service Provider Console out there. Hopefully, it will be of use to MSP’s out there.Working in the MSP space for the last 10+ years managing multiple deployments has always been time-consuming, especially as most MSPs usually distribute this workload to operational teams rather than having a dedicated team managing the platform. Enter Veeam Service Provider Console. I believe that Veeam Service Provider Console is one of the products least used to its full potential by MSPs. Deployed correctly it can be a very useful and time-saving addition to your toolset.What is Veeam Service Provider Console?Veeam Service Provider Console provides centralized management and monitoring of your various Veeam deployments such as VBR servers, M365 & Agents.Why should I use it?Version 8 of the console brings a raft of n

 WhyA Key Management Service (KMS) is a system or platform that securely stores, manages, and backs up cryptographic keys. These keys are used for encrypting and decrypting data, as well as for digital signatures. Key Management Services are crucial for organizations that deal with a large number of digital keys and certificates. They help ensure the security and integrity of sensitive information by providing a centralized and secure way to manage cryptographic keys. Without a proper key management service, organizations may face challenges in locating and managing their keys, which can lead to security vulnerabilities. A Key Management Service is an essential component of a robust security strategy, ensuring the secure and efficient management of cryptographic keys and sensitive data.FortanixThe Key Management Service by Fortanix 

Another possible topic for a future VMCE study group 😃.We are not robots, although sometimes on a Monday morning I sure do to feel like one. I think that there are very few of us out there you can claim that our performance is always consistent. There are some people who I would term are forever 1 + 1 = 2. However, I know for a fact that I can be 1 + 1 =20 on a certain days, and before I quit drinking beer you could have stuck a random number generator in that equation for all my consistency was worth.We often hear about great athletes, artists and others talking about being in the “zone”. As I understand it this is a state where things are just flowing, complications become easy and performance is optimal. Whatever you want to call such a state we can probably all agree that there are times when we feel that we are getting the best out of ourselves and times when we are not. In other words there are situations when we are not performing to or even near o

Hi everybody. I’ve put a small blogpost togethers about an issue I experienced last week with the all-in-one ISO to create a hardenened immutable repo. This ISO was GA’ed during VeeamOn during the session of @Rick Vanover@HannesK  and Christoph Meyer. (more info here ) It seems that the script is too eager to reinitialise all disks during the setup. So I ended with a blank GPT partition on an hybrid USB drive/virtual DVD device. 😬 All details can be found on my blog: https://integriservices.blogspot.com/2023/12/hey-immutable-script-

Hi Everyone,This morning I went and took the V12 Exam. There were some huge non related hurdles involved but in the end all was good. To start with the night before I got some other news that kept me awake for most of the night. You know something not awful, not great but enough to… keep your brain working. Then you start to get annoyed as you know that you have to sleep for the exam BUT getting annoyed also keeps your brain alert. In the morning I was completely exhausted. To make matters worse Winter decided to show up and it was freezing. I decided to go to a testing center which now after the pandemic are all located way out in Polar bear land. The transit app lied about the bus arrival time and I froze, then the transit app lied again about the second bus. Then I arrived and the test center folks did not show up 15 minutes early anyways so I was left to wander in the vast waste lands of suburbia parking lots with a billion mile an hour wind attacking

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

I had a discussion recently about backing up ‘standalone’ ESXi servers, without the vCenter Server application. The discussion started around we were sharing my homelab but the use case became attractive for retail, edge and other ROBO scenarios. Why no vCenter Server Application?I do not run the vCenter Server Server Appliance (vCSA) at home simply because I don’t need it. At home I recently simplified my home lab. In March and April, I had to work from home for a while and it made me think about the home lab since I wasn’t travelling. I upgraded to a new host (still on vSphere) but really don’t need the vCSA. I do *not* use the free ESXi hypervisor, as I use the vExpert license on the host to unlock the full APIs that I need for backup. In our work lab environment, we definitely use the VCSA

In the realm of data protection and recovery, the term "snapshot" often emerges, lauded for its efficiency and speed in capturing point-in-time states. However, it's crucial to dispel a common misconception:snapshots are not synonymous with backupsThey serve distinct purposes and possess fundamental differences that impact their reliability and comprehensive data protection capabilities. Key DifferencesDependency: Snapshots are often reliant on the original data source. If the primary data encounters issues, such as corruption or failure, snapshots tied directly to it may become compromised. In contrast, backups maintain independence from the original source, reducing the risk of losing data due to primary system issues. Data Retention: Snapshots are typically short-term solutions for immediate recovery needs. They may not suffice for long-term data retention or comp

Everyone that knows me a little, knows that I’m a big fan of the 3-2-1-1-0 golden backup rule just like @Rick Vanover is also a big fan of this rule.In every conversation with a customer I will discuss and clarify this topic.For those who don’t know what the golden backup rule 3-2-1-1-0 means 😁, I wrote years ago a post of this topic it with more explanation (it pas my first post that achieved the weekly recap 🤗). Since then more followed...More info : 3-2-1-1-0 Golden Backup Rule | Veeam Community Resource Hub Well, in my opinion this golden backup rule is from now on not sufficient anymore and should be improved to a new rule!Why?Well, in version 12.1 of VBR there will be a lot of new functionalities regarding to detect ransomware, mal

Hi Veeam Cloud Service Providers partners! Veeam released the Service Provider Console version 7 in FY23H1. It is very important to carry out this update as many benefits and improvements have been added for you! For a detailed step-by-step guide on how to upgradeStep by step to upgrade Veeam Service Provider Console to v7 – Cloud and Roll (cloudnroll.com) References:Upgrading Veeam Service Provider Console – Veeam Service Provider Console Deploym

Good Community Day to everyone -I am pleased to share with the Community I scheduled my VMCE 2023 on v12 exam for this morning and was able to pass; even scored a little higher than the goal I set for myself. I was able to get into the 800s, so was pleased with my result.@Michael Melter created a post just under 2 weeks ago, and shared some great information. For a review of his post, you can read it here:I won’t re-hash the same things, but will give a little bit different take from my perspective though. Like Michael shares in his post, follow through the VMCE v12 Study Guide, as well as Anton’s

It’s the year of Linux!!! Well, at least for me it is. 😉 I’ve used a decent amount of Linux CLI over the years in managing vSphere environments, but not learned near as much as I wanted to. I always felt a void in my depth of knowledge & expertise about Linux. So I started this year going all in with LFCSA (Linux Foundation Certified Systems Administration) video courses on Pluralsight, learning about Linux Storage, Operations, Users & Groups, Service, and Network Management.Because I’m way more comfortable now using Linux, I’m planning on implementing Linux systems as Veeam Backup components in my environment to decrease the heightened security risk Windows systems tend to pose. As such, I’ve been reading up on Linux implementation in Veeam’s User Guides, starting with the Veeam Agent for Linux (VAL) User Guide. I thought I would share my Linux Agent journey from Preparation, to Install/Implementation, to “Hiccups” encountered, to Backup Success with the Communi

 In my last post I covered the requirements and necessary steps to configure immutability for HPE StoreOnce with Veeam V12. In this post I want to focus on how immutability behaves in different scenarios.Enable immutability for existing Catalyst storesIf you have existing Catalyst stores, the good news is that it’s possible to enable immutability for them. Let’s take a look at the Veeam helpcenter:Note that if you enable immutability and Veeam Backup & Replication does not start a new backup chain and still continues the chain, the whole backup chain is marked as immutable.https://helpcenter.veeam.c