Blogs and Podcasts

I finally had some time to wire in the Veeam Ports MCP server into GPT. It works but has a number of steps in the process. If you are like me you watch the token burn in Claude for projects like these.  This started with EdxH’s post on the Veeam Ports MCP server introducing the project & GitHub repo.The repo is @ https://github.com/shapedthought/veeam-ports-mcp. I wanted to see what it took to make that same idea work /w GPT.Claude Desktop can launch a local MCP server /w STDIO. The Veeam Ports MCP repo already shows that path well. GPT expects an MCP endpoint instead. On my end that meant I had to put a bridge and a tunnel in the middle before GPT could make use of the tool correctly.Once that was running, I could describe a VBR v13 layout in plain language and get back firewall rules, topology output, and a Magic Ports import file (yea).The painful part was useful as well. I learned that a topology JSON and a Magic Ports import JSON are not the same thing. They look close enough

Throughout this tape series, I explored installation, troubleshooting, tape cleaning procedures, advanced diagnostics, and real-world operational scenarios involving Veeam tape environments.But there is another side of tape infrastructure that usually only receives attention when something starts going wrong: tape library administration.And many times, the problem is not directly related to the backup job itself.Issues often appear around: media movement firmware inconsistencies robotics communication tape-out operations media rotation hardware lifecycle operational mistakes In enterprise environments, tape infrastructure eventually becomes much more than just a backup target.It becomes an operational platform that requires maintenance, organization, validation, and process consistency. Understanding Control Path and Data PathOne of the first important concepts in enterprise tape environments is understanding the difference between control path and data path.The control pat

TL;DROn May 14, 2026, the PostgreSQL Global Development Group released security updates for all supported branches (18.4, 17.10, 16.14, 15.18, 14.23), fixing 11 CVEs, several rated CVSS 8.8. If you run VBR on Windows with PostgreSQL as your configuration database, you are affected. Veeam does not auto-update PostgreSQL. You have to do it yourself! Here is what you need to know and what to do about it. Why this matters for VBRSince VBR v12, PostgreSQL has been the default (and recommended) configuration database. VBR v13 GA ships with PostgreSQL 17.6, and the latest cumulative update (13.0.1.2067) bumps it to 17.9.1. Both versions are below the patched 17.10 and therefore vulnerable to all 11 CVEs disclosed on May 14 (PostgreSQL release announcement).If you are still on VBR v12.x, your PostgreSQL 15.x is equally affected and needs to be updated to at least 15.18 (PostgreSQL release announcement).The key takeaway: Veeam does not update the PostgreSQL instance between VBR cumulative updat

In my latest blog article part 2 of Integration  Veeam with CrowStrike, I'll walk through the steps of a recent implementation & integration of CrowdStrike with Veeam backup servers. Cyberattacks continue to target backup infrastructure because attackers know backups are often the last line of defense. Traditional antivirus solutions are no longer enough to protect modern backup environments, especially when ransomware actors specifically target backup repositories, backup servers, and privileged accounts.That’s where integrating CrowdStrike with Veeam Software can significantly improve your security posture.By combining Veeam’s ransomware detection and secure recovery capabilities with CrowdStrike Falcon’s endpoint protection and threat intelligence, organizations can better detect, contain, and recover from cyber incidents.In this lab guide, I’ll walk through the steps to implement and configure CrowdStrike integration with Veeam and explain how the two platforms complement each

Hi all,I had a customer who needed a way to obtain Veeam Software Appliance (VAS) updates within a closed OT/dark site/closed environment.However, the challenge was that they lacked Linux experience and would prefer to do everything in native Windows, without using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). If you have no idea what I am talking about, read this section of the Veeam help center: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbr/userguide/update_appliance_configure_updates.html?ver=13#setting-up-custom-update-configurationSo my idea was to build/configure two components:1) A PowerShell script that can be run in Windows to download the necessary files from repository.veeam.com to a computer with internet access and then zip the files into a single large Zip file. 2) Create an IIS server website with all update files needed for the VSA. Then we can easily hand-carry the Zip files from the internet-connected Windows computer to the IIS server in the OT/dark site/closed environment with you pre

 Every now and then you get customer requests that initially knock you off your feet — because you can tell right away: this isn’t described anywhere in the documentation. Then it’s time to truly understand the problem, clarify the requirements properly (does the problem even exist in that form, or can it be solved differently?), research internally, potentially review a feature request including the use case — and finally think about how to help the customer pragmatically in the short term: the good old “workaround” or “self-fix.”That was the case here as well. A customer is using the standalone Veeam Plug-in for Oracle RMAN and wants to install the Veeam plug-in — however, in the customer’s environment it is intentionally used as unmanaged. At the same time, the rollout should be automated, and no one should have to type or “expose” a password.Die Veeam documentation refers to the option of copying the “configuration file” to other servers; however, you then have to reset the passwor

 Veeam Backup & Replication 13.0.2 dropped yesterday — and if you manage a smaller environment where a single Windows Server hosts all the things (Proxy, Mount Service, vPowerNFS, Guest Interaction Proxy, you name it), you may have hit an annoying moment when tried to open the console after upgrading the VBR server. You open up the Veeam Backup & Replication console, enter your server's name, click Connect — and instead of the familiar dashboard, you get this:      Failed to connect to the backup server: the connection has been established but client update is required, however this machine is hosting other roles. Make sure these following roles are not in use and uninstall them … The message is accurate: the console client is older than the freshly updated server, and the in-place update mechanism wants you to remove other roles before it allows the console to update itself. In a larger, role-separated architecture that is fine — but in a compact single-server se

When I logged on to my Object First Appliance again, I saw that an update was available once more.Honestly, it’s almost too simple to write a blog post about, but why not ;-) Updating your Object First (Ootbi) appliance is super easy and quick (and much faster than it took to write this post).Updates roll out security patches, bug fixes, performance improvements, and new features — and the best part is that the whole thing is driven from a easy Web UI with only some clicks.In this post, I’ll walk you through updating your Ootbi cluster end to end: the online method (for internet-connected appliances), the offline method (for air-gapped or security-restricted environments), and the pre- and post-update checks I always recommend before calling the job done.Good to know: Ootbi updates are applied at the cluster level, not node by node. When you trigger an update, it’s automatically pushed across every node in the cluster, so all your nodes stay on the same version without any extra effort

Enhancement of NFS repository NFS repository is rely on NFS protocol, which is not built for heavy loads and using it should be used only, if another setup of repository is not possible.In my usecase is the only option, how to avoid connection of guests to repositories. NFS repository does not support fast cloning, so consumption is much higher like on repository with direct attached storage or object storage.Synthetic backup is taking very, very long for big VMs especially. How synthetic backup works with NFS repositoryDuring process gateway server needs to take files on gateway, where is data mover, create synthetic full backup and send it backup on nfs storage. How NFS repository works: they are mounting during backup/restore process in one threat and unmounted after backup/restore is done:  Such configuration is very safe and is not visible nfs export during non-runtime. Based on my test one threat can run backups around 21MBps on 1Gbps line.In this case was distance was 50km and s

Today marks a big milestone as my fourth book was published - Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication v13.  I wrote a blog about it when you can read in the link below, and I have put the links to Packt/Amazon where you can find it if interested. 😎This one was great to write, and I especially enjoyed the chapter on Veeam ONE that I put in this book.  I would truly like to thank ​@Rick Vanover for his chapter contribution about the Console (Chapter 4) and also ​@NikolaPejkova for her inspiring Foreword that she wrote, it was very touching, and I am grateful.Blog - Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication v13 - BlogBook LinksPackt - Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication v13 - PacktAmazon - Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication v13 - Amazon

 Ever wanted to chage your managed server from an IP Adress or DNS (shortname) to FQDN. Then you will find this article very useful. Since the move to version Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR) v13, we have seen that FQDN works more reliably in VBR/VSA due to strict reverse DNS requirements for certificate authentication, SSH, and agent deployment on Linux. IPs skip PTR lookups and often fail validation as demonstrated in this guide “Building VIHR: Ransomware-Proof Repository with Veeam JeOS“. In this article, we shall discuss how to “Switch from IP to DNS names for Backup Infrastructure in VBR cleanly”Managed Server Object RenamePrior to running the commands below you need to identify the IP\DNS (shortname) utilized by your Managed Server currently. Since I am currently using the hostname as Techda01 for example, and this could even be an IP address in your vase, this would need to be changed very shortly to a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). Note: Until now, this change cannot b

Reflections from my MC2MC Rocket Talk – 21 May 2026  On 21 May 2026, I had the opportunity and privilege to speak at the MC2MC Community event, proudly sponsored by my company ORBID. During my rocket talk, I shared insights into a topic that is becoming increasingly critical for organizations operating in the cloud:How can we move beyond native Azure backup capabilities to achieve true data resilience?As more businesses migrate workloads to Microsoft Azure, protecting data is no longer just about creating backups—it is about ensuring business continuity, cyber resilience, and recovery flexibility.  Why Data Protection Matters More Than EverThe session started with a reality check.Today's organizations face a growing number of threats and challenges:89% of ransomware attacks explicitly target backups. 33% of production workloads experienced unexpected outages last year. 82% of organizations cannot recover fast enough to meet business requirements. 82% cite a skills shortage as their num

Hi everyone,I am delighted to present my first blog post and my first contribution to the Veeam community today. I would be very grateful for any feedback 😊 When working with Veeam Recovery Orchestrator (VRO), you might occasionally run into situations where the system makes decisions that aren’t immediately intuitive. Recently, a partner approached us with a scenario that raised exactly that kind of question: How does VRO choose which backup copy to use when multiple copies exist? Let’s walk through the use case, the unexpected behavior, and what we learned from digging into it. The Scenario In this environment, VRO is running at the disaster recovery site and orchestrating a vSphere-to-vSphere restore plan. The plan uses the following steps:  A backup-to-disk job writes backups to a local backup repository. Immediately afterward, two backup copy jobs run in parallel to copy the backup data to two additional repositories — let’s call them Repository A and Repository B. The restor

Recently, some of us received email notifications regarding the vulnerabilities listed below. A few members of the community have already shared updates as shown below.In this guide, we shall update our Veeam Backup and Replciation Server to version 13.0.2.29.To learn more about these security issues, refer to the following Veeam Knowledge Base (KB) articles: “4852 (affects v13.0.1.2067), while, 4831 (affects 13.0.1.1071 and earlier), and 4858 (affects Veeam ONE). Veeam Security Updates and Build References OverviewThe table below provides an overview of the latest Veeam security updates, cumulative patches, and build references affecting Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam ONE deployments. These updates address multiple security vulnerabilities, platform stability issues, and operational improvements that you should review and apply to safeguard your systems.KB Update Type Affected Product Purpose / Fix Severity Requires Reboot Recommended Action Notes KB4831 Sec

AI in Production on OpenShift: Designing for Resilience, Portability, and Control At Red Hat Summit 2026 in Atlanta, Veeam delivered a lightning talk that reframes how platform engineers should think about AI workloads on OpenShift.The core shift: AI placement is no longer a technical decision — it's a business and risk decision."The question is no longer 'Can I run AI here?' — it's 'Where should this workload run, and under whose control?'" This post covers the key architectural principles from that session, the data that backs them up, and a concrete use case that shows what this looks like in practice. Why Placement Matters More Than EverThe assumption that AI lives in the public cloud is already outdated. The actual distribution of AI/ML workloads today:65% on-prem, colocation, specialist GPU clouds, or network operatorsAnd placement has real operational consequences: The driver behind this is a shift toward AI sovereignty — and it goes well beyond data residency.Sovereign AI: Cont

Data is at the forefront of what drives organizations today. It drives businesses, powering operations, assisting with decision making and providing a competitive edge. At its core, Veeam Data Platform protects organization’s data, giving it resiliency and the strength to bounce back from disruption. To achieve ultimate resiliency, organizations need to encompass more than just backup, they need to think about recovery, security, intelligence and automation. With this, the monitoring and analytics provided within the Platform, empowers organizations to shift from reactive to proactive data resilience. This latest release continues to innovate, giving customers more options on how they want to consume Veeam.Veeam is all about giving customers choice, giving them the option to self-manage their backup environment, consume it as-a-Service, or utilize a Service Provider to help them manage data protection operations. With the latest news from Veeam, now you can utilize the Veeam Software A

... how to successfully use Windows Server 2025 with Veeam v13 in a workgroupA well-known song by the famous Italian singer Domenico Modugno, called 'Meraviglioso', began like this:È veroCredetemi è accadutoDi notte su di un ponteGuardavo l'acqua scuraCon la dannata vogliaDi fare un tuffo giùIntroductionToday I’m going to tell you a true story.Last Saturday, a former colleague contacted me in order to request my help to resolve a complex situation involving one of his clients. I'm turning into a superhero!SituationThe architecture has been implemented with a Veeam Backup & Replication v13 server and a Veeam ONE server, both of which are operating in Workgroup on Windows Server 2025. The customer does not have a domain, and therefore no Active Directory from which vulnerabilities could be inherited. They don't have a DNS server, so I've configured hosts files on both servers.Having verified that static IP addresses were configured as part of the same VLAN and that firewalls on the V

Veeam released a new Cumulative Patch for Veeam Backup & Replication 11a: 11.0.1.1261 P20211211Includes a lot of new platform support and a few fixes. See detailed release notes:https://www.veeam.com/kb4245

Are you planning to build Veeam 13 environment on appliances only? Veeam 13 offers backup environment via appliances. VBR and VEM via VSA appliance and proxy with gateway servers via VIA appliance. Hmm, probably you need to consider windows component in backup environment. Of course if you are planning functionality of backup environment like:FLR for Windows Server Application backup  Guest Interaction Proxy (gMSA) Item-level Restore  FLR for Windows ServerIt is needed to define Windows “Mount Server” for repository for usecases:VMware replication job with Re-IP rules Instant Recovery of  Microsoft Windows workloads Instant Disk Recovery for Microsoft Windows workloads Application item restore Secure restore for workloads with ReFS volumes Scan Backup for workloads with ReFS volumes SureBackup Guest OS file restore for Microsoft Windows workloads with ReFS volumes, or from workloads with data deduplication enabled for some volumes  Guest Interaction Proxy Based on KB you can use:appli

I think part of the confusion around high availability comes from how universally we try to apply it.Once it works well at the application layer, the instinct is to push the same thinking everywhere else. If something matters, it should be highly available. Reduce downtime, remove single points of failure, make everything seamless.That logic starts to break down when you look at systems that aren’t serving users directly, like backup systems.There’s a discussion in the Veeam community where someone asked a straightforward question: how do you make Veeam for AWS highly available?One of the answers pointed in a different direction. Instead of treating it as something that must always stay up, the focus was on backing up its configuration and, if needed, redeploying a new instance and restoring it.At first, that feels counterintuitive. If everything else is designed for high availability, why not this as well?But it makes more sense once you think about what problem you’re actually trying

 In this guide, we will discuss the steps to Update Veeam Backup & Replication to Build 13.0.1.2067 due to the following security Vulnerabilities. Veeam Backup & Replication 13.0.1.2067 delivers critical updates focused on strengthening security, improving platform stability, and enhancing integration across backup, cloud, and storage environments.If you have still not patched your VBR yet, you will find this guide very useful: https://techdirectarchive.com/2026/05/19/how-to-patch-vbr-server/

Hi Community! If you use Veeam Backup & Replication to protect Linux environments, you may have encountered the strict requirements of its kernel modules. I recently had an interesting problem with a Oracle Linux 8.9 system running Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK).SituationThe plan was simple: use the Veeam Agent for Linux (VAL) in managed mode to backup some Folders and a PostgreSQL database. I needed something called "Application-Aware Processing" (AAP) to make sure the database was consistent, so I couldn't use 'nosnap mode' (which doesn't require the kernel module).TaskHere is what the environment looked like: Veeam Agent for Linux (VAL): 6.3.2 OS: Oracle Linux 8.9 Kernel (UEK): 5.15.0-205.149.5.1.el8uek.x86_64 Veeam module status: veeamsnap, 6.3.2.1207: added (via dkms status)IssueWhen starting the backup job from the VBR server, the task fails, returning this sequence of errors:Failed to create volume snapshot Failed to take volume snapshot Failed to perform managed b

 In this post, I intend to explore key concepts of Agentic AI, outline the risks posed by autonomous agents, and discuss mitigation strategies and emerging global standards that shape responsible agent deployment.This is a fascinating topic that goes beyond the traditional borders of IT cybersecurity.For each concept, threat, and mitigation strategy presented in the text, a practical example will simulate a customer interacting with an airline AI agent to manage a seat.Most of the content below is based on the “State of Agentic AI Security and Governance” and “Agentic AI – Threats and Mitigations” reports from the OWASP GenAI Security Project – Agentic Security Initiative (ASI).You can also get access to this article on my blog: Agentic AI Security: Managing the Autonomous Risk - CloudnRollContext of the New Agentic Era ChallengesAgentic AI represents the next evolution of artificial intelligence, building on foundational components such as Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval-Au

I have been recently reading a great book on German philosophy and hit upon a debate on language that can be easily time travelled to today with all the questions surrounding AI. After all they are not called Large Language Models for nothing.  Yesterday evening when reading about Johann Gottfried (ha that is my first name in German Geoffrey 😁)Herder and Johann Georg Hamman both born in the 17 hundreds it suddenly struck me the debates going on back then have taken on a whole new meaning with LLMS. Do LLMs think? I asked AI about Herder and Hamann’s views:“Philosophers like Herder and Hamann argued that meaning is rooted in embodied, social, historical experience you can't separate words from the life lived around them. On this view, LLMs produce the shape of language without the substance.”This is opposed by the Functionalists: The most well known modern one being Alan Turing who broke the German enigma code in WW2:“if a machine is behaviourally indistinguishable from a thinking huma

Digital Sovereignty  A few weeks ago, I was at the Women in Tech Global Summit in Cape Town, and one topic kept coming up in almost every conversation: digital sovereignty.I went into it expecting the usual conversations—compliance, regulations, cloud regions. And yeah, those came up.But that’s not really what people leaned into.The discussion felt different. It was less about frameworks and more about control.It felt more like a question than a concept: if you don’t control your data and infrastructure, do you really control your future?What made it even more interesting is that this wasn’t just coming from one event. Around the same time, the TDGI Africa Symposium was bringing together policymakers and technologists to talk about very similar topics—how to reduce dependence on externally defined models, how to build data protection and AI frameworks that actually reflect local needs, and how Africa positions itself as a real participant in shaping the global digital landscape.So it d