This year marked the 5th year being priviledged enough to attend the Veeam100 Summit. Since my 1st attendance in 2018, the venue has normally been held in Prague, CZ. The Product Strategy Team decided to change things up a bit and hold this year’s event in Berlin, DE; that would be Deutschland , or Germany, for those who use Duolingo 
. With the event being held in a new city, and getting a preview of some of the content decided upon to be shared, I was really looking forward to the event this year!
The Summit was held the last week of October. And personally, I love going this time of year to central Europe as the Fall colors are at or slightly past peak color.
I got to Berlin a day and a half early so I can peruse around the city to take in some sites I’ve longed to see since my youth – Berlin Wall Memorial, Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, etc. It was so surreal viewing the Berlin Wall Memorial. In the middle walking area there were pictures of Germans who lost their lives attempting to climb the Wall. 
But not all my site-seeing was a surreall moment. I got to experience Currywurst and fries for the first time. YUM!
Monday evening the event kicked off as usual with a pre-event social, sponsored by Wasabi and Object First. It was a great time networking with fellow BC/DR colleagues I’ve known for years and meeting for the 1st time those new to the Summit. Tuesday morning is when the Summit kicked into high gear. After event intros and agenda overview, we dove right into the announcement of Veeam v12.3, slated to be released (hopefully) by end of the year.
Some Key v12.3 Features
- Support for both Windows and Hyper-V 2025
- Enhancements to the Malware Scan Engiine, specifically the Mark as Clean function (this is sooo needed!...though it did get better with the v12.2 release)
- And one I’m excited to try → Veeam Threat Hunter, a proprietary malware/antivirus scan engine which Veeam boasts has better scan performance
Another hot topic discussed was the upcoming Veeam v13 on Linux release slated for Q1 “ish” next year. Because some of the content shared was what we like to say in the V100 Community is red or yellow, I can’t share too awful much discussed. But one feature I can share is that updates for the new Veeam version will be automatic. The only control you’ll have is how long after release to install them (currently, the max delay is 30 days, but this may change come official v13 release date).
Another item I can share with you all is the install options available upon release → via ISO as normal, as an OVA (appliance), or by a RPM package, giving you the flexibility to install the new version of Veeam the way which works best for your environment. One of many cool perks for V100 members is being given the opportunity to test out various new betas new products/releases by Veeam. And the new Linux version is no different. I have yet to get this installed and look around the new UI, etc, but I plan to do so soon. I know a lot of you all in the Community have been bugging Veeam PMs for years on a Linux version, so now you’ll have your wish pretty soon . As has been customary since the 2018 Summit, we concluded Tuesday’s sessions with the popular “Dalrymple Toast”. Attendees of the event voluntarily bring a bottle of an adult beverage of their choice to share with everyone, and Craig leads us in a toast. 
Sadly, this year was Craig’s last event, at least as a Veeam Vanguard, because he has transitioned roles from the MSP side to Veeam. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of him in the V100 Community as a Veeam MVP.
On Wednesday, we had more great content, but the Veeam PS team gave us an opportunity to choose the sessions we wanted to hear and broke us up in different rooms throughout the day. The 2 sessions I attended were on the newly updated Hardened Repository ISO and a Powershell Deep Dive. Since I use PoSH semi-often, there wasn’t much in that session I didn’t at least see before; but I really enjoyed learning about the updates coming with the new 0.1.17 version of the Hardened Repo ISO with full DISA STIG security. As with other sessions we had, some of the content here is yellow so I can’t discuss too much about it. I can say that the install will be a bit more streamlined, and the only supported OS you can use is Rocky Linux. Other Linux flavors can be used, but if you run into issues, Veeam can’t support your install. This may change upon release...not sure.
We wrapped up the Summit on Thursday with some Generative AI content as well as the infamous Product Management Ask Me Anything session, where we in the V100 Community get to ask all the Veeam PMs who attended any question we want. Needless to say, most of what is discussed is red content but is one of our best sessions at the Summit.
At the conclusion of Thursday’s sessions, we gathered for a Veeam100 Summit picture.
It’s always a bit sad to end the Summit. There’s so much fun and great learning during the event. And, because many of the V100 Community live far apart, we don’t get to see each other but once or twice a year. On the hand hand, by the week’s end, I’m always ready to unwind from the week’s activities. If you’re interested in learning how to be a part of the Veeam100 as a Vanguard or Legend and get Veeam perks like attending the Veeam100 Summit above, click on the links below:
Veeam Vanguard
