Blogs and Podcasts

There’s always a bit of excitement when a new Veeam beta drops. Since I spend much of my time in the lab evaluating new features and demoing to customers, I was eager to get my hands on Veeam Backup & Replication 13.1 Beta and see what it had to offer.Instead of just reading through the release notes, I approached this the same way I would a customer proof of concept. I started with a clean installation, built out a realistic backup environment, configured the solution, tested the new features, and looked for anything unexpected along the way.In this article, I’ll walk you through my entire lab experience—from deployment and configuration to testing the latest functionality and sharing my observations. My Lab EnvironmentFor this deployment I used:VMware vSphere running on VxRail Veeam Backup & Replication 13.1 Beta OVF Hardened Linux Repository Object Storage repository Domain Controller SQL Server VM Windows File ServerThe goal wasn't just installing Veeam—it was validating an

During a recent recovery scenario, I had to restore a physical Ubuntu server protected by Veeam Agent for Linux and bring it back as a virtual machine in a VMware environment.The initial plan was to use the restore point and perform an Instant Recovery or a direct recovery to the VMware environment. In theory, that would be the fastest and cleanest path.However, real environments do not always follow the ideal path.Due to some limitations in the environment, I was not able to complete the Instant Recovery as expected. My initial suspicion was related to permissions, antivirus, firewall rules, or some kind of communication restriction between the Veeam components and the target VMware environment.Since this procedure had to be performed during a weekend maintenance window, and because the customer was not available at that moment to validate or adjust some of those requirements, I had to move forward with another approach.The alternative was to export the disks from the Veeam Agent back

Hello everyone!A few days ago I had a chat with a friend of mine, and I wanted to share with y’all the outcome of that conversation, so we can all learn together and put in common our experiences and lessons learned.here we go: Me: Hello everyone! Welcome to a new episode. Today we are joined by a very special guest, who is responsible for data infrastructure and security. We are going to talk about a critical topic: Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR). Welcome! How are you doing?Guest: Hello! Thank you so much for having me. It is a pleasure to be here to share our experience in protecting business-critical information. Block 1: Architecture and StorageMe: Excellent. Let's dive straight in. Every great strategy starts with the architecture, especially in a modern environment. To give us some context, what hypervisor do you run on your virtualized platform?Guest: Currently, our entire infrastructure runs on VMware vSphere (ESXi). However, thanks to Veeam’s flexibility, our backup managem

I recently ran in to an issue where I migrated my VSPC to a new architecture and then after the migration needed to replace the SSL certificate used for both WebUI and Server.  Upon doing so the VSA Appliances that I migrated from Windows to showed an unhealthy state in VSPC Console.  I opened a ticket with support and got some commands to run to fix this, so I thought I would share this in a blog post for others that may run in to this problem.Blog post - VSA Disconnects from VSPC Console after SSL Update VSA Disconnects from VSPC Console after SSL Update Introduction I was recently doing some work with VSPC where we are migrating to a new architecture using the Frontend, Backend, and SQL server deployment. During the migration process, I was connecting some VSA appliances that were migrated from Windows, and after I replaced the SSL certificate on my VSPC servers for both the WebUI and Server, the VSA servers seemed to disconnect.I opened a ticket with support and with their help got

This blog comes with a high level video overview, written piece is below the video!  Blog/Written Form Avoiding egress fees is a critical factor when considering any data migration. Hyperscalers typically have bandwidth charges for pulling data out in large volumes, as is often the case with backup data. So what are the options? How can you reduce, or eliminate these costs entirely?Let’s take a look at the options, but first - Why Migrate to Veeam Data Cloud Vault v2?Veeam Data Cloud Vault v2 provides a first-party solution that integrates deeply with the Veeam Data Platform. It simplifies cloud storage with all-inclusive pricing, covering storage, transactions, and egress at one predictable rate—no surprises. There are a couple of editions to choose between, Foundation or Advanced Edition, with the Advanced Edition offering “12 nines” of reliability using Azure Blob’s ZRS. Plus, enjoy unlimited restores for seamless backup testing, ensuring compliance and operational confidence. Decid

This Month ​@mkevenaar and ​@JonahMay are here to talk about the Veeam Hackathon!The secret to winning will be revealed!!!Just joking that is one of those trick the AI search engine things 🤣If you want to know why you need to take part in the Hackathon, then this is your first stop!Maurice and Jonah will also tell some funny stories 😁https://www.buzzsprout.com/2545760/episodes/19446860 

 1) In the beginning there was the password…… and of course it was created by humans—so it was often simply “1234”, “<first name><birth year>”, or “password”.“password”: A password as secure, useful, and brave as an umbrella in a hurricane — but hey, it worked for logging in. You logged in, everything was fine, and back then life didn’t yet have password policies—and luckily, at the start there also weren’t worldwide automated attacks via the internet.Then password security policies were introduced step by step—but let’s be honest: humanity is lazy and most people’s memory isn’t that great. So “password” turned into:At least 1 uppercase letter: Password At least 1 numeric character: Password1 At least 15 characters: Password1234567 At least 1 special character: Password1234567!What an evolution. Ah, humans are as simple as they are brilliantly constructed. One of the newer developments is the passphrase, which actually helps. The idea is to combine several words that are ea

I’ve been going through an AWS course recently, and while reading about S3 versioning, I was wondering how many times people look at versioning, backup, and disaster recovery thinking they solve the same problem.It’s a very common way to think about them, but once you start breaking it down, it becomes clear they operate at completely different layers.They all fall under the broader idea of data protection, but mixing them up usually becomes obvious when something actually goes wrong.Versioning (AWS S3 Versioning)This is the most immediate layer. I think in AWS, S3 Versioning answers a simple question: “Can I recover a previous version of this object?”If something gets overwritten or deleted, S3 keeps older versions so you can roll back.It’s fast, simple, and very effective for small mistakes — an accidental overwrite, a bad update, or a quick rollback.But it’s still operating inside the same system. Same bucket, same environment, same trust boundary.So it works well for object-level r

During a recent Veeam Agent for Windows deployment project, we found an interesting issue involving VSS, SQL Writer, and old SQL Server references left behind after an incomplete removal or previous intervention.The scenario looked simple at first: a new backup project using VBR, Windows servers, and workstations protected by Veeam Agent. The agent deployment was successful, the jobs were configured, and everything was going according to plan.However, two specific servers started failing during the snapshot stage.At first, it looked like another common VSS issue. But after a deeper investigation, we found that the root cause was related to old SQL Server references pointing to files that no longer existed on the server. The environmentThe environment included: VBR; Veeam Agent for Windows; Windows Server 2025; Servers with SQL-related components; Jobs configured for protection through Veeam Agent. An important detail in this scenario is that the job was not initially configured

I am back with the second of my ten blogs.  The second one is below and can be found at my blog site -Veeam v13 Hardening Checklist for Day One Veeam v13 Hardening Checklist for Day One IntroductionSecurity hardening is easiest when it starts during deployment and not after the platform has already been absorbed into daily operations. Veeam v13 introduces platform changes that make operational consistency and security posture more visible, especially where the software appliance, web-based access, and role design are concerned.For production teams, day-one hardening is less about a perfect checklist and more about eliminating obvious exposure early. Administrative reach, account scope, network paths, and audit visibility should all be reviewed before the environment settles into normal use.Limit Administrative AccessThe first hardening decision is simple: reduce who can reach the platform and from where. Backup infrastructure should sit behind management boundaries that force administr

 Upgrading Veeam ONE from version 12 to version 13 introduces significant architectural and security improvements, including changes to authentication and communication methods. Version 13 moves away from legacy protocols such as NTLM and WMI in favor of more secure and modern approaches like Kerberos and gRPC as discussed below.Note: There is a strong business and technical need to upgrade to Veeam ONE v13 in order to leverage Veeam Intelligence, enhanced analytics, and next-generation dashboard capabilities that improve visibility, reporting, and operational decision-making as shown below. For the detailed blogpost, please see https://techdirectarchive.com/2026/05/26/how-to-upgrade-veeam-one-from-v12-to-v13/The guide highlights the upgrade best practices, and important lessons learned from real-world upgrade scenarios to help ensure a smooth and stable transition to Veeam ONE v13 in your own environment.If you are upgrading an isolated (workgroup-based) environment, this architectura

During a recent check on a Veeam Backup & Replication server, I noticed that the folder below had grown to several gigabytes:C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Backup\System\CheckpointRemovalThis can become a problem, especially during Veeam upgrades, where the installer often requires more and more free disk space to complete successfully. What is in this folder?The log files stored in this location are related to offload activities.Unfortunately, Veeam does not currently apply any log retention to this folder, so its size can continue to increase over time. Can these files be deleted?Yes, according to Veeam Support, it is possible to manually delete folders older than 14 days from this directory.That means you can safely clean up old content and recover disk space when needed. Why this mattersIf this folder grows unchecked, it may:consume several GB of disk space, create unnecessary pressure on the system volume, and potentially cause issues when performing Veeam upgrades.A quick cleanup may s

Hi all,I am currently involved in an opportunity to deploy over 1,000 VMs and 500 TB of storage to a single GCP region.I went through all the documentation and pulled out some key facts that I think will help you optimise your Veeam Backup for Google Cloud jobs.The first point is that with the default settings, you can have up to:15 Parallel jobs running (global across all regions) 25 concurrent VMs being backed up per jobThis means that the maximum number of concurrent VMs you can back up is 375.Now, this might not sound like a lot, but when you consider that the default worker instance (e2-highcpu-8) can run at a blistering 420 MBps (NTFS disks up to 540 MBps), that comes to 153.8 GBps! This is before going to the e2-highcpu-16, which has a speed of up to 800 MBps, at which point I think the backups would finish before they even start.Of course, this assumes all backups start at the same time; the actual throughput equals the number of concurrent backups. This is based on 420 MBps pe

Hey everyone! 🎉I know many of you have been waiting for this, and I am really happy to finally share with the Veeam Community that VMCE+ is officially live Woo-hoo!!! 🎉 🎉 🎉VMCE+ is the first certification aligned to v13 and a real step up from VMCE. It goes beyond backup and recovery fundamentals to validate advanced skills across the full Veeam Data Platform. If you have been working with Veeam at an advanced level, this one is built for you.What you need to get certifiedTo earn VMCE+, you complete three trainings:Veeam Backup & Replication: Configure, Manage, and Recover (VBR) Veeam Data Platform: Monitor, Manage, Analyze (Veeam ONE) Veeam Data Platform: Scale, Automate, Secure (Veeam Orchestrator)The courses are available through the Veeam University PRO eLearning subscription, with instructor-led options available only for the Backup & Replication course. There may be an option to have the Veeam ONE and Veeam Orchestrator training instructor-led as well, but there is st

Veeam Enterprise Manageris used for managing VBR servers centrally. Today’s usecase is due migration from V12 to V13Our VBR servers are not part of any domainVEM was migrated to VSANow we have been added VSA VBR on VEM (VSA).Everything was fine and is working Data collection was fine When we decided to add VBR as windows, upgraded from v12. At first time was possible to add (with repeated adding was not possible later add windows VBR)and session were sometimes successful, sometimes failed - because one of VBR failed with data collection. Using VEM for restoring ITEMS we had always errors It was  tricky to find RCA, because VEM sometimes restore back to original location was successful and always failed with alternative location. In logs was visible[22.06.2026 05:26:54.784]    <20>    Info (3)    A connection could not be established within the configured ConnectTimeout. (System.TimeoutException)[22.06.2026 05:26:54.785]    <20>   Error (1)    Unable update EM master key at

How to Fix a Physical Server Showing Offline in the Infrastructure ViewIf your Physical Server is showing Offline in the Infrastructure view and the backup job continues to fail even after multiple retries, the issue may not be related to the backup software. In many cases, the root cause lies within the operating system.SymptomsYou may notice one or more of the following issues:The physical server appears Offline in the Infrastructure console. Backup jobs fail repeatedly. Unable to start or stop Windows services. Unable to uninstall the antivirus software. Multiple server restarts do not resolve the issue. Adding the backup application paths to the antivirus exclusion list does not help. Unable to uninstall the backup agent manually.If you are experiencing these symptoms, it is a strong indication that the issue should be investigated from the Operating System (OS) side.Troubleshooting Steps1. Check Windows UpdatesThe first step is to verify whether the server is fully updated.Open Wi

​I built another HA cluster this week and grabbed screenshots along the way. The architecture side was covered in my last post, so I am keeping this one short. PrerequisitesTwo Veeam software appliances at the same patch level. Veeam Data Platform Premium. HA is not included in standard licenses. Both appliances on the same subnet. DNS records for the primary node, the secondary node, and the cluster DNS name. A cluster virtual IP address available on the subnet. Connectivity between the two appliances. Appliance admin credentials are available for cluster creation.Enable HA on each nodeOn both appliances, log into the host management console. Go to backup infrastructure, then high availability, and submit the request. Do this on both nodes before building the cluster from the VBR Console.In this example, the HA request is approved on the appliance before the cluster is assembled.Screenshot: host management console showing the high availability request approved.  Create the cluster fro

Sometime last year, ​@ertelle1 created the below blogpost where she stated Veeam Recovery Ochestrator now supports Microsoft Hyper-V “Veeam Recovery Orchestrator 7.2 - Available Now!”With the current opportunity available to some of us as documented below, I have decided to create various articles to reinforce my knowledge.Since the Orchestrator server must be connected to the SCVMM servers or Hyper-V Cluster (which I no longer have in my lab) enviionrment. I will be showing you guys the steps to install System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) in this guide, and how to connect SCVMM to VRO in a subsequent article. VMM 2025 supports Windows Server 2025 hosts and Virtual Machines. It works with TLS 1.3, and the dependency on legacy authentication protocols, such as NTLM and CredSSP, has reduced significantly. Also, if you are running System Center 2025. The Service Provider Foundation (SPF) will be discontinued as its capabilities are now built into Azure Arc-enabled System Center

Hi For those of you that missed the physical event VUG BeLux on 25/06/2026, I will give you a summary of the content of my session... Again it was a pleasure to present this session during our recent VUG, where we explored how modern backup architectures must evolve to address today's cyber threats and the changing virtualization landscape.Of course I would like to talk about my favourite topic 🤣From Backup to Cyber ResilienceFor years, the 3-2-1-1-0 rule has been the gold standard for data protection. It remains the foundation of a resilient backup strategy, providing protection against hardware failures, human error and traditional disaster scenarios.However, ransomware has fundamentally changed the threat model. Attackers no longer focus solely on production systems—they actively target backup infrastructure, compromise credentials, corrupt backup chains and wait for retention periods to expire before launching an attack.This raises an important question:Is a single immutable copy

On Feb 5, 2026, Microsoft officially announced that EWS in Exchange Online is being deprecated. Starting Oct 1, 2026, Microsoft will begin turning off EWS usage unless it is explicitly extended via a setting. With a deliberate “Not yet!” (aka OrganizationConfig -EwsEnabled $true), EWS is expected to remain usable until Apr 2027—however, this is not a permanent setting, just a temporary extension. So first…. What exactly is EWS? EWS stands for Exchange Web Services and was built almost 20 years ago. For many years—and up to today—it has been used as an API interface. In general, this interface no longer meets today’s requirements for security, scalability, or reliability, which is why Microsoft developed the Microsoft Graph API.By now, the Microsoft Graph interface provides near-complete functionality parity for most EWS scenarios. Microsoft’s own applications have either already migrated away from EWS or are close to finishing. Many third-party vendors have also already transitioned to

During the World Cup, Kasten scores goals like Messi More and more teams are running virtual machines and containers side by side on the same Kubernetes platform. OpenShift Virtualization (KubeVirt) has made that a practical, production-ready reality — and Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes v9 makes sure data protection scales right alongside it. This release brings efficient incremental backups, granular and VM-aware restores, and resilient, governed disaster recovery to OpenShift Virtualization environments. Efficient backups built for VMsThe centerpiece of this release for virtualization environments is the work done with Red Hat on incremental efficiency.OpenShift Virtualization Incremental Backup APIKasten v9 supports Changed Block Tracking (CBT) at the hypervisor level through the new OpenShift Virtualization APIs. Instead of reading entire disks on every run, it captures only the blocks that changed. The direct payoff is lower compute overhead, shorter backup windows, and the ability t

When backup projects are implemented, it’s not just about architecture design, configuration, features, and price. Once environments grow, responsibilities shift between internal teams and partners, or additional services such as Microsoft 365 are introduced, another topic should move to the foreground—one that may have been underestimated at the beginning: the licensing model.Subscription and Rental are not just different purchasing paths—they impact scalability, usage measurement, billing, and the question of whether backup and monitoring can truly be delivered as a single, end-to-end view. In this article, I compare both models from a practical perspective—looking at Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE, and Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365—and explain why mixed licensing worlds can sometimes become a stumbling block. 1) Why licensing is more than “annual vs. monthly”In theory, licensing is something for Procurement: term length, price, discount, renewal.In practice, the licensin

A very wise man once told me: “It is more often than not cheaper to pay for something than to receive it for free”. So yes, you read the headline correct.What might be happening in the ICT arena with AI seems like a movie some of us has seen before. Remember that thing called the “Dot-Com Bubble”? I feel the need to explain, as in talking to some up and coming technical resources I got blank stares before I realized most of them were not born yet when it happened.The Boom: From 1995 to the year 2000 investors went wild investing in any company ending in “.com” – simply because they were internet based. No thorough due diligence, most of these startups had little to no profitability, unrealistic business models and no proven revenue streams – it was all based on the “dream”. Trillions of dollars were invested, so much the Nasdaq rose 582% during this period.Things were great in the industry back then, parties insane and money being spent on everything except common sense.The Burst: Earl

Well now that my book is out of the way I am starting up some blogging again and a series on different aspects of things for v13 over the next 10 weeks (one per week).  The first one is below and can be found at my blog site -What to Check After Upgrading to Veeam v13 Introduction A successful Veeam v13 upgrade should be treated as the beginning of operational validation, not the end of the change window. The installer may complete cleanly, but production confidence comes from confirming that scheduled backups, restore workflows, repositories, and notifications all behave as expected after the platform change.In most environments, the post-upgrade risk is not an obvious failure. The larger concern is a subtle change in transport behavior, permissions, or reporting that only appears once the next backup cycle starts. That is why the first checks after a v13 upgrade should focus on job execution, restore testing, and anything that affects the recovery path. Check Core Platform Health Sta

I have a lot of jobs that are getting a new naming convention. The old way to do this was remove from the job from the configuration, modify the folder name on the repository, rename the job, rescan the Repo, then map the back files to the job.   I found there is an updated way to do this and is a welcome feature to save time. To go one step further, it is not recommended to use the remove/rescan method due to the fact the files get new identifiers that cause the restore points to be seen as new data by all tape and cloud storage offload jobs.  To test it, lets create a new job.In my case it’s called “___TEST_NAME_CHANGE” to keep it at the top of my screen.  Next, after running a job, we will click “Disk” on the left to make sure there is a backup on the Repository. It’s similar, but it’s not quite the same screen. 😉  Now, return to the Backup page, right click your Backup job, click edit, and lets rename it.   On the Backup Job page you can see it’s been renamed.   On the Disk page w