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Hello everyone, I'm trying to figure out the answer to a question which seems like it should be simple enough, and which I believe has been asked before in various forms, but which I've never seen really answered: How can we restore the Veeam server if the Veeam server itself is down, meaning that we can't run the Veeam software to perform a restore?

I've seen several posts suggesting that the answer is in the extractor tool, but when I use the extractor tool, I get two files, both without any extensions: One very large file that seems to have some kind of serial number or GUID as a filename, and one file that begins with "digest". I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with these two files, but if we have a server that won't boot, it seems logical to me that we would need some kind of boot media so that the server can boot before we do anything else, so I don't see how having two files would help without a way to boot the server itself.

It seems to me, then, that we'd need some kind of boot media. There is an article on how to create recovery media using Veeam, but that article shows a "Create Recovery Media" option in the Veeam section of the Windows start menu, which we don't even have on our Veeam server. The command-line alternative, a program called "Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe", also does not exist on our Veeam server.

So I have two options, neither of which seems to work, and this leads me to three questions:

1. How do we use the two files that I get from the Veeam extractor tool to boot a server that's not booting?

2. How do we create Veeam recovery media when neither "Create Recovery Media" nor "Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe" are present on the Veeam server?

3. Are both of the above red herrings? And if so, how do we actually restore a server if the Veeam server is also down?

Thanks everyone for your help... Regards.

Can you not deploy a new server. Install Veeam, Import the config and proceed as normal to do a restore.

Or even instal Veeam attach the repository and import the backup?

Hello 
SAme approach than ​@MarkBoothman . 
If your Veeam Server is down the easiest way to recover one is to deploy a new one and import the backup config and reattach your repository. (but in the case you have lost your VBR your repository may be impacted too) 
Do not forget to have backups copies in another site

If the Veeam server is down then you cannot restore.  You need to do as others have suggested a new server and restore configuration backup then restore.  Hopefully your repository is good for the files.

i would go with Mark, Philippe and Chris 😀
You can check Veeam Configuration Backup Restore Steps and Restoring Configuration Database for details, or just ask here.

Another approach would be to virtualize your VBR server and perform replication on that VM to build a redundancy. You shouldn’t use a Veeam Agent on the VBR server itself so I agree with all above comments: Configuration Backup and restore is the key.

Virtualization could be another idea, but this is all about architecture design.

Thanks everyone for all your answers. If I’m understanding correctly, the solution when one of our servers goes down is to reinstall a new copy of Windows on the server, then install Veeam on the server, then restore the server from a Veeam backup. Am I understanding that correctly? This seems like a bit of a long way around… Is there not an option in Veeam to create recovery media like an ISO file which can be used to boot the server without having to completely reinstall Windows and Veeam?

Basically you need a Windows with a Veeam (VBR) installation and within the “fresh” VBR you import the Veeam configuration backup. This is a “special” backup in the main menu of Veeam that contains the Veeam settings and contents of the Veeam config database. Basically this is all you need.

 

You can either have a “backup” server with a pre-installed Veeam online so you just need to import the config backup (please use the most recent backup) and you are ready to go or you can do these steps (Windows Server OS installation and VBR installation) when a disaster is happening.

 

Please consider - in case that is possible - to run VBR within a VM. With a VM you could use replication to aviod reinstalling anything in case of a disaster.

 

Best

Lukas

Thanks everyone for all your answers. If I’m understanding correctly, the solution when one of our servers goes down is to reinstall a new copy of Windows on the server, then install Veeam on the server, then restore the server from a Veeam backup. Am I understanding that correctly? This seems like a bit of a long way around… Is there not an option in Veeam to create recovery media like an ISO file which can be used to boot the server without having to completely reinstall Windows and Veeam?

Using an ISO would not allow you to do what you want and why you need to reinstall the server. As noted having a secondary server with Veeam installed ready to go.

Thanks everyone for all your answers. If I’m understanding correctly, the solution when one of our servers goes down is to reinstall a new copy of Windows on the server, then install Veeam on the server, then restore the server from a Veeam backup. Am I understanding that correctly? This seems like a bit of a long way around… Is there not an option in Veeam to create recovery media like an ISO file which can be used to boot the server without having to completely reinstall Windows and Veeam?

Hello ​@AdamL,

may seem like a long or complicated procedure, but it is simpler than it may appear to you.

You can also install VBR on your PC if you do not have the resources to create a VM.
All of us who use Veeam on a daily recommend this path.
Regards,

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