HPE Reference Configuration for Veeam Availability Suite with HPE Nimble Storage Solution overview, best practices, and recommendations

Reference Architecture

Reference Architecture

Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 3-2-1 Rule ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Solution overview ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Solution components ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

Hardware ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Software ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Network ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Best practices and configuration guidance ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Network and Fibre Channel configuration ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 HPE Nimble Storage volumes................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 HPE Nimble Storage as a backup target ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Replicating HPE Nimble Storage snapshots ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13 Veeam Backup & Replication configuration ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Veeam Backup & Replication best practices ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Backup from HPE Nimble Storage snapshots .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Comparison: backup from storage snapshots ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Snapshot-only jobs ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Snapshot replication using Veeam Backup & Replication ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Retaining snapshots from a storage snapshot backup .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 30 Instant VM recovery from an HPE Nimble Storage snapshot .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 32 On-Demand Sandbox for storage snapshots ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 37 SureBackup ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 41

Summary ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Resources and additional links ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 43

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Executive summary As companies turn to virtualization for improving efficiency, increasing workload performance, and enhancing business continuity, new challenges for data protection and recovery emerge. Data protection solutions need to be purpose-built for virtual environments to protect virtual machines (VMs) without creating resource problems, such as high consumption of network bandwidth and memory, and without adding complexity and cost to the entire infrastructure.

Veeam Software is designed from the ground up to protect VMs. The combination of Veeam and Hewlett Packard Enterprise storage technologies provides a comprehensive strategy for achieving stringent recovery and retention requirements. It provides application-consistent data protection through a combination of HPE Nimble Storage snapshots and backup/restore on HPE Nimble Storage arrays with active use of secondary data, such as development and operations (DevOps) as well as development and test. HPE Nimble Storage takes snapshots of VMware® volumes without impacting production workloads. With Veeam’s integration with HPE Nimble Storage, instant recovery from any one of the snapshots is possible within minutes—reducing downtime and providing improved workload availability for any application. Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) are significantly improved with multiple up-to-date recovery points, thus minimizing possible data loss and ensuring data is as up to date as possible. In addition, Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) are shortened to less than five minutes, and data is recovered quickly from snapshots that could be just minutes old. This solution enables a near-continuous data protection strategy without additional cost or complexity, and it is ideal for IT organizations that want to standardize on HPE Nimble Storage for both snapshot replication and backup target.

This Reference Configuration highlights how the Veeam Availability Suite, combined with powerful HPE Nimble Storage, delivers an efficient and reliable data protection solution for VMs deployed for virtualized workloads.

Use cases covered in this Reference Configuration include:

• Scheduled or one-off HPE Nimble Storage snapshot-only jobs

• HPE Nimble Storage as a backup target

• The ability to use HPE Nimble Storage hardware snapshots during a Veeam Backup Job, allowing a Veeam proxy to access the HPE Nimble Storage snapshot directly, rather than interfering with production VMware ESXi™ (ESXi) hosts

• A comparison between HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration and the default VMware snapshot when conducting a Veeam Backup Job

• Veeam SureBackup jobs with Veeam On-Demand Sandbox

Target audience: This document is intended for presales consultants, solution architects, storage operators, and administrators who are designing, implementing, and maintaining application backups using HPE Nimble Storage and Veeam Availability Suite. Readers of this Reference Configuration should have a functional understanding of HPE Nimble Storage systems as well as Veeam Availability Suite.

Introduction The solution highlights HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration with Veeam Backup & Replication, as well as HPE Nimble Storage as a backup target. Without using HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration, Veeam Backup & Replication defaults to using VMware vSphere® (vSphere) snapshots to write delta data during the backup. This can be a cumbersome process, as Veeam Backup & Replication continuously queries vSphere snapshots for backup data, requiring more computing resources from the ESXi hosts. To effectively mitigate this process, Veeam’s storage snapshot integration with HPE Nimble Storage is used.

Hardware (HW) snapshot integration helps to reduce the impact on the production data and performance due to data protection activity by pulling data directly from an HPE Nimble Storage snapshot, rather than production ESXi hosts. Figure 24 shows that in addition to reducing impact, backups are 30% faster when using snapshot integration with HPE Nimble Storage arrays. This Reference Configuration defines the hardware and software required to implement this solution, as well as best practices, configuration guidance, and some performance results.

Other benefits of integrated hardware snapshots discussed in this Reference Configuration include:

• Reduce risk of downtime

• Minimize data loss

• Decrease management complexity

• Simplify recovery capabilities

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• Lessen VM-based snapshot lifetime

• Remove backup workload from production servers

• Faster recovery times

• Better RPO with frequent and low impact HW snapshots

• Better RTO for fast recovery from HW snapshot

Note Although this Reference Configuration highlights HPE Nimble Storage arrays, HPE 3PAR arrays can also be used.

3-2-1 Rule The solution was designed to follow the 3-2-1 Rule, illustrated in Figure 1. The rule states that it is a best practice to maintain at least three copies of production data: the first copy on the primary storage, the second copy on another type of media, and the third copy on remote media. As demonstrated in Figure 2, there are three copies of the data: one on the primary HPE Nimble Storage AF40 all-flash array, one on the secondary HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 adaptive flash array, and one copy existing off-site either in the cloud or on tape. Two different types of media are used: the HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array and physical tape. The physical tape can be transferred off-site. Optionally, a cloud backup can also be configured to maintain a copy off-site. The 3-2-1 Rule provides a strong basis for data protection, and significantly minimizes the probability of data loss. By deploying HPE Nimble Storage as a backup target, active use of secondary data—such as DevOps as well as development and test—can occur.

Figure 1. The 3-2-1 Rule

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Solution overview The hardware for this data protection solution include HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 servers using primary storage from an HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array with an HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array serving as the primary backup target. The software components include VMware vCenter® (vCenter) and Veeam Backup & Replication. The solution was designed with the 3-2-1 Rule in mind.

Figure 2 outlines the layout of the environment. The hypervisor data is contained on volumes from an HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array, where each hypervisor/cluster is presented with its own volume. Production VMs, including the vSphere server and the Veeam Backup & Replication Management server, reside on these volumes. For the local environment, the connection between the ESXi hosts, the HPE Nimble Storage arrays, and the Veeam proxy servers use 16 Gb Fibre Channel (FC). Hourly snapshot jobs and daily backup jobs are both configured using a Veeam Backup Job.

Figure 2. Solution environment layout

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Solution components This section describes the hardware and software components used to create this Reference Configuration.

Hardware HPE Nimble Storage AF40 all-flash array The HPE Nimble Storage AF40 is an all-flash, dual controller array. The array was configured with 24 x 500 GB solid state drives (SSDs), 2 controller nodes, OS version 5.0.7, and a 16 Gb FC backend fabric.

Primary storage is provided by the HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array. VMware vSphere® VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) datastores, as well as the Veeam proxy, utilize volumes that are exported from the array via the FC fabric.

HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 adaptive flash array The HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 acted as the primary backup target for this array. The array was configured with 21 x 1 TB hard disk drives (HDDs), 6 x 1 TB SSDs, 2 controller nodes, OS version 5.0.7, and a 16 Gb FC backend fabric.

Volumes from this array are created and exported to the Veeam proxy server, where the Veeam proxy server can map the volume to a drive letter, and a Veeam repository can point to that repository.

HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 server The hosts can be any hardware that is listed as compatible by VMware. This solution is based on two identical HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 servers, each configured with two Intel® Xeon® Gold 5115 CPU @ 2.40 GHz 10-core processors and 192 GB of memory. LAN connectivity is through an HPE Ethernet 1 Gb 4-port 331i adapter and an HPE 10 Gb 2-port 562SFP+ adapter. Storage connectivity is through an HPE SN1000Q 16 Gb 2-port 562SFP+ Fibre Channel adapter. The onboard HPE ProLiant Integrated Lights Out (iLO) server management requires a separate network connection and IP address.

Multiple HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 servers were used in this Reference Configuration, including the Veeam proxy server, the production ESXi hosts, and the Veeam gateway server.

Software Hypervisor VMware vCenter Server® (vCenter Server) 6.7 and VMware ESXi 6.7 are installed on the host servers. Using vCenter Server, a VMware cluster is created and the two ESXi hosts are added to it. VMware vSphere® High Availability (vSphere HA) and VMware vSphere® Distributed Resource Scheduler™ (vSphere DRS) are enabled on the cluster. VMware ESXi was chosen over other hypervisors on the basis that Veeam has more integrated features with VMware compared to other hypervisors.

For HPE ProLiant servers, Hewlett Packard Enterprise recommends using custom HPE ESXi images. ESXi ISO, based on the standard VMware, is the easiest and most reliable way to install ESXi on HPE ProLiant servers. It includes all of the required drivers and management software to run ESXi on HPE ProLiant servers, and works seamlessly with Intelligent Provisioning.

Certain HPE ProLiant servers require the use of the HPE Customized image for a successful installation. The drivers for the new network and storage controllers in the servers are integrated in the HPE Customized image and are not part of the generic ESXi image that is distributed by VMware. ESXi requires drivers for these controllers to be integrated, because you are not able to insert them during installation. To determine if your server requires the HPE Customized image, see the server support matrix at https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/hpe-esxi.html.

Veeam Backup & Replication Veeam Backup & Replication version 9.5.4.2753 with update 4a was used in this solution. Veeam Backup & Replication runs as an application on a Microsoft® Windows® server. Either a physical or virtual Microsoft Windows server can be deployed. Hewlett Packard Enterprise recommends using a physical Microsoft Windows server to eliminate the need for pass-through PCI devices and allow ample CPU and memory resources for Veeam Backup & Replication.

To run vCenter Server 6.7, Veeam 9.5 version 3a or newer must be used.

Network The local management network was configured to 1GbE. The local data network was configured to 10GbE. The primary storage was configured via 16 Gb FC SAN.

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Best practices and configuration guidance The following sections discuss configuration settings that resulted in the best performance. This Reference Configuration assumes that the initial configuration for the HPE Nimble Storage arrays, using the HPE Nimble Storage Connection Manager tool, has been done. The configuration herein was designed to be scalable—both in scale-up and scale-out scenarios.

Network and Fibre Channel configuration In Figure 2, all connections, except for the WAN connection to the remote Veeam gateway, utilize 16 Gb FC. Several FC zones must be created:

• A zone that includes the production ESXi hosts and the HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array.

• A zone that includes the production ESXi hosts and the HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array.

• A zone that includes the Veeam proxy server and the HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array (for storage snapshot integration).

• A zone that includes the Veeam proxy server and the HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array (for backups).

• All management traffic operated on a 1GbE connection.

Note Although this Reference Configuration uses FC, an iSCSI network infrastructure is a viable alternative.

HPE Nimble Storage volumes The first step in utilizing the features of HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration with Veeam Backup & Replication is to create one or more volumes on the HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array to host the production data, and at least one volume on the HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array to host the backup repository. Typically, hosting the backup repository on a volume would be sufficient, though some customers may choose to dedicate an entire array to serve as the backup target for their environment. For this Reference Configuration, the HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array was used to host the production data, and the HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array was used as the backup target. When sizing a new array, make sure to take the input/output operations per second (IOPS) needed for any backup or restore operations into account.

Consider the total size of the VMs to back up, the frequency of backups, the retention period for the backups, and the backup method, whether that is forward incremental or reverse incremental. Additionally, make sure that the backup workloads are included in the sizing exercise for the HPE Nimble Storage array.

Note Although the maximum size for an HPE Nimble Storage volume is 127 TiB, Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) code has a 64 TB maximum volume size limit. A volume size larger than 16 TB requires a cluster size larger than the default 4 KB used for New Technology File System (NTFS). With Resilient File System (ReFS), a 64 KB cluster size is preferred for best performance. Scale-out backup repositories with lots of extents are generally preferred over one backup repository on a large volume.

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Before creating an HPE Nimble Storage volume, access to the HPE Nimble Storage array must be granted to the production ESXi hosts shown in Figure 2. This can be done with the following steps, as displayed in Figure 3:

1. Configure FC or iSCSI connectivity from the production ESXi hosts to the HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array.

2. Log on to your HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array.

3. In the HPE Nimble Storage GUI, select the MANAGE option at the top of the screen.

4. Select DATA ACCESS in the resulting list.

5. Select the + symbol on the resulting page to start the volume creation process.

Figure 3. Adding an HPE Nimble Storage initiator in the HPE Nimble Storage GUI

6. Add all of the ESXi hosts from step 1 as INITIATORS, as presented in Figure 4.

Figure 4. HPE Nimble Storage “INITIATORS” must be added to the HPE Nimble Storage array

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Then, an HPE Nimble Storage volume can be created. See Figure 5 which outlines the following steps:

1. Log on to your HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array.

2. In the HPE Nimble Storage GUI, select the MANAGE option at the top of the screen.

3. Select DATA STORAGE in the resulting list.

4. Select the + symbol on the resulting page to start the volume creation process.

Figure 5. Creating an HPE Nimble Storage volume can be done by following the instructions here to initiate the process

5. Configure the new volume with a unique Name, folder or pool Location, and Performance Policy. The Performance Policy designates particular properties about the volume, including block size and whether deduplication is enabled on that volume.

Note Give the volume a unique and meaningful name so that it will be explicit on how it is being used. If the HPE Nimble Storage array is grouped with other HPE Nimble Storage arrays, more than one pool might be present (or, one pool can be striped across multiple arrays in the same group). Folders are an optional method of organizing volumes. However, they are not necessary. The choice of default for the location is acceptable.

6. Choose the volume Size in GiB or TiB. Optionally, choose a Data Protection policy if volume snapshots are desired.

7. Present the volume to the desired production ESXi hosts, as shown in Figure 2. These servers are hosting the ESXi environment with your production virtual machine data.

8. The volume is now ready to be configured on your ESXi hosts.

HPE Nimble Storage as a backup target In addition to using HPE Nimble Storage volumes for production virtual machines, this Reference Configuration also utilizes HPE Nimble Storage volumes as Veeam backup repositories. Compared to using a traditional local disk backup target, there are a number of advantages:

• Backup data is automatically deduplicated by the HPE Nimble Storage array.

• HPE Nimble Storage arrays utilize performance policies that are optimized with Veeam backup repositories.

• HPE Nimble Storage snapshots can be replicated between HPE Nimble Storage arrays.

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• Veeam can use HPE Nimble Storage snapshots as a backup source, allowing backup operations to be offloaded to the HPE Nimble Storage backup target.

• Veeam can replicate a snapshot from the primary array to the secondary array, then a backup can use that secondary snapshot as the source.

Creating and enabling an HPE Nimble Storage volume as a backup repository can be done using the steps outlined in the Network and Fibre Channel configuration section.

However, instead of creating connectivity between the HPE Nimble Storage AF40 array and the production ESXi hosts, you will create connectivity between the HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array and the Veeam proxy server, as depicted in Figure 2. See the Backup proxy (backup engine) section for more information on the Veeam proxy server and how it is configured.

Additionally, when specifying a PERFORMANCE POLICY, choose Veeam Backup Repository, as exhibited in Figure 6. This sets up default parameters for the volume that will work best with Veeam Backup & Replication software. These parameters include storage block size, compression, deduplication policy, and behavior if the user-specified volume size is exceeded.

Figure 6. Performance policies when creating an HPE Nimble Storage volume

After establishing the volume in the HPE Nimble Storage GUI, it can be assigned to a drive letter on a designated Veeam proxy, which is a server with a valid Windows OS. For more information, see Backup proxy (backup engine).

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To assign a drive letter to the HPE Nimble Storage volume, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to Disk Management on the designated Veeam proxy server. The disk will initially be uninitialized.

2. Right-click the disk, and select Initialize Disk, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Initializing an HPE Nimble Storage volume on a Windows OS

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3. After choosing a partition style for the selected disk, select New Simple Volume, as illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 8. After initializing the disk, the volume can now be created

4. Follow the setup wizard, configuring the volume with parameters as you see fit. An important configuration setting here is to configure the volume with ReFS, as shown in Figure 9. It is important to use an allocation size of 64 KB.

Figure 9. Format the HPE Nimble Storage volume with the “File system: ReFS” and 64 KB clusters

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Veeam boasts a number of benefits when using ReFS, including significantly faster synthetic full backup creation and transformation performance, as well as reduced storage requirements and improved reliability. For more information, see https://www.veeam.com/blog/advanced-refs-integration-coming-veeam-availability-suite.html.

Replicating HPE Nimble Storage snapshots A replication partnership can be set up between two arrays, or array groups, if replicate snapshots are desired. This partnership can be configured to replicate in one direction or both, and an array or array group can have multiple replication partners. HPE Nimble Storage arrays can replicate between physical arrays (or groups of arrays) located in customer data centers or between physical arrays and HPE Cloud Volumes. Additionally, Veeam Backup & Replication makes it possible to conduct a backup using an HPE Nimble Storage snapshot, granting the ability to back up from a snapshot on a secondary array.

Note In a replication partnership, the HPE Nimble Storage array that is acting as the source array is referred to as the “upstream” array, and the destination array is referred to as the “downstream” array.

HPE Nimble Storage snapshots can be replicated between HPE Nimble Storage arrays via a management network:

1. In the HPE Nimble Storage GUI of the upstream array, under Manage Data Protection Replication Partners, select + to configure replication between two HPE Nimble Storage arrays.

2. Choose On-Premises Replication Partner, even if the target HPE Nimble Storage arrays is located at another site.

After configuring the replication type, the window displayed in Figure 10 appears.

Figure 10. General properties when creating an HPE Nimble Storage replication partner

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3. Provide the PARTNER NAME and HOSTNAME/IP ADDRESS, shown in Figure 10, with respect to the downstream HPE Nimble Storage array. The PARTNER NAME can be found at the top right of the HPE Nimble Storage GUI, as presented in Figure 11.

4. Provide the SHARED SECRET, which is a string of 8 to 255 printable characters that will be used for both the upstream and downstream arrays.

Figure 11. The “PARTNER NAME” is found at the top right of the HPE Nimble Storage GUI

Initially, the status of the replication partner will be unreachable, as shown in Figure 11. The downstream array must now be configured to activate the replication partnership.

5. Repeat the process previously outlined on the downstream array to complete the setup of the replication partnership. Make sure to use the same SHARED SECRET that you used in the previous step. After the downstream array is configured, the replication partner can be contacted, as exhibited in Figure 12.

Figure 12. The replication partner can be contacted successfully once replication is configured on both the upstream and downstream arrays

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6. Create a volume collection that will specify scheduling and desired volumes that will be snapshotted and replicated. On HPE Nimble Storage arrays, snapshots and replication are scheduled on a volume collection basis. Even if there is only a single volume, a volume collection is required in order to specify the frequency of snapshots and whether or not they are replicated. Under Manage Data Protection Volume Collections, select +. For the step shown in Figure 13:

• Disable Application Synchronization. Veeam Backup & Replication will handle the synchronization.

• Do not choose Snapshot triggered by third-party application. Veeam uses a different mechanism.

• Create a minimal protection schedule. Veeam will use this schedule to determine the replication partner, but will override the other settings:

– Repeat one time per week (00:00 on Saturday).

– Specify that one copy be retained locally.

– If desired, designate replication partner and specify that two copies be retained on the partner.

Figure 13. Volume collection settings for use with Veeam Backup & Replication

A minimal schedule for snapshots and replication must be in place in the volume collection to designate the replication partner that Veeam will use if replication is part of the backup job specification. The HPE Nimble Storage array will follow this schedule, so there will be some snapshots on the array even if Veeam does not tell the array to take snapshots or replicate them. Do not check the Snapshot triggered by third-party application checkbox in the minimal volume collection schedule. The protection schedule is intended for the array’s use, not Veeam’s. If the third-party box is checked, the schedule will never be used by the array or Veeam to trigger snapshots or replicate them to the replication partner.

Note There is a limit to the number of snapshots that can be replicated concurrently. Depending on the number of groups and pools in the upstream and downstream sides of the replication, the limit can be anywhere from 8 to 48. In most cases, the number is 8.

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The volume collection only needs to be set up on the upstream HPE Nimble Storage array. Once configured, the HPE Nimble Storage snapshot replication can be managed entirely through the Veeam Backup & Replication GUI.

Veeam Backup & Replication configuration Now that the HPE Nimble Storage arrays are configured, they can be added to the Veeam Backup & Replication console. Veeam has integrated support for HPE Nimble Storage arrays out of the box—there are no plug-ins required.

1. In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, navigate to Storage Infrastructure ADD STORAGE, as depicted in Figure 14.

Figure 14. First step of adding HPE Nimble Storage arrays to the Veeam Backup & Replication console

2. After Selecting Hewlett Packard Enterprise as the vendor, select HPE Nimble Storage.

3. Provide the DNS name or IP address, the credentials of the HPE Nimble Storage array, and the connection protocol (iSCSI, FC, or NFS) to complete the connection. Optionally, certain volumes can be excluded so that they are not shown in the Veeam Backup & Replication console. Additionally, backup proxies can be specified in this step if desired.

At this point, Veeam will scan the volumes on the array and determine which ones contain virtual machine images, with the exclusion of any volumes that have been designated to not be scanned for.

Note Make sure to add both the upstream and downstream HPE Nimble Storage arrays.

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Veeam Backup & Replication best practices Veeam Backup & Replication comprises three main roles: backup server (management), proxy (backup engine), and the repository (backup target). By default, Veeam assigns all three roles to the server with the Veeam Backup & Replication installation. However, in enterprise environments and in this Reference Configuration, each role is assigned to at least one dedicated server. There might be reasons to have more than one server dedicated to managing the Veeam infrastructure, more than one proxy to handle backup processing, and certainly more than one backup repository. This section discusses each of these main roles, as well as best practices when configuring other Veeam Backup & Replication settings.

Backup server (management) The backup server, also known as the management server, is the architecture that hosts the Veeam Backup & Replication software. The backup server can exist either as a physical or virtual machine. A best practice is hosting the management instance on a physical server for disaster recovery (DR) purposes, because it will then be independent of the infrastructure it protects. However, in highly virtualized environments, virtual backup servers could be more practical. Hosting the management server virtually incorporates the benefits of virtual environment high availability, including vSphere HA, VMware vSphere® vMotion® (vSphere vMotion), VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion® (vSphere Storage vMotion), VMware vSphere® Fault Tolerance (vSphere FT), and other benefits that VMware provides.

The following are general requirements and design rules:

• Only 64-bit versions of Windows are supported (Windows Server® 2008 SP2 to 2016 or Windows 7 SP1 to 10).

• The minimum recommendation is 2 CPU cores and 8 GB RAM.

• Use 500 MB of RAM per concurrent running job. If this exceeds the 8 GB mentioned in the previous bullet, more RAM will need to be installed.

• If any other role is hosted on the same machine, add the corresponding RAM.

• Keep it up-to-date.

The backup server relies on Microsoft SQL Server to store configuration information. This information includes backup and backup copy job configuration and scheduling, session history, tape catalogs, credentials, and Veeam infrastructure configurations (proxies, repositories, tape servers, virtual infrastructure, WAN accelerators, storage infrastructure, and so forth). Any Microsoft SQL Server versions ranging from 2008 to 2018 can be used, including paid and express editions. Microsoft SQL Server Express 2012 SP3 is automatically installed and configured locally if no SQL instance is available during installation. Microsoft SQL Server Express offers a practical, cost-effective SQL instance supporting up to 500 VMs, with no additional Microsoft SQL Server licenses requiring purchase. Microsoft SQL Server Express is limited to 10 GB per database and 1 GB shared RAM per 50 instances, and might not be practical when backing up to tape because tape catalogs can grow much larger than the 10 GB limit.

Backup proxy (backup engine) The backup proxy server is the architecture component that processes the backup data and delivers backup traffic. By default, Veeam Backup & Replication assigns the management server as the proxy server, which would only be able to handle small backup loads. The number of proxy servers can be scaled with a production environment, providing a scalable and distributable backup architecture. Some general requirements and design rules are outlined as follows:

• 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows are supported (Windows Server 2008 SP2 to 2016 and Vista SP2 to 10).

• However, if backing up vSphere 5.5 and later, only 64-bit versions of Windows are supported because of Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) 5.5.

• The minimum recommendation is 2 CPU cores and 2 GB RAM, plus 200 MB RAM per concurrent task.

• In the field, the typical memory-to-CPU ratio is 2 GB RAM per CPU core.

• With virtual proxies, do not use more than 8 vCPUs and 16 GB RAM.

• Max VMs per job:

– If not using per-VM backup files: 30

– If using per-VM backup files: 300

More information on platform support can be found at https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/platform_support.html.

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Repository (backup target) Once the HPE Nimble Storage volume is created on your Windows server, it can now be used as a Veeam Backup Repository:

1. In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, navigate to Backup Infrastructure Backup Repositories Add Repository.

2. Use Direct attached storage, as displayed in Figure 15.

Figure 15. Using an HPE Nimble Storage volume as a Veeam backup repository can be done using “Direct attached storage”

3. After choosing Microsoft Windows, a path can be specified that points to the newly created drive letter, as demonstrated in Figure 16. Note that both load-limiting options are disabled.

Figure 16. A backup repository can be created in Veeam that points to the drive letter assigned to the HPE Nimble Storage volume

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4. Additionally, in the Advanced settings of the Repository configuration, use the following options illustrated in Figure 17:

• Enable Align backup file data blocks.

• Enable Decompress backup data blocks before storing. This will allow the HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array to more effectively utilize its deduplication.

• If given the option, enable Use per-VM backup files to take advantage of multistreaming by allowing writes to multiple files concurrently.

Figure 17. Advanced settings options when creating an HPE Nimble Storage backup repository in Veeam

Veeam Backup Jobs Veeam Backup Jobs specify when, where, and how VMs are backed up. These configuration parameters include which VMs are backed up, what storage infrastructure they are backed up to, which proxy server is processing the data, backup schedule, and other settings. Advanced job settings include backup mode, compression and deduplication, block size, notification settings, automated post-job activity, and other settings.

When creating a Veeam Backup Job with an HPE Nimble Storage backup repository, Hewlett Packard Enterprise recommends the following settings (see Figure 18):

1. Mention the backup proxy explicitly, instead of using Automatic selection, when possible.

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Figure 18. Backup job “Storage” settings when creating a Veeam Backup Job

2. When creating a Veeam Backup Job with an HPE Nimble Storage backup repository, configure the following advanced settings:

• Use regular Incremental backups, and Create synthetic full backups periodically, as exhibited in Figure 19. Synthetic full backups are theoretically identical to regular full backups but are assembled from older full backups combined with subsequent incremental backups, rather than reading the data from the source.

• Leave the Transform previous backup chains into rollbacks box unchecked.

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Figure 19. Proper advanced backup settings when creating a Veeam Backup Job

3. Configure the following advanced Storage settings that yielded the best performance for this Reference Configuration, as presented in Figure 20:

• Select Enable inline data deduplication and set the Compression level to Optimal. This will minimize data potentially being transferred over the LAN. Additionally, as shown in Figure 17, the Decompress backup data blocks before storing option will decompress data before placing it on the HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array to ensure compressed data is not being placed on the array.

• Use Local target (large blocks) for the Storage optimization.

• Enable backup file encryption should be left unchecked. Enabling this feature will inhibit the deduplication of data when it gets to the HPE Nimble Storage array. If encryption is needed, HPE Nimble Storage arrays can be configured to encrypt the volume on which the backup repository is hosted.

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Figure 20. Recommended advanced “Storage” settings

4. Configure the advanced Integration settings, as shown in Figure 21:

• Check the Enable backup from storage snapshots box. This feature is explained in detail in the Backup from HPE Nimble Storage snapshots section.

• Optionally, check the Failover to standard backup and Failover to primary storage snapshot if it is important that a backup occurs if there is an issue with the storage snapshot.

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Figure 21. Proper advanced “Integration” settings when creating a Veeam Backup Job

Backup from HPE Nimble Storage snapshots Veeam and Hewlett Packard Enterprise have joined forces to develop backup from HPE Nimble Storage snapshots for VMware infrastructures. Backup from HPE Nimble Storage snapshots can be quickly integrated with Veeam Backup & Replication using the configuration settings shown in Figure 21. Traditionally during a backup, VMware snapshots are used to track delta data while the virtual hard disks are paused, and all new transactional data for the application is tracked in the VMware snapshot. When the backup is finished, the VMware snapshot is merged with the data from the read-only virtual hard disks. This can be challenging, because highly transactional applications such as Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server can overburden the snapshot, causing cumbersome backup processes, unresponsive VMs, and other problems. With HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration, vSphere snapshots are kept for only a brief moment before being committed. This is demonstrated in Figure 22.

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Figure 22. HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration

Backup from storage snapshots alleviates these dilemmas. With built-in integration with HPE Nimble Storage arrays, Veeam Backup & Replication can now interact directly with the HPE Nimble Storage hardware snapshot—without the costly impact that VMware snapshots incur during backups. During this process, Veeam Backup & Replication issues a command to create a hypervisor snapshot. This is done to get a consistent state of the application in the VM before the hardware snapshot. Then, HPE Nimble Storage takes a hardware snapshot. Because the hardware snapshot now contains the hypervisor snapshot within it, Veeam removes the VMware snapshot. A Veeam Backup Job keeps a VM snapshot for only a brief moment, which results in near instant VM snapshot commit. This process significantly reduces the impact of the backup on production, in that data can be read directly from the HPE Nimble Storage hardware snapshot instead of the production host.

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The storage snapshot integration illustration shown in Figure 23 can be outlined as follows:

1. The vSphere snapshot of VMs is created from a Veeam Backup Job.

2. The backup job directs the HPE Nimble Storage array to take a snapshot of all volumes containing at least one of the VMs in the job.

3. The vSphere snapshot is deleted, now that it is contained within the HPE Nimble Storage snapshot.

4. The storage snapshot is mapped to the Veeam proxy.

5. Backups are completed.

6. The storage snapshot is either deleted or maintained for the required number of retention periods.

Figure 23. Backup from storage snapshot overview

Comparison: backup from storage snapshots A five-week backup test was run to compare backup from HPE Nimble Storage snapshots to the default vSphere snapshots. The environment setup is presented in Figure 2. Test setup information can be outlined as follows:

• The test consisted of a five-week backup set, following a weekly synthetic full and daily incremental schedule for 35 total backups.

• The dataset being backed up consisted of 25 VMs, each with a fully occupied 40 GB Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK), for a total of 1 TB of data.

• The dataset was backed up to an HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array.

• Two backup jobs were configured to run sequentially:

– One that backed up the VMs to an HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array volume using HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration

– One that backed up the VMs to an HPE Nimble Storage CS3000 array volume using the default vSphere snapshot, utilizing direct SAN access

• After the two jobs finished running, 1% of the VMDK file for each of the 25 VMs was modified, and then the backup jobs were rerun until a total of 35 backups were obtained.

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Figure 24 compares backup duration between an HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration and the default vSphere snapshots. On average, backups were 30% faster when using storage snapshot integration. The different durations is likely attributed to the fact that, without storage snapshot integration, Veeam will only take vSphere snapshots of 4 VMs at a time.

Figure 24. Backup duration with HPE Nimble Storage snapshot integration versus the default VMware snapshot backup policy

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Snapshot-only jobs The snapshot-only job is similar to snapshot creation in the HPE Nimble Storage array console and does not create Veeam backup files on the backup repository. Instead, it creates a storage snapshot on the HPE Nimble Storage array. Like Veeam Backup Jobs, snapshot-only jobs can be configured on a schedule to be either application-consistent or crash-consistent. Snapshot-only job schedules can range from monthly all the way to continuously, depending on your RPO.

As shown in Figure 25, a snapshot-only backup job is created by selecting HPE Nimble Storage Snapshot (Primary storage snapshot only) as the backup repository. This will forgo backup file creation on a backup repository, and simply create a storage snapshot on the HPE Nimble Storage array. The schedule involves frequent snapshots—for example, hourly—and then daily incremental backups with weekly synthetic full backups.

Figure 25. Creating a snapshot-only job can be done by specifying “HPE Nimble Storage Snapshot (Primary storage snapshot only)” as the backup repository

Snapshot replication using Veeam Backup & Replication A Veeam Backup Job can conduct an HPE Nimble Storage array snapshot on the primary HPE Nimble Storage array, then replicate that snapshot to the secondary HPE Nimble Storage array. This is done entirely through the Veeam Backup & Replication console:

1. Select HPE Nimble Storage Snapshot (Primary storage snapshot only) as the backup repository, and enable Configure secondary destinations for this job, as depicted in Figure 26.

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Figure 26. Configuring secondary destinations for a Veeam Backup Job

2. Choose Add…, then select HPE Nimble Storage Snapshot Replicated Copy, as shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27. Replicating a snapshot on the primary HPE Nimble Storage array to a secondary HPE Nimble Storage array

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3. Choose the number of snapshot copies to retain, as demonstrated in Figure 28.

Figure 28. Replicating an HPE Nimble Storage array snapshot using Veeam Backup & Replication

With this configuration, Veeam Backup & Replication will conduct an HPE Nimble Storage array snapshot on the primary array, and replicate this snapshot to the secondary HPE Nimble Storage array.

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Retaining snapshots from a storage snapshot backup This use case involves the advanced Integration settings mentioned in Figure 21. In this case, a Veeam Backup Job uses an HPE Nimble Storage array snapshot as the data source for the backup. However, by default, Veeam Backup & Replication will delete the snapshot at the end of the Veeam Backup Job. To keep a snapshot chain on the HPE Nimble Storage array, perform the following steps:

1. Enable the Configure secondary destinations for this job option and select a backup repository, as shown in Figure 29.

Figure 29. Retaining the snapshots from a Veeam Backup Job from a storage snapshot

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2. On the next window, click Add… to allow the selection of the secondary destination job, and select both HPE Nimble Storage Snapshot and HPE Nimble Storage Snapshot Replicated Copy, as shown in Figure 30. This will maintain a snapshot on both the primary and secondary HPE Nimble Storage arrays.

Figure 30. Configuring a backup with a secondary destination job

Note It is a best practice to maintain a snapshot chain on both the primary and secondary HPE Nimble Storage arrays.

3. By default, Veeam will use the primary HPE Nimble Storage array snapshot as the data source. However, as presented in Figure 31, if you want to use the secondary HPE Nimble Storage array snapshot as the data source, select the Use as the data source checkbox for the HPE Nimble Storage Snapshot Replicated Copy.

Figure 31. Configuring HPE Nimble Storage snapshot replicated copies

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Instant VM recovery from an HPE Nimble Storage snapshot Virtual machines can be recovered directly from an HPE Nimble Storage snapshot using Instant VM recovery (IVMR). After either a manual or scheduled snapshot, individual VMs can be recovered using IVMR. Similar to IVMR from a disk-based backup, a VM can be recovered without prior de-staging and intermediate restores. IVMR improves RTOs and decreases downtime of production VMs, because it can be booted directly from the storage snapshot. For more information on IVMR, see https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/storage_instant_recovery.html?ver=95.

Note Veeam Backup & Replication will automatically detect all HPE Nimble Storage snapshots on the array, not just ones taken by Veeam. A snapshot can be taken from any software capable of taking hardware snapshots, such as HPE Recovery Manager Central (RMC), then be discovered and restored using Veeam Backup & Replication.

1. In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, select Storage Infrastructure.

2. Navigate to the desired array, volume, and snapshot. Veeam identifies all VMs in a particular snapshot. Several options are present, including the ability to restore guest files, application items, or the entire VM, as depicted in Figure 32.

Figure 32. IVMR can be conducted directly from an HPE Nimble Storage snapshot

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3. In an IVMR operation, the Instant Recovery wizard guides the user through the process of specifying recovery properties. These properties include the Restore Point (see Figure 33), and the location to restore the VM (see Figure 34).

Figure 33. Selecting a “Restore Point” for an IVMR operation

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4. Choose Restore to the original location or Restore to a new location, or with different settings. Restoring the VM to a new location, as shown in Figure 34, allows the user to specify a different name for the VM or change other settings, such as the network configuration, which is useful for manual DR testing or restore testing.

Figure 34. Choosing a restore location for an IVMR operation

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5. Specify whether or not to power on the VM and connect it to the network, as demonstrated in Figure 35, after the recovery finishes.

Figure 35. Specifying network and power settings upon completing an IVMR operation

Once the VM is restored, the IVMR operation will be actively running, as shown in Figure 36. The operation will continue to run, and the VM will continue to be mounted to an ESXi host.

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6. Choose Migrate to Production if the VM is being restored permanently, Open VM Console if some operations must be performed on the VM, or Stop Publishing the VM if the IVMR was a manual recovery test or other limited duration exercise.

Figure 36. An IVMR operation will display on the “HOME” pane of Veeam Backup & Replication

Veeam creates a zero-copy clone of the specified snapshot. The clone is writable, while the original snapshot is unaltered. The clone is promoted to a volume within ESXi, and the VM is registered with ESXi. Then, Veeam recovers the desired items from the VM, and performs clean-up operations in the hypervisor and on the array. Once the VM is mounted, Veeam Backup & Replication copies files or items to their destination via this mount server or VM.

The mount server is required if you restore VM guest OS files and application items to the original location. The mount server lets you route VM traffic in an optimal way, which can reduce the load on the network and speed up the restore process. When you perform a file-level restore of an application item, Veeam Backup & Replication needs to mount the content of the backup file to a staging server (or the original VM for restore to a Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle VMs).

Note The staging server must be located in the same site as the backup repository where the backup files are stored. In this case, you will be able to keep the VM traffic in one site. If the staging server is located at another site, the data will need to travel across the network between sites.

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On-Demand Sandbox for storage snapshots Veeam On-Demand Sandbox allows you to set up a completely isolated copy of components in your production environment. The entire virtual lab is separated from the production environment by a proxy appliance, allowing the virtual machines inside the lab space to have the same hostnames and network settings as the production VMs. The VMDKs for the virtual labs come from either Veeam backup repositories or HPE Nimble Storage snapshots. The contents of the virtual lab can be manipulated as desired, then spun down and deleted when finished. More information can be found at https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/sandbox_storages.html?ver=95u4.

There are a number of reasons why an administrator would set up a Veeam On-Demand Sandbox environment:

• Test DR capabilities without impact on production data or servers

• Safely test updates to production environments without risk

• Train customers, partners, or new employees on the current environment without touching production

In the On-Demand Sandbox, VMs can be started from snapshots existing on HPE Nimble Storage arrays. Figure 37 outlines the general layout of the virtual lab.

Figure 37. The proxy appliance separates the production environment and the virtual lab

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Application groups The first step in setting up an On-Demand Sandbox environment involves configuring an application group using Veeam Backup & Replication. An application group is a set of servers that are needed or desired in a particular sandbox. This includes a DNS server for name resolution, a directory server for authentication, and any applicable application servers depending on what the production environment needs to run (Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange, Oracle, and so on). Applications can be grouped as desired, whether all applications are in one group, one application per group, or several applications per group.

To create an application group, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to BACKUP INFRASTRUCTUREApplication GroupsAdd Group, as displayed in Figure 38.

Figure 38. Adding a new “APPLICATION GROUP” in the Veeam Backup & Replication console

2. After specifying a name, add VMs from backups or from storage snapshots, as illustrated in Figure 39. Test scripts can be associated with a particular VM upon startup, if desired.

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Figure 39. Adding VMs to application groups using HPE Nimble Storage snapshots as the source

3. If a VM falls under any of the categories in Figure 40, it should be assigned that role.

Figure 40. Roles should be assigned to VMs that match any of these categories

After verifying that the VMs have been added correctly, the application group will be joined to the Veeam Backup & Replication console.

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Virtual labs Once an application group is established, a virtual lab can now be created. The virtual lab will consist of isolated virtual networks with proxy access to production networks or other virtual labs. Virtual labs are necessary to set up in order to perform SureBackup operations, discussed further in the SureBackup section.

To add a virtual lab, perform the following steps:

1. In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, navigate to BACKUP INFRASTRUCTUREVirtual LabsAdd Virtual Lab. A virtual lab must be assigned to a particular host. By default, changed blocks are stored in the Veeam vPower NFS cache. You may select a different datastore for performance or capacity reasons.

2. Configure the proxy appliance, which is exhibited in Figure 41.

Figure 41. Configuring the proxy for a virtual lab

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3. Configure the networking based on whether the virtual lab is running on a single production network or multiple production networks. This is shown in Figure 42. In most cases, the Advanced single-host (manual configuration) will need to be selected to properly configure the virtual lab.

Figure 42. Configuring the network for a virtual lab

After applying the settings, the virtual lab will be configured.

SureBackup A Veeam SureBackup job ensures the integrity of a particular backup or HPE Nimble Storage snapshot by utilizing an application group and a virtual lab to perform several tasks:

• Powers on the virtual lab

• Creates a zero-copy clone of the latest HPE Nimble Storage snapshot containing the desired VMs

• Mounts the clone as a datastore accessible to the virtual lab

• Reconfigures and boots the VM

• Checks that the VM has a heartbeat

• Verifies the data on the VM depending on the specified settings

• Powers off the VMs unmounts

The status of a particular Veeam SureBackup job is shown in Figure 43. In this scenario, two VMs were verified by checking for a heartbeat. Then, a ping test was run to ensure that the VM would have network connectivity if it was restored to the production environment. The RHEL 7.2 VM had intentionally misconfigured network settings to demonstrate that it would fail a ping test. Notice that scripts and antivirus scans can also be performed on a VM as part of the SureBackup job. For more information, see https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/surebackup_job.html?ver=95u4.

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Figure 43. Checking the status of a Veeam SureBackup job

Summary As data usage in the modern world continues to grow, so does the demand to secure that data. RPOs have become more stringent than ever, and the need for reliable data recovery has become essential. Veeam Backup & Replication, combined with HPE Nimble Storage, offers a robust solution to this data-driven world. With ample integration with HPE Nimble Storage arrays, Veeam Availability Suite provides a plethora of integrated features, including HPE Nimble Storage primary snapshot orchestration, HPE Nimble Storage secondary snapshot orchestration, and backup from HPE Nimble Storage snapshots. Veeam Backup & Replication can now leverage HPE Nimble Storage snapshots to significantly reduce the impact on production environments, and create backups that are 30% faster on average.

In addition to an HPE Nimble Storage integration, HPE Nimble Storage arrays afford powerful scale-up and scale-out storage infrastructure that can be used alongside Veeam Backup & Replication to significantly reduce the size of backup files and streamline the virtual appliance data protection foundation. With versatile deduplication technology, HPE Nimble Storage arrays are strong and dependable data protection tools.

The solution highlighted in this Reference Configuration is an economical, efficient, flexible, and secure backup and recovery infrastructure for short-term and long-term data protection. Using Hewlett Packard Enterprise award-winning servers, storage, networking infrastructures, and support services will keep your mission-critical applications functioning at their best, while protecting them from the worst.

Reference Architecture

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© Copyright 2019 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for Hewlett Packard Enterprise products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Microsoft, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. VMware, VMware ESXi, VMware vSphere, VMware vCenter, VMware vSphere VMFS, VMware vCenter Server, VMware vSphere High Availability, VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler, VMware vSphere vMotion, VMware vSphere Storage vMotion, and VMware vSphere Fault Tolerance are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Veeam is a trademark of Veeam Software, registered in the U.S. and/or other countries.

a00079582enw, July 2019

Resources and additional links Veeam Help Center:

• Snapshot-Only Jobs, https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/snapshot_only_job.html?ver=95

• Storage Snapshots in Secondary Destination Jobs, https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/snapshot_job_secondary.html?ver=95

• Veeam vPower NFS Service, https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/vpower_nfs_service.html?ver=95

• How Backup Works, https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/backup_hiw.html?ver=95

• Backup from Primary Storage Arrays, https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/backup_from_storage_snapshots_hiw_hp.html?ver=95

• Performing Instant VM Recovery, https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/storage_instant_recovery.html?ver=95

• On-Demand Sandbox for Storage Snapshots, https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/sandbox_storages.html?ver=95u4

• SureBackup Job, https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/surebackup_job.html?ver=95u4

Video: Veeam Backup from HPE storage snapshot, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymq-dRX6zrE

HPE Servers Support & Certification Matrices, http://h17007.www1.hpe.com/us/en/enterprise/servers/supportmatrix/vmware.aspx

Veeam Blog: Advanced ReFS integration coming in Veeam Availability Suite 9.5, https://www.veeam.com/blog/advanced-refs-integration-coming-veeam-availability-suite.html

HPE Reference Architectures, hpe.com/info/ra

HPE Technology Consulting Services, hpe.com/us/en/services/consulting.html

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