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Veeam Backup & Replication
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| Veeam Backup & Replication | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Recovering VMware ESXi VM using Veeam Backup and Replication (Foundation) | |
| Developer | Veeam Software |
| Initial release | February 26, 2008 |
| Stable release | 12.3.2.3617
/ June 17, 2025[1] |
| Operating system | Windows Server 2012 or later & [2] Windows 10 or later [3] |
| Platform | X86-64 |
| Available in | English |
| Type | Backup software |
| License | Trialware |
| Website | www |
Veeam Backup & Replication is a proprietary backup app developed by Veeam Software as one of their first widely adopted initial products, ultimately expanding beyong the Foundation pillar (VBR) of the Veeam Data Platform [1] ). Initially designed with Physical and Virtual Environments (e.g. Hypervisors, HCI, KVM's, etc; Most notably as of 12.3 includes VMware vSphere, Nutanix AHV, KVM's and Microsoft Hyper-V[4] among others. The software platform support has expanded and provides backup, optional malware detection scans during backup, restore, replication/CDP, and much more functionality for virtual machines, physical servers, workstations as well as cloud-based workloads[5] and unstructured data.
Operation
[edit]Veeam Backup & Replication operates both the virtualization layer as well manages physical machine backup. It backs up VMs at the image-level using a hypervisor's snapshots to retrieve VM data.[6] Backups can be full (a full copy of VM image) or incremental (saving only the changed blocks of data since the last backup job run).[7] Backup increments are created using the built-in changed block tracking (CBT) mechanism. The available backup methods include forward incremental-forever backup, forward incremental backup, and reverse incremental backup. Additionally, there is an option to perform active full and synthetic full backups.[8]
Veeam Backup & Replication provides automated recovery verification for both backups and replicas. The program starts a VM directly from a backup or replica in the isolated test environment and runs tests against it. During the verification, the VM image remains in a read-only state. This mechanism can also be used for troubleshooting or testing patches and upgrades.[9][10]
Backup storage
[edit]Veeam Backup & Replication supports software-defined storage technology. It allows organizing a scalable backup repository from a collection of heterogeneous storage devices. Backups can be stored on-premises, transferred to off-site repositories via the WAN,[11] saved to tape media for long-term retention, or sent to cloud storage. Cloud storage support is available on an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model. Veeam's technology, Cloud Connect, provides integrated and secured backup to the cloud through Veeam-powered service providers.[12][13]
Veeam Backup & Replication is storage-agnostic, but it also has specialized storage integrations with some storage systems such as Cisco HyperFlex, EMC VNX, EMC VNXe,[14] HP 3PAR, HP StoreVirtual,[15] Nimble,[16] NetApp,[17] IBM,[18] Lenovo Storage V Series.[19] In addition, through a separate Universal Storage API and plug-in, Veeam also provides storage integrations with Infinidat [20] and Pure Storage.[21] It uses storage system snapshots as a source for backups and recovery of VMware VMs with disks residing on storage volumes.[22][23] Veeam Backup & Replication also have build in direct NFS agent which allows to access NetApp snapshots directly from NAS storage bypassing hosts for backup, restore & storage scan operations.
Replication
[edit]Along with backup, Veeam Backup & Replication can perform image-based VM replication. It creates a "clone" of a production VM onsite or offsite and keeps it in a ready-to-use state. Each VM replica has a configurable number of failover points.[24] Image-based VM replication is also available via Veeam Cloud Connect for Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS).[25]
Recovery
[edit]The software provides a number of data recovery options,[26] including:
Entire VM recovery:
- An immediate restore of a VM via mounting a VM image to a host directly from a backup file (Instant VM Recovery)
- Full extraction of a VM image from a backup
File-level recovery:
- Restore specific VM files such as virtual disks, configuration files, etc.
- VM guest OS files restore from a number of different file systems including Linux, BSD macOS, Novell NetWare and Solaris
Virtual drive restore:
- A specific VM hard drive recovery
Application-item recovery:
- Granular recovery of items from Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Databases, as well as recovery of single files and VMs from storage snapshots for existing storage partners.
Optimization
[edit]Veeam Backup & Replication decreases backup files size and data traffic with built-in data deduplication and compression. There is support for deduplicating storage systems such as EMC Data Domain,[27] ExaGrid[28] and HP StoreOnce Catalyst and NetApp Cloud Backup (AltaVault).[29] Using deduplicating storage appliances as backup repositories allows achieving greater levels of deduplication ratios. Veeam Backup & Replication also provides built-in WAN acceleration to reduce the bandwidth required for transferring backups and replicas over the WAN.
Architecture
[edit]Built on a modular scheme, Veeam Backup & Replication allows for setting scalable backup infrastructures. The software architecture supports onsite, offsite and cloud-base data protection, operations across remote sites and geographically dispersed locations.[30] The installation package of Veeam Backup & Replication includes a set of mandatory and optional components that can be installed on physical or virtual machines.[31]
Mandatory components
[edit]- Veeam backup server – a Windows-based physical or virtual machine where Veeam Backup & Replication is installed. It is the core component responsible for all types of administrative activities in a backup infrastructure, including general orchestration of backup, restore and replication tasks, job scheduling and resource allocation.
- Backup proxy – an appliance that retrieves backup data from the source host and transfers it to the backup repository offloading the Veeam backup server.
- Backup repository – a primary storage for backup files, VM copies, and meta-data.
Optional components
[edit]- Backup Enterprise Manager – a centralized management web browser interface intended for distributed enterprise environments with multiple backup servers.
- Veeam Backup Search – an add-on to Microsoft Search Server for search performance optimization.
- Standalone Console — a lightweight console for installation on laptops and desktops to enable the management of the backup server remotely over the network and eliminate RDP sessions to a backup server.[32]
- Scale-Out Backup Repository — Since version 9 it's possible to build a flat backup repository space from a number of independent and non-clustered sources. This feature eliminates any need in a clustered backup namespace, now Veeam users to store older backups in more affordable storage targets.[33]
Editions
[edit]Veeam Backup & Replication is positioned as a part of the Veeam Availability Suite bundle (which includes Veeam ONE for monitoring, reporting, and capacity planning), but can also be installed as a standalone product. It is available in three editions based on the level of provided functionality. The product is licensed by the number of CPU sockets, or through annually or upfront-billed subscription licenses on a per-VM basis. As of Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 Update 4 (U4), Veeam is now using Veeam Instance Licensing (VIL) to lower complexity of license key management. Essentially, VIL allows for a single license key, or instance, to be deployed on most Veeam products - from Backup & Replication server to Veeam ONE to Windows and Linux agents. The number of instance keys consumed per machine will vary by license edition (standard, enterprise, or enterprise plus) and the software you are enabling.[34]
History
[edit]| Version | Year | Major changes and improvements |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2008 | The first version released under the name of Veeam Backup provided backup, replication, file copying, file-level recovery and deduplication for VMware ESX Server environments.[35] |
| 2.0 | 2008 | Added VSS support, VMware ESXi support, and enhanced VCB (VMware Consolidated Backup) performance.[36] |
| 3.0 | 2009 | Added the support for ESXi free edition, Linux file-level recovery, VSS support for Windows 2008 guests and VM templates backup.[37] |
| 4.0 | 2009 | The product was renamed to Veeam Backup & Replication. Added support for vStorage APIs, Changed Block Tracking (CBT), thin-provisioned disks and enhanced replication functionality.[38] |
| 5.0 | 2010 | Introduced a patented vPower technology enabling an automated recovery verification for backups and sandbox VMs for testing purposes. Added a number of recovery features, including an ability to restore a VM directly from a backup file (Instant VM Recovery), application-item and file-level restore options.[39] |
| 6.0 | 2011 | Added the support for Microsoft Hyper-V and a number of replication and recovery enhancements.[40] |
| 6.5 | 2012 | Added Veeam Explorer tools for a granular recovery from Microsoft Exchange VM backups and storage snapshots.[41] |
| 7.0 | 2013 | Added WAN-acceleration, tape support, integration with HP storage systems, virtual lab technology for Hyper-V and replicas, and Veeam Explorer tool for Microsoft SharePoint granular recovery.[42] |
| 8.0 | 2014 | Added Veeam Explorer tools for a granular recovery from Microsoft Active Directory and Microsoft SQL Server, integration with NetApp storage systems and EMC Data Domain Boost, cloud storages support, and AES 256-bit data encryption.[43] |
| 9.0 | 2016 | Added support for EMC VNX and VNXe hybrid storage arrays, Veeam Explorer tool for Oracle recovery and the support for software-defined storage. Introduced VM replication to the cloud.[44][45] |
| 9.5 | 2016 | Added Nimble Storage Snapshot integration, direct restore to Microsoft Azure, support for Resilient File System.[46] |
| 9.5 U3 | 2017 | Added Built-in Agent Management, Data Location Tagging, additional platform support and introduced the Universal Storage API including storage snapshot integrations with IBM Spectrum Virtualize and Lenovo Storage V Series[47] |
| 9.5 U3a | 2018 | Added platform support for VMware vSphere 6.7, VMware vCloud Director 9.1, Microsoft Windows Server 1803, and Microsoft Windows April 10, 2018 Update[48] |
| 9.5 U4 | 2019 | Added support for Amazon S3 object storage as a destination for offloaded backups in a Scale-Out Backup Repository. It works with any S3 protocol compatible object storage arrays. |
| 10.0 | 2020 | Added support for Network-attached storage backups[49] and immutable backups with S3 object lock functionality. |
| 10a | 2020 | Courtesy update to resolve CVEs for those who wished to remain on V10[50] |
| 11.0 | 2021 | Added support for Google Cloud Storage[51] and Veeam Agent for Mac. |
| 11a | 2021 | General platform support updates[52] |
| 12.0 | 2023 | [53] |
| 12.1 | 2023 | [54] |
References
[edit]- ^ "Build numbers and version of Veeam Backup & Replication". Veeam Software. February 18, 2020.
- ^ "System Requirements - Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide". Veeam Software. January 13, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
- ^ "System Requirements - Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide". Veeam Software. January 13, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
- ^ Adam Armstrong (July 30, 2015). "Veeam Backup And Replication v8 Review". StorageReview. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ "Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5 U3 Released". ESXVirtualization. 20 December 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
- ^ Brandon Butler (December 6, 2013). "Veeam: Backup, but for virtual machines". Network World. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ Antony Adshead (October 20, 2015). "Veeam to add virtualised storage as backup target". ComputerWeekly. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
- ^ Jason Buffington; Vinny Choinski; Kerry Dolan (March 13, 2013). "Lab Review: Veeam Backup & Replication – Built for Virtualization". Enterprise Strategy Group. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
- ^ Deni Connor (March 24, 2010). "Veeam verifies virtual machine recovery". Network World. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
- ^ Vladan Seget (May 8, 2013). "Veeam Backup and Replication v7 – Virtual Labs for Replicas". ESX Virtualization. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
- ^ "Veeam Cloud Connect Capabilities | Backup & replication review". August 24, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- ^ Lyle Smith (October 6, 2014). "Veeam Announces VCP Launch Partners for Veeam Availability Suite v8". StorageReview. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
- ^ Nurdianah Md Nu (January 14, 2016). "Veeam Availability Suite v9 to meet the needs of the Always-On enterprise". CIO-Asia. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ^ Stephanie Simone (June 4, 2015). "Veeam to Integrate Availability Suite v9 with EMC". Database Trends and Applications. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
- ^ Paul Rubens (August 24, 2012). "Joint HP and Veeam Virtualization Initiative Starting to Take Real Form". ServerWatch. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
- ^ "Veeam – Alliance Partners". Nimble Storage. November 11, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
- ^ Chris Mellor (April 8, 2014). "Snappy snaps: Veeam cuddles up to NetApp for storage selfie". The Register. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
- ^ "New fast and flexible Veeam backup solutions to IBM Cloud - IBM Cloud Blog". IBM Cloud Blog. May 15, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ "Veeam adds IBM and Lenovo to its growing strategic partner ecosystem". Computer Dealer News. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ "INFINIDAT and Veeam Deliver Petabyte-Scale Availability for the Always-On Enterprise - Infinidat". Infinidat. March 13, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ "Pure Storage Plug-in and Integrations with Veeam - Pure Storage Blog". Pure Storage Blog. April 25, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ Joseph F. Kovar (May 20, 2014). "New Veeam Availability Suite Combines Backup, Monitoring". CRN. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
- ^ Michael Otey (May 28, 2014). "Industry Bytes: Veeam Software's new Availability Suite v8 Improves Virtualization Uptime". Windows IT Pro. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ Christopher Glemot (November 6, 2014). "Guide to setting up a Failover Plan in Veeam B&R 8 (replication)". Original Network. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ^ "Disaster Recovery as a Service". Veeam Software. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ^ "Data Recovery - Veeam Backup User Guide". Veeam Software. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ^ Tim Smith (February 11, 2015). "Veeam and DataDomain using DD Boost". Tim's IT Blog. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ Vinny Choinski; Kerry Dolan (July 1, 2014). "ExaGrid with Veeam: Virtual Machine Backup without Compromise". Enterprise Strategy Group. Archived from the original on July 20, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ^ Adam Armstrong (September 10, 2015). "Veeam & HP StoreOnce Catalyst Integrate To Enhance Data Protection". StorageReview. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ "Veeam Cloud Connect Capabilities | Backup & replication review". August 24, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- ^ "Introduction to Veeam Backup & Replication for VMware". PACKT Books. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
- ^ "Solution Architecture - Veeam Backup & Replication". Veeam Software. December 24, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ^ "Veeam to add virtualised storage as backup target". Computer Weekly. October 20, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
- ^ "Veeam Platform Licensing and Pricing".
- ^ "Release: Veeam Backup 1.0". Virtualization.info. March 3, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ David Marshall (July 30, 2008). "Veeam releases its new VMware backup software". InfoWorld. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ^ Gabrie van Zanten (October 21, 2009). "Veeam Backup and Replication: An evaluation". TechTarget. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ^ Simon Seagrave (October 29, 2009). "Veeam release a new version of Backup & Replication Software (v4) with some nice new features". TechHead. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ^ Maxwell Cooter (August 31, 2010). "Veeam to introduce new version of virtualisation backup". Network World. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ^ Sander Martijn (December 1, 2011). "Veeam Backup & Replication v6 released". VMGuru. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ^ Sander Martijn (October 31, 2012). "New: Veeam Backup & Replication v6.5". VMGuru. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ^ Andrew Burton (February 1, 2014). "Veeam Backup & Replication v7". TechTarget. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
- ^ Dan Kusnetzky (October 10, 2014). "Veeam Unveils Availability Suite v8". Virtualization Review. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ Justin Warren (January 12, 2016). "Veeam Hunts Enterprise Customers With Availability Suite v9". Forbes. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ^ Chris Mellor (January 13, 2016). "Veeam pops out new product with usual level of superlatives". The Register. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- ^ Vladan Seget (January 16, 2017). "Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 is Next". ESX Virtualization. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
- ^ "Step by Step Guide Veeam B&R 9.5 U3 Upgrade - Original Network | IT Blog". Original Network | IT Blog. January 4, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ "Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 Update 3a RTM is now available featuring VMware vSphere 6.7 support". TinkerTry IT @ Home. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ^ "New Features and Capabilities in Veeam Availability Suite v10". Veeam Software. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- ^ "KB4291: Release Information for Veeam Backup & Replication 10a Cumulative Patch P20220304". Veeam Software. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "New Features and Capabilities in Veeam Availability Suite v10". Veeam Software. 22 October 2021.
- ^ "KB4215: Release Information for Veeam Backup & Replication 11a". Veeam Software. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "Veeam Backup & Replication 12 - Release Notes" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-03-17.
- ^ "Veeam Backup & Replication 12 - Release Notes" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-12-08.
External links
[edit]Veeam Backup & Replication
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Introduction
Overview
Veeam Backup & Replication is a proprietary backup, replication, and recovery software developed by Veeam Software, designed to protect virtual, physical, network-attached storage (NAS), and cloud workloads across diverse environments.[2] As a comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery solution, it enables organizations to create image-level backups and perform restores for virtual machines, physical servers, and cloud-based assets, ensuring business continuity in hybrid and multi-cloud setups.[1] At the core of the Veeam Data Platform, Veeam Backup & Replication provides foundational capabilities for comprehensive data resilience, particularly against ransomware attacks and disasters, by integrating backup, recovery, and security features into a unified platform.[11] This integration allows for seamless management of data across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures, emphasizing immutability and rapid failover to mitigate risks.[2] Key benefits include agentless backup operations for virtual environments, which eliminate the need for software installation on protected systems, instant recovery options that enable VMs to run directly from backups to minimize downtime, and scalable architecture suitable for enterprise deployments handling thousands of workloads.[12][13][14] The latest version, 13.0.1.180, released on November 19, 2025, including the full general availability release with features such as a Linux-based backup server and AI-driven anomaly detection, introduces enhancements such as AI-powered anomaly detection and improved hybrid cloud security measures.[15][6][16]Key Capabilities
Veeam Backup & Replication features image-level backup technology, creating complete and independent copies of entire virtual machines, including disks, operating system, applications, and configuration. These image-level backups are stored in Veeam's proprietary format and serve as the primary means of data protection. During the backup process, Veeam temporarily creates hypervisor-level snapshots (such as VMware snapshots or Hyper-V checkpoints) to ensure consistent point-in-time data capture. The data is read from these snapshots, processed (including deduplication and compression), and stored, after which the snapshots are committed and removed. Unlike temporary snapshots, which are dependent on the original VM disks and unsuitable as long-term backups due to risks like single points of failure and performance degradation, image-level backups provide standalone, reliable protection enabling instant full VM recovery, granular item-level restores, and secure offsite storage.[17][18][19] Veeam Backup & Replication provides immutable and ransomware-proof backups through hardened Linux repositories, which enforce write-once-read-many (WORM) compliance to prevent unauthorized modifications or deletions for a specified retention period. These repositories utilize Linux file system immutability flags and extended attributes, with XFS recommended as the underlying file system to support immutability features effectively through its support for extended attributes and block cloning (reflink). These repositories can be configured as isolated, air-gapped storage to further enhance protection against cyber threats like ransomware, ensuring data integrity even if the primary environment is compromised. This approach aligns with zero-trust principles, incorporating features such as multi-factor authentication for administrative access and integration with external immutability solutions for cloud or object storage.[20][21][22][23] A standout capability is instant VM recovery, allowing workloads to be restored directly from backups to production environments in minutes without the need for full restoration, minimizing downtime during incidents. Complementing this, the solution supports agentless granular file-level restores, enabling users to recover individual files, folders, or application items from VM backups via an intuitive interface, without deploying software agents on target systems. This agentless methodology reduces deployment complexity and security risks while maintaining high performance across virtualized infrastructures.[2][24] Built-in deduplication, compression, and encryption optimize storage efficiency and security; deduplication eliminates redundant data blocks to reduce backup sizes, compression further shrinks files using advanced algorithms, and AES-256 encryption secures data at rest and in transit, with support for key management services (KMS) integration. These features collectively lower storage costs and bandwidth usage while ensuring compliance with data protection standards.[2][1] Orchestrated disaster recovery is facilitated by SureBackup, which automates verification of backups in isolated virtual labs to confirm recoverability, application consistency, and bootability before an actual disaster occurs. This proactive testing eliminates surprises during recovery, supporting scripted failover plans for entire sites or clusters. In version 13, AI-assisted features enhance these capabilities with anomaly detection in backup data patterns to identify potential threats early and provide guided recovery recommendations through a generative AI assistant integrated with Veeam's knowledge base.[25][2] Veeam Backup & Replication supports multiple virtualization platforms, including VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Nutanix AHV, for broad applicability in hybrid environments.[2]Operations
Backup Process
Veeam Backup & Replication employs an agentless approach to create image-level backups of virtual machines (VMs), leveraging integrations with virtualization platforms to capture data without installing software inside the guest operating systems. For VMware vSphere environments, it utilizes the VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) to create consistent snapshots of VMs through vCenter Server or ESXi hosts, enabling read-only access to VM disks during the backup window. Similarly, for Microsoft Hyper-V, the solution integrates with the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to ensure application-consistent backups by coordinating with guest OS services. This agentless methodology minimizes deployment overhead and supports efficient data capture from hypervisors.[26] Although Veeam Backup & Replication uses VM snapshots as part of the backup process, it is essential to distinguish them from actual backups. A VM snapshot is a temporary hypervisor-level point-in-time copy (such as a VMware snapshot) that freezes the VM state for consistency during backup. Veeam creates the snapshot, reads the data (leveraging Changed Block Tracking where available), and then commits and removes the snapshot. Snapshots alone are not backups—they remain dependent on the original VM disks, create a single point of failure if the base disks are damaged, and are unsuitable for long-term recovery, offsite protection, or disaster recovery scenarios. In contrast, Veeam produces image-level backups, which are complete, independent copies of the entire VM (including disks, operating system, and applications) stored in Veeam's proprietary format (.VBK files for full backups and related files for incrementals). These image-level backups enable full VM restores, granular file- and item-level recovery, offsite storage, and provide true data protection independent of the production environment. Veeam emphasizes that snapshots serve merely as tools in the backup process, while image-level backups constitute the actual protection mechanism. In certain contexts, such as Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure or Veeam for Nutanix AHV, the terms "snapshot" and "image-level" may refer to distinct backup modes, with image-level often providing more comprehensive data capture.[17][26][27] The backup process supports multiple modes to balance completeness, efficiency, and storage usage. A full backup captures the entire VM image, serving as the baseline for subsequent sessions. Incremental backups then transfer only the data blocks that have changed since the last backup, significantly reducing transfer volumes and backup duration. The forever-forward incremental method chains multiple incrementals to a single full backup, with periodic synthetic full backups generated by merging previous incrementals without re-accessing the source VM, thereby avoiding downtime for large datasets. These modes are configurable within backup jobs to optimize for specific recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs).[26] Changed Block Tracking (CBT) enhances incremental backups by identifying and tracking only modified data blocks at the hypervisor level, eliminating the need to scan entire VM disks for changes. Supported in VMware vSphere (via native CBT) and Hyper-V environments, CBT integrates seamlessly during snapshot creation, allowing Veeam to read metadata about altered blocks and transport solely those portions, which can reduce backup sizes by up to 99% in stable environments. This feature is automatically enabled where compatible, ensuring efficient data identification without additional configuration.[26] Backup jobs in Veeam Backup & Replication are configured through a centralized console, where administrators define schedules for automated execution—such as daily, weekly, or event-triggered runs—to align with maintenance windows and compliance needs. Retention policies specify the number of days for which to retain restore points, automatically managing backup chains by merging or removing outdated sessions to control repository growth. Application-aware processing further refines consistency for VMs hosting databases like Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle, by injecting lightweight runtime components into the guest OS during snapshots to quiesce applications, truncate transaction logs, and ensure point-in-time recoverability. These settings collectively form a workflow that starts with job initiation, proxy assignment, data transport, and completion with metadata updates.[26][28] For storage, backups can be written directly to a designated repository from the source VM, with data streamed through Veeam Data Movers for compression and deduplication en route. To enhance performance and scalability, backup proxies—dedicated servers or VMs—can offload processing tasks like reading VM data via optimized transport modes (e.g., Hot-Add for direct disk access or Network Block Device for remote reads), allowing parallel handling of multiple jobs without overloading production hosts. Repositories support various targets, including local disks, NAS shares, or object storage, ensuring initial backup data is securely stored with metadata for rapid indexing. In v13, backup servers can run on Linux for improved availability and efficiency.[26][29] For physical environments, including physical Hyper-V hosts, Veeam Backup & Replication supports agent-based backups using Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, available in the Community Edition for up to 10 workloads. The centralized method, recommended for managed environments, involves creating a protection group in the console under Inventory > Protection Groups > Create > Individual computers, adding the host by IP or FQDN, and specifying administrative credentials to deploy the agent automatically. Subsequently, a backup job is created via Home > Backup Job > Windows Computer/Agents, selecting the host or protection group, choosing backup scope such as entire computer for bare-metal restore or volume/file level, excluding VM storage locations to avoid redundancy, selecting a repository, configuring schedule and retention policies, enabling recovery media generation, and running the job. Alternatively, the standalone method requires downloading and installing Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows directly on the host from veeam.com, then configuring a local backup job targeting a network share or external drive.[30][31][32][33] A known issue can occur when Veeam Agent backups target a Scale-Out Backup Repository (SOBR), where the backup job becomes stuck in a "polling" state during the extent selection process. This happens because extent selection is managed by the Veeam Backup & Replication server, and Veeam Agent backups may fail to properly communicate or select an available extent. Common causes include:- One or more extents offline, in maintenance mode, full, or unreachable.
- Network connectivity or firewall issues between the backup server and extents (ports 2500-3300 often involved).
- Permissions problems on extents (e.g., for file-level repositories like SMB/CIFS).
- Temporary service hangs or bugs in older Veeam versions.
- Verifying all extents are online and accessible in the Veeam console.
- Checking connectivity from the backup server to extents and reviewing firewall rules.
- Examining Veeam logs and Windows Event Logs for errors related to repositories or extents.
- Restarting Veeam services or the backup job.
Replication Process
Veeam Backup & Replication facilitates disaster recovery by creating and maintaining replica virtual machines (VMs) on target hosts, enabling high availability and off-site redundancy. The replication process involves transferring VM data from a production site to a secondary site, where replicas serve as exact copies that can be activated if the primary environment fails. This process is orchestrated through dedicated replication jobs configured in the Veeam console, which specify source VMs, target hosts, datastores, and networks.[35][36] Replication operates on a job-based model, where administrators define jobs that read configuration from the Veeam database and query VM details from the virtualization server, such as VMware vSphere. The initial job session creates a full replica by capturing a VM snapshot, reading all VM disks, and writing data to the target datastore via source and target proxies. Subsequent sessions are incremental, leveraging Changed Block Tracking (CBT) to identify and transfer only modified data blocks, ensuring efficiency in ongoing synchronization.[36][37] The process supports two primary modes: periodic replication, which runs on a schedule (e.g., hourly or daily) to achieve recovery point objectives (RPOs) in hours, and continuous replication via Continuous Data Protection (CDP), which captures changes in near-real-time for RPOs measured in seconds or minutes. In periodic mode, jobs synchronize replicas at defined intervals, while in v13, universal CDP extends support beyond ESXi journal-based logging to agent-based protection for any Windows workloads (physical, virtual, or cloud), tracking I/O operations and replaying them to the replica without full snapshots.[35][38][39] For wide-area network (WAN) replication, Veeam employs network acceleration through dedicated WAN accelerators—pairs of Windows-based components deployed at source and target sites. These accelerators perform global deduplication by creating data digests and caching unique blocks, filtering out duplicates and zero blocks before transmission, while also applying compression to minimize bandwidth usage, often reducing traffic by up to 50% or more depending on data patterns. Network throttling can further limit transfer rates to avoid impacting production traffic.[40][41][42] Replica seeding optimizes initial data transfer by using existing backups as a starting point, avoiding a full replication over the network. Administrators can copy backup files to the target site via physical media, then configure the replication job to map the seed backup to the replica, allowing subsequent incrementals to build from that point. Reseeding applies similarly if the replica becomes outdated or corrupted, re-initializing from a recent backup to resume synchronization efficiently.[43][44][45] Failover and failback are integral to orchestration, supporting both planned (maintenance) and unplanned (disaster) scenarios. In failover, Veeam starts the replica VM on the target host, promoting it to production while quiescing the source if accessible; planned failovers allow testing without data loss. Failback reverses this by synchronizing changes from the replica back to the original VM or a new host, then switching workloads, with options for permanent failover to commit the replica as the new primary. These operations are initiated from the Veeam console or integrated with Veeam Recovery Orchestrator for automated workflows.[46][47][48] Replication integrates with existing backup chains by allowing jobs to source data directly from backups rather than live VMs, particularly useful for initial seeding or when live replication is impractical. In this mode, Veeam restores VM data from backup restore points to create the replica, then applies incrementals from ongoing backup sessions, ensuring replicas remain current without duplicating primary backup infrastructure.[49][50]Recovery Process
Veeam Backup & Replication provides a range of recovery options designed to minimize downtime and ensure data availability after incidents, supporting restores from backups across virtual, physical, and cloud environments. These options include rapid mounting of backups for immediate access, granular restores of VMs, files, or application items, automated verification mechanisms, and coordinated plans for complex dependencies. The recovery processes leverage Veeam's vPower technology and integrated tools to facilitate efficient restoration without requiring full system rebuilds.[51] Instant Recovery enables quick access to data by mounting compressed and deduplicated backup files directly as virtual machines (VMs) or volumes on ESXi hosts using vPower technology, allowing workloads to run from backups with changes tracked in redo logs. This approach achieves recovery in minutes, supporting VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Amazon EC2, and Microsoft Azure environments, and includes options for bulk recovery with resource scheduling to optimize performance. Once operational, users can migrate the VM to production storage via quick migration or full relocation for sustained I/O performance.[24][52] For complete system restoration, Full VM Restore extracts the entire VM image from a backup to production storage, registering it on the target ESXi host and powering it on as needed, providing full disk I/O performance unlike the temporary setup in Instant Recovery. The process supports restoration to the original location—where only changed disks are overwritten—or a new location with customizable settings for VM name, host, datastore, disk format (thin or thick), and network mappings. Transport modes include Direct SAN Access for high-speed restores, Virtual Appliance for hot-adding disks, and Network mode as a fallback, with multithreaded transfers and CRC checks ensuring data integrity.[53] File-level recovery allows users to restore individual files and folders from guest operating systems without recovering the entire VM, targeting Microsoft Windows VMs via a dedicated wizard launched from the Veeam console or backup files. The process mounts the backup content, browses the guest OS structure, and copies selected items to a specified location, supporting restores from backups, replicas, or storage snapshots. This granular approach is ideal for quick fixes of accidental deletions or corruptions in VM guest environments.[54] Item-level recovery extends granularity to application-specific data, enabling restoration of individual items such as Microsoft Active Directory objects or Microsoft SQL Server databases directly from VM backups or replicas using Veeam Explorers. These tools provide a native interface for browsing and recovering items without full VM restoration, leveraging the Veeam Data Integration API over iSCSI or FUSE protocols to access application data securely. Supported applications include Active Directory, SQL Server, Exchange, Oracle, and PostgreSQL, ensuring precise recovery for critical business data.[55] To verify recoverability, SureBackup automates testing of backups in isolated virtual labs, spinning up VMs from restore points and running predefined heartbeat, ping, and application-specific tests to confirm functionality without impacting production. Operating in full recoverability mode or content scan mode, it integrates with antivirus scanning for malware detection and supports scripted custom tests for tailored validation. In v13, AI-powered analysis enhances malware detection during verification. Complementing this, SureReplica performs similar automated verification on VM replicas, ensuring they boot correctly and pass tests in a sandboxed environment, thus confirming disaster recovery readiness.[56][57][58] Cross-platform recovery supports seamless restoration across diverse environments, including from cloud backups in AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud to on-premises VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V infrastructures, facilitating migrations or disaster recovery scenarios. This capability allows any Veeam-protected workload—virtual, physical, or cloud-based—to be recovered to compatible platforms, with options for full-system, database, or application-level restores.[59] For environments with interdependent VMs, orchestrated recovery plans in Veeam Recovery Orchestrator automate multi-VM recoveries by coordinating failover or restore actions based on defined dependencies, such as startup sequences and network configurations. Integrated with Veeam Backup & Replication, these plans support replica failovers, CDP recoveries, and cross-platform restores to vSphere, Hyper-V, or Azure, ensuring orderly and verifiable execution of complex disaster recovery workflows.[60]Application-Aware Processing Configuration
Application-aware processing can be enabled and configured during job creation or by editing an existing job. To enable:- In the backup job wizard or Edit Job, go to the Guest Processing step.
- Check "Enable application-aware processing".
- Click "Customize" or "Application handling options for individual machines" to set per-VM options.
- For a specific VM (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server), select it, click Edit, and choose to process transaction logs (truncate logs after successful backup) or copy-only mode.
Data Optimization and Management
Veeam Backup & Replication provides several features to optimize data after initial backups, ensuring efficient storage, security, and compliance throughout the data lifecycle. These tools focus on secondary processing, such as creating offsite copies, reducing storage footprint, and maintaining backup integrity against threats. By implementing these mechanisms, organizations can minimize resource usage while adhering to retention requirements and regulatory standards.[61][62] Backup copy jobs enable the creation of secondary backup copies for offsite or alternative storage locations, enhancing disaster recovery readiness. These jobs transform primary backup chains into forward incremental chains on the target repository, supporting both short-term and long-term retention policies. For long-term archival, Veeam incorporates Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) retention, which retains weekly, monthly, and yearly restore points for extended periods, such as up to 999 years, while automatically managing the transition from active to archival storage.[63][64][65] Deduplication and compression are integral to optimizing backup chains, reducing both network traffic and storage requirements. During backup processing, Veeam applies block-level deduplication to eliminate redundant data within backup files, followed by compression using algorithms like LZ4 or FLAC to further shrink file sizes. These optimizations persist post-backup, with configurable levels such as "High" for maximum reduction or "Deduplication-friendly" for compatibility with external deduplication appliances, ensuring efficient management of growing backup datasets.[61][61] To counter ransomware threats, Veeam employs immutable backups and robust encryption protocols. Immutable backups, stored in hardened repositories, prevent modification, deletion, or encryption for a predefined retention period, often leveraging Linux-based object storage with Linux Access Control Lists (ACLs) or cloud immutability features like Amazon S3 Object Lock. Encryption is applied both at rest—using AES-256 standards—and in transit via TLS 1.2 or higher, safeguarding data against unauthorized access during secondary operations.[62][66][67] Capacity management is facilitated through tools like Scale-Out Backup Repositories (SOBR) and automated retention policies, which optimize storage and remove obsolete data. SOBR tiers backups across performance and capacity extents, automatically offloading older restore points to cost-effective object storage in the capacity tier once they age beyond the operational window, reducing on-premises footprint. Retention policies, including background tasks, specify how many restore points (or days) to retain; Veeam automatically removes outdated restore points during the next job run or background maintenance to prevent indefinite accumulation while preserving chain integrity during cleanup.[68][69][70] Automatic removal of old restore points is achieved by configuring the backup job's retention policy to retain fewer points or a shorter period. Veeam removes them during maintenance or the next job run. For manual removal of old backups from a repository, use the "Delete from disk" option in the console rather than manually deleting files from the repository disk. Manual file deletion disrupts Veeam's internal tracking and can cause subsequent backup or replication jobs to fail. The "Delete from disk" option removes backup files from the repository and updates the configuration database.[71] To delete an entire backup or specific VM backups:- Open the Home view.
- In the inventory pane, select Backups (or Replicas).
- Select the backup (or expand it and select a specific VM).
- Right-click and choose Delete from disk (or use the ribbon button).
- If GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) full backups are present, select the "Remove GFS full backups" checkbox and confirm.
Architecture
Core Components
The core components of Veeam Backup & Replication form the foundational infrastructure required for any deployment, enabling the orchestration, processing, and storage of data protection tasks. These mandatory elements include the backup server, backup repository, source and target hosts, and Veeam Data Mover, which collectively handle job coordination, data handling, and VM protection in virtual environments.[75] Backup ServerThe backup server serves as the central management console in Veeam Backup & Replication, responsible for job orchestration, including the coordination of backup, replication, recovery verification, and restore tasks.[76] It houses the configuration database, which can utilize Microsoft SQL Server Express or a full SQL Server instance to store infrastructure settings, job configurations, and metadata.[76] Additionally, the backup server manages service coordination across the infrastructure, controlling scheduling, resource allocation, and global settings while acting as the default backup proxy and repository for initial data operations.[76] This component, deployable on Windows or Linux (via Veeam Software Appliance as of v13), physical or virtual machines, ensures centralized administration for basic functionality.[76][77] In v13 (released September 2025), Veeam Backup & Replication completed its transition to a fully 64-bit architecture across all backup infrastructure components, improving performance, scalability, and memory utilization.[78] Additionally, core components gained support for Linux operating systems through the Veeam Software Appliance, a hardened, just-enough operating system based on Rocky Linux, reducing dependency on Windows licensing.[79] Backup Repository
The backup repository is the designated storage location where Veeam Backup & Replication maintains backup files, VM copies, and metadata for replicated VMs, serving as an essential endpoint for all protected data.[80] It supports various storage types, including direct-attached storage, network-attached storage (NAS), and deduplicating storage appliances, allowing flexibility in deployment while centralizing backup data management.[80] For optimal performance, repositories should avoid overlapping paths or multiple instances pointing to the same location to prevent conflicts.[80] Veeam recommends XFS as the file system type for Linux-based backup repositories. XFS is particularly recommended for hardened repositories due to its support for immutable files, extended attributes, and block cloning (reflink).[81] For Fast Clone on Linux repositories, XFS is required with reflink enabled, using mkfs.xfs options such as -b size=4096 -m reflink=1,crc=1.[82] Other file systems may be used for standard Linux repositories if they meet basic requirements, but XFS provides optimal performance and feature support.[83] Source and Target Hosts
Source hosts in Veeam Backup & Replication are hypervisors, such as VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V servers, that host the virtual machines (VMs) selected for protection, providing access to the data that needs to be backed up or replicated.[84] These hosts must be added to the backup infrastructure to enable Veeam to discover and process VMs.[84] Target hosts, similarly hypervisors like vSphere ESXi clusters or Hyper-V servers, receive and maintain VM replicas in a ready-to-start state, ensuring continuity during failover scenarios and supporting replication to off-site or secondary sites.[84] Veeam Data Mover
The Veeam Data Mover is a lightweight process that handles data transfer and processing tasks during backup and replication jobs, such as retrieving source data, applying deduplication and compression, and writing to the target repository.[85] It runs on the backup server or dedicated proxy servers, with persistent instances on Windows for ongoing operations and either persistent or non-persistent modes on Linux proxies.[85] This component optimizes data flow between source hosts and repositories, ensuring efficient transport without requiring additional hardware for basic setups.[85] These core components interact to support the fundamental operations of data protection, as outlined in the Operations section.[75]
Supporting Components
In larger Veeam Backup & Replication environments, supporting components extend the core infrastructure by providing scalability, performance optimization, and centralized management capabilities. These optional elements build upon the foundational backup server, repositories, and proxies to handle complex, distributed setups without compromising efficiency. As of v13, many supporting components also support Linux deployments via the Veeam Software Appliance.[79] Backup proxies serve as data movers that offload processing tasks from the backup server, enabling distributed workload handling in multi-host or high-volume scenarios. They process backup, replication, and restore traffic by reading data from source infrastructure, applying compression and deduplication, and transferring it to target repositories. This distribution reduces the load on the central backup server and improves overall throughput. Backup proxies support three transport modes: direct mode, which transfers data directly between source and target without additional network hops; virtual appliance mode, which deploys a lightweight virtual appliance on the hypervisor host to minimize production network impact; and network mode, which routes data over the network for scenarios involving physical servers or remote access. By placing proxies near data sources or targets, environments can achieve better resource utilization and faster job completion times.[86][87] WAN accelerators optimize data transfer for replication and off-site backup copy jobs across slow or high-latency networks by implementing global caching and deduplication. Deployed in pairs at source and target sites, they maintain a global cache on the target side and deduplication digests on the source side, allowing Veeam to transfer only changed data blocks while referencing previously cached ones. This approach significantly reduces bandwidth usage. WAN accelerators integrate seamlessly between Veeam Data Movers, making them ideal for geographically dispersed environments where network constraints would otherwise limit recovery point objectives.[41] Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager provides centralized oversight for multi-site deployments involving multiple backup servers, enabling unified reporting, alerting, and capacity planning across distributed infrastructure. As an optional web-based console, it aggregates data from connected Veeam Backup & Replication instances to offer enterprise-wide visibility into backup status, storage usage, and compliance metrics without requiring direct console access to each server. Introduced for complex environments, it supports Windows and Linux deployments as of v13.[88][89] The Scale-Out Backup Repository (SOBR) aggregates multiple underlying repositories and object storage into a single, scalable entity, facilitating capacity tiering to match data access patterns with storage costs and performance needs. It consists of a performance tier for active backups on fast local storage, a capacity tier for cost-effective object storage that offloads older restore points, and an optional archive tier for long-term retention on immutable media. Veeam automatically places new backups in the performance tier, moves them to capacity or archive tiers based on policy-defined ages, and rehydrates data as needed for restores, ensuring seamless scalability without manual intervention. This tiered approach supports unlimited growth by adding extents dynamically and optimizes efficiency in environments exceeding petabyte-scale storage.[68]Supported Platforms
Virtualization Support
Note: The support details described below reflect the status as of Veeam Backup & Replication v13. Version 13 discontinues support for several older hypervisor versions compared to prior releases, such as VMware vSphere 6.x (minimum now 7.0), Microsoft Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 (minimum now Windows Server 2016), and Nutanix AHV versions through 6.1 (minimum now 6.8). For full details on supported versions and dropped platforms, refer to the system requirements.[90] Veeam Backup & Replication is primarily designed for protecting virtualized environments, offering agentless backup and recovery capabilities across major hypervisors through native integrations and APIs.[91] It leverages hypervisor-specific technologies to ensure efficient, non-disruptive operations, including changed block tracking for incremental backups and rapid recovery options.[92] For VMware vSphere, Veeam utilizes the vSphere APIs for Data Protection (VADP) to enable agentless backups, allowing hot-add mounting of VM disks directly on the backup proxy without impacting running workloads.[92] This integration supports vSphere versions 7.0 to 9.0 (dropping support for 6.x in v13 compared to prior versions), including ESXi 9.0 and vCenter Server 9.0, with features like Changed Block Tracking for optimized incremental backups.[92] Instant VM recovery is available, mounting backup files as virtual disks to start VMs on original or alternate ESXi hosts in minutes.[24] Microsoft Hyper-V environments are protected using Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for crash-consistent backups and Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) for efficient change detection in incremental jobs.[93] Veeam supports Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016 to 2025 (dropping support for 2012 and 2012 R2 in v13), including standalone Hyper-V Server and Azure Stack HCI, with agentless processing that handles live migrations seamlessly by quiescing VMs during backup.[93] Instant recovery mounts VM backups directly to Hyper-V hosts, enabling quick failover to production or alternate locations. For Nutanix AHV (6.8 and later, dropping support for versions through 6.1 in v13) and other hypervisors like Proxmox VE, Veeam employs REST API-based protection through dedicated plug-ins, facilitating agentless snapshots and replication without requiring hypervisor agents.[94] These integrations support instant VM recovery to the original cluster or migration to VMware vSphere or Hyper-V environments for cross-platform flexibility.[95]Physical, NAS, and Cloud Support
Note: For physical server protection via Veeam Agents in v13, support for older operating systems has been discontinued, including Windows Server 2008/2012, Windows 7/8.x, and various older Linux distributions. For complete details, refer to the system requirements.[90][96] Veeam Backup & Replication supports agent-based backups for physical servers running Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems (with v13 dropping support for older versions such as Windows Server 2008/2012, Windows 7/8.x, and certain Linux distributions) through integration with Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows and Veeam Agent for Linux, respectively.[97] These agents enable centralized management from the Veeam Backup & Replication console, allowing automated deployment, backup scheduling, and monitoring across multiple physical machines.[98] Key features include volume-level backups, file-level recovery, and application-aware processing for consistent data protection.[99] Veeam Backup & Replication supports Kubernetes clusters through integration with Veeam Kasten K10, offering agentless, policy-based backups and recovery for containerized applications in on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments.[100] A notable capability is bare-metal recovery, which restores an entire physical system—including the operating system, applications, and data—to new or existing hardware using bootable Veeam Recovery Media.[101] This process requires a prior full backup stored on a network share or repository and involves booting from the media, selecting the restore point, and initiating the recovery in Windows Recovery Environment mode.[101] It supports dissimilar hardware restores, making it suitable for disaster recovery scenarios where original hardware may be unavailable.[102] For NAS environments, Veeam Backup & Replication provides protection for file shares using SMB (CIFS) and NFS protocols, offering both volume-level and file-level backup options to handle unstructured data efficiently.[103] This includes support for major vendors such as NetApp and Synology, enabling direct backups without NDMP protocols for faster performance and granular recovery of shares, folders, or individual files.[104][105] Backups can be stored in hardened repositories for immutability, ensuring uninterrupted user access during recovery operations.[105] Cloud support in Veeam Backup & Replication extends to major providers through dedicated integrations: Veeam Backup for AWS handles image-level backups of Amazon EC2 instances, EBS volumes, and related services like RDS and EFS, with options for full instance or file-level recovery.[106] Similarly, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure enables image-level backups and cloud-native snapshots of Azure VMs, SQL databases, and file shares, supporting granular restores to original or alternative locations.[107] For Google Cloud, Veeam Backup for Google Cloud provides policy-based image-level protection for Compute Engine VMs, Persistent Disks, and Cloud SQL, integrated via a plug-in for centralized management.[108] These solutions leverage their respective plug-ins for Veeam Backup & Replication to unify operations across environments.[109][110][111] Veeam Backup & Replication supports Microsoft Azure-specific object storage repositories for storing backups, including Microsoft Azure Blob Storage (for general and long-term storage), Microsoft Azure Archive Storage (for infrequently accessed data), and Microsoft Azure Data Box (for offline data transfer). These repositories are hosted in Microsoft Azure cloud regions where the respective storage services are available, with no specific regional restrictions documented in the official user guide.[112][113] Hybrid scenarios are facilitated by Veeam Backup & Replication's ability to perform cloud-to-on-premises replication for disaster recovery, allowing failover from cloud workloads to local infrastructure.[114] Additionally, it supports direct backups to S3-compatible object storage for long-term retention, with automated tiering across performance, capacity, and archive classes to optimize costs and compliance.[114][115]System Requirements
Veeam Backup & Replication v13 (part of Veeam Data Platform) has the following system requirements for the backup server and other infrastructure components.Backup Server
Windows-based
- Operating Systems: 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2025, 2022, 2019, 2016; Windows 11 (22H2–25H2); Windows 10 (22H2 or LTSC 2021). Insider preview versions are not supported.
- CPU: x86-64 processor with minimum 8 cores (vCPUs).
- RAM: Minimum 16 GB + 500 MB per concurrent job.
- Disk space: 5 GB for installation + 4.5 GB for Microsoft .NET Framework + 10 GB per 100 VMs for guest file system catalogs + minimum 100 GB recommended for Instant VM Recovery cache + minimum 10 GB for logs (additional space requirements vary by usage).
- Database: PostgreSQL 17.x (17.6 included in v13 setup), 15.x, or 14.x; or Microsoft SQL Server 2022, 2019, 2017, or 2016 (Express Edition limited to 10 GB database size).
Linux-based (Veeam Software Appliance)
- CPU: x86-64 processor with minimum 8 cores (vCPUs).
- RAM: 16 GB + 500 MB per concurrent job.
- Disk: Disk 1 minimum 240 GB (recommended SSD; larger for bigger environments); Disk 2 minimum 240 GB for catalogs/backups (additional disks can be spanned via LVM).
- Network: 1 Gbps+ for on-site operations; 1 Mbps+ for off-site replication.
Other Components
Other components such as backup proxies and repositories have lower minimum requirements that scale with workload (for example, proxies typically require 2–8 cores and 2–8 GB RAM base, plus additional resources per concurrent task). For detailed specifications on proxies, repositories, gateways, and other components, refer to the official documentation.Required Ports
Veeam Backup & Replication uses TCP ports 6160 and 6162 by default:- Port 6160: Used by the Veeam Installer Service for deploying Veeam components and connecting to installer services on target machines (e.g., Windows and Linux servers, proxies, repositories).
- Port 6162: Used by the Veeam Data Mover Service (or Veeam Transport Service) for data transfer and communication with backup repositories, proxies, and other components.