Small Veeam backup solution

[klop]

Hi all,

We have a single server with Server 2016 and running Hyper-V

We have 5 VMs on this server.

 

I have a licence for Veeam and wish to install it. Unfortunately we do not have much in the way of anything else to install Veeam onto so I am wondering how successful it will be to install Veeam to the host itself?

I appreciate this is not ideal - but will it work fine? I realise should I lose my physical host I've lost Veeam as well and will need to reinstall - that is the one thing that worries me I guess.

 

But not sure we have any other hardward that will meet the min spec.

 

If I do install it onto the host would it be best on the physical OS running Hyper-V or onto a VM - ideally again I'd prefer it on the physical ?

 

Thanks :-)

[mikkydoos]

You can install on the host. I run it in its own VM on a host with local storage (replicated to another host each night).

 

If you do lose your host, you can install Veeam on your PC, restore a configuration backup, and perform restores / recovery from there as long as you can navigate to the backup location.

 

 

What would you restore to though ? ... although you can run the backup file as a VM this shouldn't be relied upon wholesale.

Edited June 19, 2017 by mikkydoos

[klop]

Hi mikkydoos, thanks for your reply.

 

We only have the one server that is capable really except the possibility of using our physical DC - perhaps a VM added to is solely for Veeam but I've read you shouldn't run Hyper-V on the DC? Our second DC is a VM that will be backed up using Veeam. I'm not ceratain of we've enough RAM in the physical DC to run the extra VM though - and NO budget to purchase any!

We are currently running SIMS on a physical server - not sure it would be capable of SIMS and a VM for Veeam. Plan is to virtualise the SIMS server one day and then I could make use of that physical server itself - but no idea when that will happen - far too many other things to do.

 

I've not installed Veeam yet - but the plan is to backup all VM's to a NAS drive housed in a separate building every night. I'm not certain but hoping this is something we can do? I know replication would be better but without the hardware that's not an option for us. Admittedly it means should our 100% relied upon single server fail we have a bit of an issue - all our eggs are in one basket! Would the backups from Veeam require Veeam to be installed to a new PC or Server to be able to make use of the VM's backed-up, or could we simply install Hyper-V on something suitable and 'copy' them straight to it from the NAS?

 

Thank again :-)

[mikkydoos]

* You don't have to run Veeam in a VM. I just prefer to.

 

* No you can't just copy them. Veeam backup archives are incremental compressed snapshots of your virtual disk files and require Veeam to decompress and restore them to a host location.

 

* Minimum recommended hardware for Veeam is 2 x CPU's and minimum 4Gb RAM - so if your physical servers are light on hardware it wont run well - but you could install it on one of them.

 

Again... is there a point having good backups but nowhere to restore in case of a failure ?

 

" could we simply install Hyper-V on something suitable and 'copy' them straight to it from the NAS? " ---> No but you could put Veeam onto a PC and restore them to a host from the NAS - or run the VMs from the backup archive itself temporarily.

Edited June 20, 2017 by mikkydoos

[klop]

Thanks again - very helpful. I didn't know if Veeam was a complete backup or incremental - it's good to know it's incremental as it'll be a lot quicker. We couldn't afford to have fibre installed to the separate building so relying on cat 6.

 

I appreciate we haven't a second server to restore to should we have a problem with our current server but we simply do not have the budget to purchase one.

Our main physical server is new and a direct replacement for one that failed. Even had the replaced server been useable there is not anywhere in the separate building where it could be housed - the NAS was our only option due to weight and size - no space for a server at all. Also we're only licensed for the one server for Veeam - and you'll not be surprised to read we couldn't afford two!

 

Should the main server fail we do have a second physical DC and it will be a case of using the backed up VM's to get the office up and running asap and then replace the server asap. Pupils and other staff would simply have to wait - the SLT are aware of this.

 

Additionally all critical data is backed up to RBUSS so is available offsite - including SIMS.net.

 

It is not ideal - but it is all we can do with the budget & existing hardware we have.

 

Re, 2 CPUs and 4GB RAM - that's the plan to virtualise the SIMS server asap & then use the existing SIMS box for Veeam out the window - just found out it's a single CPU!! Oh well.

 

Cheers :-)

[mikkydoos]

It will run on 1 CPU, just slower.

 

Have you looked at Veeam Endpoint Backup. Its free and quite useable. Even on VM's.

Edited June 20, 2017 by mikkydoos

[klop]

It will run on 1 CPU, just slower.

 

Have you looked at Veeam Endpoint Backup. Its free and quite useable. Even on VM's.

 

Doesn't that just backup a maximum of one VM?

[mikkydoos]

Its designed for physical servers and can integrate with Veeam Backup & Replication. I've used it for backing up partitions on VM's. It works well.

 

You need a boot disk to restore a full machine though, or you can restore to a VM.