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4 Replies Last post: May 21, 2008 6:47 AM by BenConrad  

Comments needed regarding Veeam Backup posted: May 20, 2008 10:21 AM

Click to view BenConrad's profile Expert
BenConrad
577 posts since
Mar 20, 2006
Hi All,

I'm using a commercial VMWare backup program to backup about 330 VMs in 3 separate geographical locations. I'm interested in obtaining some opinions regarding Veeam Backup and it's capabilities to backup our environment. I've just watched the Veeam Demo video and the application looks good.

Specifically:

  • Can I run Veeam Backup on 3 separate backup servers (on in each geographic location) but use only 1 instance of Virtualcenter? Each backup server will manage a 'Datacenter'.
  • Are the options to include/exclude certain virtual machines/clusters/RPs/etc?
  • Is the de-duplication engine mature? Can I run multiple 'incremental/differential' backups efficiently?
  • Are the reporting functions mature?
  • Does the user interface (GUI) provide the user with simple & advanced backup options?
  • Does the product run backups with little to no backup errors?
  • Is the error reporting functionality mature?
  • Is the support team responsive and able to troubleshoot and resolve issues?
  • How frequent are the product updates?
  • Do new product updates often introduce new bugs or re-introduce old bugs?
  • How does the Veeam Backup application connect to and backup virtual machines on ESX servers?

thanks,

Ben

Re: Comments needed regarding Veeam Backup

1. May 20, 2008 11:11 AM in response to: BenConrad
Click to view azn2kew's profile Champion
azn2kew
2,942 posts since
Jun 21, 2006

I'm using Veeam Backup now for backup/restore procedures with medium size environment and seems to work fine without any problems. I would like to see more granular backup options as well but since its newly introduced, not matured enough to accomodate all the needs out there but will doubt it would be much better with newer release. its very light weigth install install and especially integrated with Veeam FastSCP.

I don't have that geographic areas to test it out but imagine if you can access to the virtual center and esx hosts, than any VMs hosted would be backup without any problems. Are you only limited to Veeam Backup for a solution? There are freebies and commercial like VISBU, esXpress, vRanger choices can be utilize. If you have budget and large environment, i would use vRanger since its matured and works great with large environment. Of course there are pros and cons you have to test it out and decide.

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen
iGeek Systems Inc.
VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

Re: Comments needed regarding Veeam Backup

2. May 20, 2008 11:30 AM in response to: azn2kew
Click to view BenConrad's profile Expert
BenConrad
577 posts since
Mar 20, 2006
Thx.

We're not a small environment (we have 330 VMs) so I need software that has lots of features, is stable and can provide quality support.

Let's say that I've been testing vRanger for a while, I'm very familiar with that product...

How about esXpress? How does that compare to vRanger?

Ben

Re: Comments needed regarding Veeam Backup

3. May 20, 2008 2:58 PM in response to: BenConrad
Click to view azn2kew's profile Champion
azn2kew
2,942 posts since
Jun 21, 2006

Honestly speaking, if you're large environment 300+ VMs, and want to use commercial product, I would use vRanger because overall I've seen it long enough and very stable for enterprise use. Last consulting job, we're running it with large ESX farms across 13 data centers we all uses it for ESX backup solution. It has more features and integrated with VCB plugin as well. esXpress is okay but if you have to pay $ for it I would go with vRanger. www.vmprofessional.com has good backup comparision down by Edward Haletky you can review for details.

I would expect next generation of ESX backup solution vendors would have more granular and better backup and tools (hopefully)

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen
iGeek Systems Inc.
VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

Re: Comments needed regarding Veeam Backup

4. May 21, 2008 6:47 AM in response to: azn2kew
Click to view BenConrad's profile Expert
BenConrad
577 posts since
Mar 20, 2006
I'm a vRanger customer and I want to find something "better". vRanger is great in a smaller environment but I've been unhappy with it for some time. I'm not going to make this thread a vRanger support rant but I have major issues with the reliability of the software (% of backups completed successfully) and the quality of regression testing with each of the past few releases.

I did view a esXpress demo yesterday. It's much different than vRanger and that could be beneficial, I'll probably dive into that product to see how it scales.

Ben

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