Author name: Managecast Technologies

In today’s digital age, data is the lifeblood of businesses. Protecting and ensuring the availability of this data is crucial for the success and continuity of any organization. Many organizations like yours are already utilizing Veeam, but are you using it to its fullest potential?  Step One: Are you utilizing the features already built into the software you own?  Network Extension Appliance (NEA)  The Veeam Network Extension Appliance, a part of your Veeam license, facilitates effortless access to your disaster recovery (DR) location. This appliance cleverly makes DR servers appear as though they are on the production network. It is easy to configure, deploy, and use, allowing you to set it up and then rest easy, knowing your DR strategy is sound.   See more about the NEA here: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/cloud/cloud_network_extension_appliance.html?ver=120       SureBackup  SureBackup is a service from Veeam that creates isolated virtual environments where backup or replicated VMs can be started and tested without affecting the production environment.  SureBackup streamlines the testing process, allowing your team to quickly and easily assess the recoverability of VMs and applications without the complexity of setting up separate testing environments.   Learn more about SureBackup here: https://bp.veeam.com/vbr/2_Design_Structures/D_Veeam_Components/D_SureBackup/SureBackup.html Linux Hardened Repositories  A Linux Hardened Repository is purpose-built to provide businesses with a secure and trusted immutable backup solution for their backup data, ensuring that their data is safe and reliably recoverable when disaster strikes.  This solution is built with hardened security and compliance in mind, guaranteeing the immutability of all your data and safeguarding it from any unauthorized changes or removal. This is especially significant for organizations handling sensitive information such as financial records and personally identifiable data.  Learn how to set up your Linux Hardened Repositories here: Step 2: Are you doing Disaster Recovery? Veeam Disaster Recovery as a Service with Cloud Connect Veeam Cloud Connect seamlessly enables customers to easily leverage disaster recovery as a service. This approach empowers IT departments to capitalize on the benefits of a multi-cloud architecture while retaining direct communication and a close working relationship with the DRaaS provider.  By shifting the responsibility of disaster recovery to a trusted service provider like Managecast, businesses can focus on core operations while ensuring the safety of their data. This flexibility allows IT departments to configure and consume the service to suit their unique needs.  Resource: https://www.managecast.com/veeam/ Your secondary Data Center shouldn’t contain secondary equipment!  Most backup Data Centers (DCs) are comprised of hand-me-down older equipment that is close to, or out of warranty when the primary DC is refreshed. On the surface, this approach is inexpensive, until warranty, software licensing, cooling, electrical, and human capital costs are calculated.   And when this equipment is needed, will the performance be enough? Think about three years ago and the changes that have happened since… The average age of DC servers/storage is at least 6+ years!   Run Books – Do you have one? If so, how up-to-date is it?  A Run Book is a document that outlines the steps involved in recovering from a disaster. It is a critical part of any DR plan, as it provides clear instructions for IT staff on how to restore systems and data in the event of an outage. Ensuring you have a current Run Book is vital for an effective DR plan. An up-to-date Run Book is essential for several reasons: Have you ever experienced (DR) Test Anxiety?  Sure, you studied and re-reviewed the course material, but you’re just not confident with the test you’re about to take. We’ve all been there, and let’s face it, sometimes we choke. Whether we overthink things, are ill-prepared, or the test is harder than we anticipated – we sometimes don’t do well.   The time for test anxiety need not be present during a DR event. Too many people are depending on you and your team to enable them to do their jobs.   Managecast helps you test with confidence, not anxiety. When you subscribe to our Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), the environment is available to you 7x24x365 to test your DR readiness. And when you know that it works as advertised you and your team will have the confidence to use it should the need present itself.   Step Three: Review other products in your stack that may need protection  Microsoft 365 Backup  Microsoft provides a wide array of powerful services within Microsoft 365, but a comprehensive backup of your Microsoft 365 data is not one of them. Remember, it’s your data – you control it – and it is your responsibility to protect it.  Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 ensures the comprehensive protection of your Microsoft 365 data, including emails, files, calendars, contacts, tasks, SharePoint sites, and OneDrive files. This all-inclusive coverage guarantees that no critical data is left vulnerable to loss, accidental deletion, or security breaches.  AWS Backup  Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a robust cloud platform for you to create and deploy apps without the burden of maintaining your own infrastructure. However, as referenced by the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, your apps and data remain your responsibility to secure and protect.  Veeam delivers native, fully automated AWS backup and disaster recovery to effortlessly protect and manage Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Amazon Relational Database Services (Amazon RDS) data.     Azure Backup  Microsoft Azure provides a reliable cloud computing platform for you to build, test, and deploy applications without the financial burdens and time commitments of maintaining your own infrastructure. However, as referenced by the Microsoft Shared Responsibility model, it’s still your data and it’s still your responsibility to protect it.  Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure delivers enterprise‑ready Azure backup and recovery to cost‑effectively and securely protect your cloud data and easily overcome ANY data loss in minutes! With turnkey deployment directly through the Azure Marketplace and a simple, wizard‑driven UI, you can start protecting your applications and data with a comprehensive Azure backup solution.  Salesforce Backup   Salesforce is one of the most utilized CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) in the world because of its advanced account and contact

We have had several reports recently of Backup Servers failing to deploy the Veeam service provider management agent through the console. Even after the management agent had been installed manually, the server would show up under the discovered computers in the Veeam Service Provider Console (VSPC) but would not detect that Veeam Backup and Replication was running. If you run into a similar issue these steps may resolve the problem. Check that the Veeam Management Agent logs (C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Veeam Availability Console\Log) have error messages similar to the following: BackupServerDiscovery: System.Management.ManagementException: Access deniedBackupServerDiscovery: Backup Service (VeeamBackupSvc) is running, but select query from WMI returned NULL First, try reinstalling WMI on the backup server by running command prompt as Administrator and running the following command followed by rebooting the system: “C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Veeam.Backup.WmiServer.exe” /install The next step is to make a note of the accounts used by the Veeam Management Agent and Veeam Backup Services. Next, open the Veeam Backup and Replication console and go to the Users and Roles menu. If the Veeam Management Agent Service is running using the Local System account, verify that account still has access. The ‘BUILTIN\Administrators’ group should give that account permission by default. However, if these roles have been modified, or if MFA has been enabled, an exception will need to be made for the ‘NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM’ service account (or other account used by the Veeam Management Agent service). Click add and add the user as well as check the box for “This is a service account (disables multi-factor authentication).” After making this change the Veeam Management Agent should now be able to report Veeam Backup and Replication details to the VSPC successfully.

This error occurs when the Veeam Backup Service on the VBR abruptly stops while a backup is running.  Most commonly it is because the server is shut down or rebooted.  It could also be due to the OS crashing, a power loss event, or the Veeam Backup service crashing.  Check the Windows application and system event logs for clues to the source of the issue. It is always best practice to make sure reboots due to Windows updates or maintenance windows do not interrupt running backups; be sure to schedule updates and maintenance outside of backup windows when possible, and to temporarily disable backup jobs when it is not possible.