Verify Recovery Of Full VM Backups With Future Version Of Veeam

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Verify Recovery Of Full VM Backups With Future Version Of Veeam: "

image Previously, all we knew about Veeam’s Surebackup was there was a public countdown in process. That countdown reached 0:00 early March 22, 2010 (this morning). Veeam sent emails to those who preregistered and then provided a press release shortly after. The countdown was for the introduction of a unique feature for verifying VM restores that will soon be introduced in the next version of Veeam Backup and Replication.


Here’s the information from my email for those that did not sign up to be notified:


Breakthrough Technology: Test and Verify the Recoverability of EVERY Backup


Veeam is enhancing the SureBackup™ capabilities in Veeam Backup & Replication™ with a breakthrough technology that overcomes the final obstacle of image-level backups. IT professionals will have the ability to verify the RECOVERABILITY of EVERY backup of EVERY virtual machine EVERY time. It’s never been possible before.


SureBackup introduces a new patent-pending technology that allows IT professionals to run a virtual machine directly from a compressed backup file.

By publishing the content of backup files directly to ESX hosts, you can:



  • Eliminate the need to extract backup files

  • Test and verify EVERY backup in a matter of minutes, without affecting backup windows

  • Perform recoverability testing without additional hardware or staff


The same technology also allows for item-level restore for any virtualized application, on any OS (patent-pending).


This exciting new technology will be made available in version 5.0 of Veeam Backup & Replication, scheduled for release this summer.


Sound too good to be true? Join us for a free webinar on Wednesday, March 24 at 2:00pm EDT to find out more. Live Webinar – Register Now!


Can’t wait? Go to http://www2.veeam.com/e/1962/urebackup-/153L8/40546908 NOW!



I was actually invited to Veeam’s pre release blogger briefing over the weekend, and the rest of this post is my notes and thoughts about what I learned during briefing.




Before continuing I want to be clear. I have not yet used Veeam SureBackup or a beta copy of Backup and Replication V5.


SureBackup is not available until Veeam Backup and Recover v5 is available


Veeam made it very clear to all of us on the call that for now SureBackup is just a technology announcement. Veeam feels that this breakthrough feature for full image VM backup deserved some time to be understood before it hit the market. Veeam told us SureBackup will be a feature of Veeam Backup and Replication version 5 which will be due sometime in Q3 2010.


What is it and how is it done?


Simply put, the magic of Veeam SureBackup is a wizard that walks an administrator through the configuration of mounting VMs in their compressed Veeam backup file format. This wizard, still to be named later, will create a NFS share from the Veeam Backup Server and automatically configure NFS access from an ESX host. All VM verification, credentials and ESX host information is identified and configured during the wizard. My understanding is that there is complete flexibility in choosing which virtual machines and hosts are used during each verification attempt.


Since the Veeam Backup Server is a Windows host, Veeam has developed it’s own proprietary NFS server. Multiple VMs can be mounted simultaneously and are isolated via a Veeam network fencing feature. The NFS mount is temporary and read only, and it will be removed once the administrator completes the verification process.


Why is that unique and helpful?


Imagine the ability to test your restores. Power on the full VM and it’s dependent VMs without shutting down the production originals. Start an isolated instance of your Domain Controllers so you can also start your Exchange server, for example. Know for a fact that your full VM backups can be successfully powered on when needed and your applications work as expected on the restored copies. Do all of this from the compressed backup files and not by transferring the VM back to your primary storage.


Is SureBackup competition for VMware SRM?


No it’s not. SRM requires SAN based replication. Veeam SureBackup requires full image backups from Veeam Backup and Replication. SRM is intended to leave VMs running at a DR site after failing over. SureBackup uses read only VMs that are designed to be used temporarily. Once the restore is verified the wizard ends and the NFS mount is removed.


I’ll point out that some interesting use cases may be possible. Can you clone or Storage VMotion a SureBackup copy of a VM? Could you replicate your Veeam Backup repository to a DR site and use another Veeam Backup and Replication Server to run the Verification wizard? I’m sure users will explore these unsupported possibilities and report their success on the Veeam Forums.


General Thoughts


By rolling up the administrator sleeves, other full image backup products could be used to test restores in an isolated virtual network on an ESX host. However, no other solution automates that process and makes the configuration as simple as a wizard. No other backup product would allow you to run the restored VMs from the actual backup file in the backup repository. Veeam definitely has a great idea with SureBackup.


Of course, VI environments will still need available capacity to run the verification copies.


Another cool use case will be the ability to start up any incremental backup of VM – not just the latest full image. This means you could go back as far as needed to find a version of a file or operating system prior to corruption, infection, or deletion. An admin will be able to drag the file from the verification VM to a restore location if needd.






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