Just IT Things

With the High Availability feature in Veeam Software Appliance 13.0.1 , Veeam provides a neat way to make the backup server highly available. In this blog post I’ll briefly show how to configure HA, which prerequisites must be met, and what alternatives exist if HA cannot be used. Intro - The Basics The feature itself reduces downtime of the backup server in the Veeam Software Appliance. In general, two nodes are required; they can synchronize even across relatively high latencies. A manual switchover is possible, and a major advantage is automatic updates for both nodes. The goal is to offer fast disaster recovery without the need to keep a dedicated standby backup server, and then finally to restore the configuration backup. ( https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbr/userguide/high_availability_hiw.html?ver=13 ) Requirements The following components are required for this feature: Two Veeam Software Appliances At minimum, Veeam Data Platform — Premium  licensing (the package that includes Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam One, and Veeam Recovery Orchestrator) Three IP addresses: Two for the Primary and Secondary nodes One for the cluster (virtual IP) All addresses must be in the same Layer-2 network / same subnet Strongly recommended: proper DNS entries for the Primary node, Secondary node and the cluster name Please also read the considerations and limitations regarding HA beforehand. https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbr/userguide/high_availability_limitations.html?ver=13 How to configure HA — Step by Step Log in to the Veeam Host Management Console of the first node. In the navigation panel, open Backup Infrastructure . Under High Availability , select Submit Request . If no Security Officer  account was configured during the Veeam Software Appliance installation, the request will be approved automatically. If a Security Officer  account is configured, you must wait for the officer to approve the request. The approval is valid for 8 hours, so make sure to assemble the cluster within that time frame. In my test lab, I now have to log in to the same Veeam Host Management Console with my security officer and approve this request. If you have installed the Veeam Software Appliance but have never logged in to the Veeam Host Management Console with the Security Officer, you will need to complete a few steps, as shown here Log in to the Veeam Host Management Console using the security officer account. Change the password as instructed. Configure your multi-factor authentication (MFA) Keep your recovery token safe! It is very important. If you forget or lose your password, or if your Security Officer account is locked after three failed login attempts, you can use a recovery token to regain access to your account. Specify a passphrase and hint for the sensitive data stored in configuration backups. After we have officially logged in, we can already see the request. We approve it. We repeat this step on Node 2 as well! Then we return to the Veeam Backup & Replication Console. The following steps cannot currently be performed in the VBR Web UI Preview. We navigate to Backup Infrastructure , click on Managed Servers -> Linux , and select our first node. In my case, this is “vsa-n01” Now we can open the context menu by right-clicking or press the “Create HA Cluster” button at the top under the Server tab. Then suddenly the following error message appeared: There is a known issue in version 13.0.1 that can prevent the creation of an HA cluster if a capacity tier is configured. If the following error message appears even though all local repositories have been removed and the capacity tier has been configured, please wait for a patch or try the workaround described below. Scenario: v13.0.1 GA Capacity Tier is configured Trying to create a HA cluster Workaround: Remove the Capacity Tier from the SOBR configuration. Create the HA cluster. Add the Capacity Tier back to the SOBR. Actually, that wasn't the case here. In my lab, I only had the freshly installed VSAs, no other repository. So I went ahead and added an additional repository on a dedicated Windows server and switched the configuration backup there. After that, I removed the local repository. That helped. Here we assign a cluster DNS name and assign our virtual IP address. We select the IP address of the first node (on the VSA where we are currently located). Enter the IP address of the second VSA and the credentials. We confirm the connection. We click on Finish . Immediately afterwards, the setup of our HA cluster will begin, as shown here. We wait patiently, and then everything should look green. In my case, it took about 15 minutes (TestLab). Looks good :) A quick note: Now we should only connect to the cluster DNS name or its IP address, not to the nodes individually. Performing Switchover Initiating a switchover is super easy. We navigate back to Backup Infrastructure , select our second node (Secondary), and can start the switchover to another node again at the top or by right-clicking. Don't worry. The switchover needs to be confirmed again. Then it's time to wait. After a while, we are even kicked out of the console. That's it! After that, we can log in again and see that the nodes have been swapped in the primary and secondary functions. Performing Failover Now let's simulate a failure! I go over and shut down my primary VSA and log in to the VBR console. Oh dear. Our primary node is down. We are now connecting to the second node via Connect . Veeam now switches to the second node. The second node is now upgraded to primary and can then resume its function as the backup server. The process took about 10 minutes for me. Once you are in the VBR Console, you will be told quite clearly that your second node (now secondary) is offline, so it's time to take action and fix the error. In my case, it was simply a matter of starting the VM. The failed Veeam software appliance then starts normally and logs in to the current primary to synchronize and see who is now primary. You can read about the exact workflow here. https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbr/userguide/high_availability_failover.html?ver=13 Alternatives to HA If you cannot meet the requirements listed above, you could try the following alternatives: Create a standby backup server that can start operating in an emergency with a configuration backup. If your backup server runs as a VM, you can also use VBR to replicate your own backup server to another hypervisor node and and manually start the replica in an emergency if your production data center has failed.

When working with Veeam Recovery Orchestrator (VRO), you might occasionally run into situations where the system makes decisions that aren’t immediately intuitive. Recently, a partner approached us with a scenario that raised exactly that kind of question: How does VRO choose which backup copy to use when multiple copies exist? Let’s walk through the use case, the unexpected behavior, and what we learned from digging into it. The Scenario In this environment, VRO is running at the disaster recovery site and orchestrating a vSphere-to-vSphere restore plan . The plan uses the following steps: A backup-to-disk job writes backups to a local backup repository. Immediately afterward, two backup copy jobs  run in parallel to copy the backup data to two additional repositories — let’s call them Repository A  and Repository B . The restore plan is configured to use backup copies , as described in the VRO documentation. The goal is to use the restore points created by the backup copy jobs as the source for the recovery process. But something strange happens: VRO correctly uses a backup copy restore point, but it always selects the restore point stored on Repository A  — even though the customer wants VRO to use the copies on Repository B. So the question is: How does VRO decide which backup copy to use when multiple equally valid copies exist? Testing the Behavior To better understand the selection logic, I replicated the scenario in a lab: Two backup copy jobs were created. One copy job ran first, followed by the second job so that the second job would create the “most recent” backup chain. Initially, this worked as expected: the repository with the newer chain (Repository A in this test) was used. After reversing the job order, I expected VRO to pick Repository B instead — but surprisingly, VRO still selected Repository A . This suggests that VRO does not  make its decision solely based on job execution order or chain timestamps. So How Does VRO Choose? According to Alec King from Veeam: VRO does not consider the timestamp of the backup copy job. It selects based on the timestamp of the restore point itself. This is the key detail. All backup copies created from the same source backup job share the same restore point timestamp , even if they were copied at different times. Because of that, when multiple identical restore points exist across several repositories, VRO sees them as equally valid , and its selection may not reflect the user’s preference. In other words, the system has no inherent logic today to prioritize Repository A over Repository B or vice versa. This explains the “strange behavior” — VRO isn’t doing anything wrong; it simply has no mechanism yet to choose between duplicate restore points  from different locations. The Good News: Repository Selection Is Coming Alec also shared that repository selection logic already exists for Azure recovery locations , but not yet for VMware-to-VMware scenarios. https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vro/userguide/cloud_location_backup_servers.html?ver=13 The Veeam team is actively working on adding repository selection for VMware environments  in an upcoming VRO release. While not fully confirmed, it’s on their roadmap and will directly address this use case. Is There a Workaround? Unfortunately, no reliable workaround exists today. Copying the backup again (e.g., a backup copy of a backup copy) won’t help because: VRO still checks the restore point timestamp — and that remains identical across all copies. The only long-term fix will be the upcoming repository selection feature. Conclusion If you’re running multiple backup copy jobs in VRO and relying on the “Use backup copies” option, be aware that: VRO selects restore points based on restore point timestamp , not on backup copy job details. Multiple identical restore points across repositories are considered equal. You currently cannot force VRO to prefer a specific repository. Veeam is actively working to add repository selection for VMware restore plans in a future release. Once available, this enhancement will give users precise control and eliminate the ambiguity seen in scenarios like this.

Hello World! Welcome to my very first blog post — and my very own website! I’ve actually been toying with the idea of writing blog posts for quite a while but never really followed through… until now. I always felt there were already thousands of blogs out there and that adding another one wouldn’t make much of a difference. I also had huge respect for my IT colleagues, many of whom are far deeper in the technical weeds than I am. But the fact that you’re reading this right now means something changed. One thing has remained true though: information — whether researched manually or powered by AI — is always based on sources. Blog posts are perfect platforms for sharing insights, documenting use cases or how-to's, and exploring troubleshooting steps. So if you don’t want to miss my journey as a “blogger,” feel free to check back regularly! But First: Who Am I? My name is Marvin Michalski . I’m from the beautiful city of Koblenz, and I’m a trained IT specialist in system integration. I’ve always had a passion for IT — probably because I spent way too many hours in front of a console as a kid. I started my apprenticeship in 2017 at a small local IT service provider in the area, and I was lucky enough to finish just before the pandemic hit in January 2020. As a consultant, I gradually specialized in virtualization, storage, and backup — back then mostly with VMware vSphere, DataCore SANsymphony, and Veeam Backup & Replication. In early 2023, I got the rare opportunity to work for the company whose software I had simply fallen in love with: Veeam Software. So as a complete newcomer, I began my journey as a Systems Engineer — full of doubts and uncertainty about whether I could live up to the challenge. And here I am now… What Topics Will I Cover on This Blog? Primarily technical content around virtualization, storage, and backup. Naturally, many posts will involve Veeam — simply because it’s both my passion and my job. But I’ll always try to remain objective and share my honest thoughts. Here’s the important disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. Besides Veeam-related topics, I’ll write about anything else that comes to mind in the virtualization and storage world. I also try to create shorts and videos for YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram — so if you’re active there, feel free to check out my channels. You’ll find the links in the footer of this website. Outside of work, I enjoy staying active, spending time with friends, and getting absorbed in a good series or movie. Whenever I find the time, I squeeze in some gaming — and in summer, you’ll usually find me on my motorcycle. Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you’ll enjoy my posts. Things are about to get much more technical from here on out 😉