Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 released - what's new?

    The new version of Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 has just been released - a complete solution for backing up and restoring data after failures. Today, we offer you a brief overview of the new features of Veeam Backup & Replication in this version:


    Consider these new products in more detail, for which you are welcome to cat.




    Support for Windows Server 2016, Hyper-V 2016 and the latest server applications on this platform


    Of course, this is comprehensive support for Windows Server 2016 - all components of the Veeam Backup & Replication solution run on Windows Server 2016; You can backup virtual machines from this guest OS using file system indexing and VM processing taking into account existing applications. At the same time, for virtual machines on the Hyper-V 2016 platform, such processing and indexing, as well as file-level recovery (FLR), can be performed by direct access to the guest OS, rather than requiring a network connection (network connectivity). PowerShell Direct is used for this. Thus, for working with VMs on the Hyper-V platform, we now have no less effective methods than for VMware.
    Also supported is the ReFS file system and technology for fast block cloning (for more details see this post on Habré ).



    Support for Microsoft Hyper-V 2016- Veeam fully supports the new version of this platform (including VM hardware 7.1). Until now, backups had to live without the “native” functionality for tracking changed blocks - its role was played by the specially developed Veeam driver. And finally, Microsoft Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) implemented by Microsoft will be engaged in this important matter, which is good news. In particular, it will now be possible to process virtual machines located on third-party SMB3 repositories. Well, if you have Nano Server used as the Hyper-V host, then I note that Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 can backup such virtual machines. The new version also supports Storage Spaces Direct - this is the architecture Microsoft recommends for deploying Hyper-V 2016.

    Support for the latest versions of popular server applications - naturally, Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5. It will back up all widely used server applications that have updated the version for 2016: these are Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint and SQL Server. Granular restoration of objects of these applications will be performed, as usual, by Veeam Explorers tools.

    Important! All of these features will be available in all editions of Veeam Backup & Replication, including the free Veeam Backup Free Edition .


    Improving Veeam Backup & Replication Performance



    In this release, much attention has been paid to improving the productivity and efficiency of using resources during backup and recovery, and, I hope, the results will pleasantly surprise you. This has been made possible thanks to a number of innovations:
    • Optimization of the configuration base - as a result, queries are processed much faster, while the load on the SQL server itself is reduced.
      Important! Starting with Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5, the configuration database requires SQL Server 2008 and higher; Using SQL Server 2005 for this purpose will not be supported.
    • Speeding up the processing of backup metadata - it will allow more efficient processing of tasks with virtual machines with a large number of server applications installed, as well as server applications that need to be stored with a fair amount of metadata, based on the very technical nature of the applications (for example, Microsoft SharePoint).
    • UI optimization - not only the load on the configuration base will be reduced, but also the UI response time, in particular, when displaying the list of backup copies, as well as the hierarchy of application objects during their granular restoration.
      In addition, in the new version, you can use different color schemes by selecting the Color Scheme item in the program settings menu. One of the design examples is shown in the picture at the beginning of the post.
    • Purpose of preferred proxies - now in the repository settings you can specify which proxies are preferable to use for working with it (i.e. write and read data). This is convenient, for example, for scenarios of using repositories in different branches - you can include only local repositories in the list, and do not use remote ones. You can also apply this option in the case of a scalable SOBR repository (Scale-Out Backup Repository), combining several standard repositories into a single backup storage structure - in this case, this list is set for each of the standard repositories. If none of the preferred servers is available, then the proxy selection will go according to the job settings.
      Note:This feature is supported for Enterprise and Enterprise Plus editions.





    To back up data


    • Acceleration of a number of resource-intensive read-write operations - the backup process of virtual disks is accelerated up to two times when using high-end storage systems, and the load on production storage systems is also reduced due to the reduction in the number of read-write operations when performing a backup task. This functionality is supported for the VMware platform in the following operations: backup from hardware snapshots, backup in Virtual Appliance (hot add) and Direct NFS modes.
    • VSphere Infrastructure Data Caching - vSphere infrastructure topology information is now stored in RAM. It is updated in real time when it receives infrastructure change events from the vCenter server. The Veeam Broker Service, the new backup server component, is responsible for collecting and storing infrastructure data. As a result, there are two pluses: building a list of VMs is accelerated when starting a backup job and when displaying the virtual infrastructure view in the UI, and part of the load is removed from vCenter Server.
    • Optimization of queries to vSphere for building a topology and updating infrastructure data - the query execution speed has become much faster, and now even if necessary, build the entire VMware topology (for example, when you restart the Veeam Backup server or when the Veeam Broker Service restarts), the load on vCenter Server is minimal .


    For data recovery


    • Instant Recovery Instant Recovery for physical machines - with Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 it will be possible to restore not only virtual, but also physical servers or user computers to virtual machines based on the Hyper-V platform. This will allow, for example, to quickly “pick up” a failed physical machine from backup for the time while repair work is underway. This functionality is included in all editions of Veeam Backup & Replication, including the free Free Edition , and is supported for backups of physical machines created by Veeam Endpoint Backup 1.5 and higher; optimal performance is expected for backups created by Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 (scheduled for release at the end of the year).
      Important! Microsoft Hyper-V is required (you can simply enable this role on the backup server).
    • Parallel processing of disks during recovery of the entire VM - enabled by default for all repositories stored on disk storage systems (except Data Domain storage systems with built-in deduplication).
    • Increased productivity with instant VM recovery - depending on the scenario, it can grow up to 3 times, the best performance is obtained when recovering from the “per-VM” chain (this is when backup files are grouped by VM).


    To work with magnetic tapes


    • Restoring from tape directly to the infrastructure - in the new version, an auxiliary repository is not needed for this, where backups from backup tape were previously intermediate, so now there is no need to provide additional capacity when choosing a repository. Of course, options are possible - for example, when you need to restore a large number of VMs from one backup. In this case, it is still reasonable to use the auxiliary repository.
      On the new approach, I can briefly say that during the process several calls to the backup are now performed:
      1. First, backup metadata is read and stored on the tape server.
      2. Then, a map of the VM data blocks is built (including the configuration file and disk data), and already during the next calls to the backup, the configuration data is restored first, and then the VM disks.




    • A significant increase in the productivity of File to Tape tasks (archiving files to tape) - tests have shown that when archiving many small files, productivity can grow several dozen times compared to previous versions. If the maximum values ​​are interesting, then I can say that the number of files in the testing reached up to 20 million for one task.
    • Delayed start of the backup job - you can configure the delayed start of the backup job if the archive job has not yet completed its work with the corresponding backup. (Previously, in this case, the backup task took precedence, and the backup task was interrupted before the files were transferred to the tape.)
    • Automatic cleaning of the writing device - now the state of the writing device is under our supervision, and as soon as the cleaning time comes, Veeam will do this, of course, with a cleaning cartridge.



    New for Storage


    • Nimble Storage Support - All of Veeam’s hardware snapshot capabilities are now available for those using Nimble AF Series or CS Series storage systems.



      The following
      are traditionally supported: - backup from hardware snapshots (primary storage) and replicated copies (secondary storage)
      - Veeam Explorer tool for recovering from hardware snapshots
      - creating an On-Demand Sandbox test environment based on hardware snapshots
    • Choosing a protocol for connecting to the main storage - if your storage supports several protocols (FC / iSCSI / NFS), then you can choose which of them can be used for backup.
    • Faster backup and recovery for the Data Domain - the data processing mechanism has been updated to achieve the best performance indicators for new backups (i.e. created by v9.5) on Data Domain storage.
    • Support for NetApp Data ONTAP 9.0 , as well as automatic load balancing among multiple LIFs (logical interfaces) when using large clusters.


    For working with cloud infrastructures


    Recovery in Microsoft Azure


    The new version of Veeam allows you to recover machines running Windows or Linux in Microsoft Azure. You can restore any machine whose backup is stored in the Veeam backup repository - that is, a virtual machine that is backed up by Veeam Backup & Replication or Veeam Backup FREE, or a physical machine that is backed up by Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE.
    The new functionality is convenient in that it does not require the preliminary deployment of an auxiliary machine from the Azure Marketplace, but allows you to restore without intermediaries, right from the Veeam interface to the cloud infrastructure.
    This method can be used both for machine migration, and, for example, to create an entire test environment based on cloud infrastructure.
    Regarding the Technology Preview, released in the first half of the year, these new features appeared:
    • Parallel recovery of disks - significantly speeds up the process if the VM has more than one disk.
    • Cloud gateway (optional component) - allows you to do without a VPN, speeds up data transfer to the cloud during recovery. An auxiliary VM can be deployed in the cloud directly from the Veeam console and automatically disconnected after use, so as not to pay too much.
    • Automated installation of the Azure Virtual Machine Agent for Windows VMs, setting up Windows firewall rules for remote machines, as well as support for various deployment models - both classic (Classic) and through the Azure Resource Manager.




    This functionality is supported for all editions, including Veeam Backup Free Edition.

    New Veeam Cloud Connect Features


    • Parallel data processing on the user side - now backup and replication of several VMs (or several disks of the same machine) will go in parallel, the number of such tasks will be limited by the maximum value that is set on the provider side.
      Note: This functionality is used when using the direct transport mode, while using WAN accelerators, processing will proceed sequentially.
    • Replication from a backup in a cloud repository - users will be able to replicate from backups stored in a cloud repository.
    • Support for a scalable repository on the provider side - now you can combine cloud repositories into a single scalable repository structure, which greatly simplifies management. The procedure for switching to a new type of repository will be covered in more detail later. Follow the news on the Veeam Cloud & Service Providers Forum .
    • Storage of backup chains grouped by VM - a popular storage option is now available when working with a cloud repository, being especially useful when using storage systems with built-in deduplication.

    Enhanced VMware vCloud Director Support for Service Providers


    Backing up and restoring virtual machines from the VMware vCloud infrastructure was implemented back in version 8.0, and now VMware vCloud Director support reaches a new level, providing advanced features for providers and users of private and hybrid clouds:
    • Using the “native” vCloud authentication mechanism - allows users with a vCloud Director account to connect to the self-service portal, where they can independently backup and restore VMs included in their organization.
    • Backup through the self-service portal - users are provided with a convenient way to create and edit backup tasks, using built-in templates that require minimal configuration. The user only needs to set an account for access to the guest OS, as well as a policy for storing backups and setting up notifications, the provider sets up the rest on its side.
    • Recovery through the self-service portal - users can allow any recovery operations that are supported by Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager - and this includes the restoration of VM, vApp, guest OS files, and application objects (now these are SQL Server and Oracle databases).
      Important! The self-service portal for VMware vCloud infrastructure users is available in Enterprise Plus.


    New in server application support


    In addition to supporting VM backups taking into account the operation of server applications of 2016 on the Windows platform, similar support is now implemented for Oracle servers on the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) platforms 11 and 12. Oracle servers running Oracle Data Guard are also supported (for now only backup and recovery of VMs, without granular recovery through Veeam Explorer).

    Additional information about version 9.5


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