Veeam Backup & Replication

Frequently asked questions

What is Veeam Backup & Replication?

Veeam® Backup & Replication™ is Veeam’s powerful industry leading backup and recovery engine that provides simple, reliable and flexible protection of all your cloud, virtual and physical workloads and so much more. With many advanced backup, restore, replication and continuous data protection capabilities, Veeam Backup & Replication is your single solution for backing up your entire environment, on-premises, in the cloud or anywhere in between.

There are also several value-added bundles that build on top of Veeam Backup & Replication, including the following:

Veeam Availability Suite™ takes the proven powerful backup capabilities of Veeam Backup & Replication and adds on the advanced monitoring, reporting and capacity-planning functionalities of Veeam ONE™ for added enterprise value.

Designed for small businesses, Veeam Backup Essentials™ offers the same functionalities as Veeam Availability Suite, but with packages and price points that are more appropriate for smaller businesses.

Designed for service providers, the Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) Rental program offers pay-as-you-grow pricing via an à-la-carte offering to build Veeam-powered BaaS & DRaaS.

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What is Veeam Availability Suite?

Veeam Availability Suite is not a unique product. Instead it’s a value-added bundle that includes Veeam Backup & Replication plus the monitoring, analytics and reporting features of Veeam ONE. Since Veeam ONE is a common add-on to Veeam Backup & Replication, the Suite is the easiest and most effective way to consume Veeam ONE.

What workloads can Veeam Backup & Replication protect?

Veeam Backup & Replication™ continues to expand its capabilities and now features many capabilities that were previously only included with other products. Today, Veeam Backup & Replication protects the following workloads:

Virtual: VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and Nutanix AHV
Physical: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac, IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris
Cloud: AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud
Enterprise applications: Microsoft SQL, Exchange, SharePoint, Active Directory, SAP HANA, Oracle RMAN, Kubernetes, MySQL, PostgreSQL
NAS file shares

These above features may have been licensed separately in the past. Now, all the following capabilities are included with Veeam Backup & Replication at no additional cost within Veeam Universal License (VUL).

Veeam Backup for AWS and for Microsoft Azure
Veeam Backup for Nutanix AHV
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac, IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris

Check out our feature comparison to learn more.

Can I get advanced monitoring, reporting and capacity planning for backup without purchasing Veeam Availability Suite?

The monitoring capabilities of Veeam ONE are included in Veeam Availability Suite. These monitoring features are available only in environments where version 6.5 or higher of both Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam ONE are deployed. To take advantage of all the integrated features, Veeam Availability Suite is the way to go.

What workloads can users monitor with Veeam ONE?

In addition to monitoring protected VMs (i.e., vSphere, Hyper-V and Nutanix AHV) and Veeam Agents, users will also be able to monitor the protection of Google Cloud backups, Nutanix VMs and NAS file shares.

AWS-native backup and recovery

Can I perform AWS- and Azure-native backup and recovery in Veeam Backup & Replication?

Yes. Veeam Backup & Replication is capable of centrally deploying or connecting to both:

An existing Veeam Backup for AWS appliance to protect Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS instances with native snapshots and optional backup to Amazon S3.
An existing Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance to protect Azure VMs with native snapshots and optional backup to Azure blob.
Backups can also be copied to on-premises storage. Recovery options include full- and file-level recovery in AWS, in Azure, on-premises and to other destinations.

How is it licensed?

VUL licenses can be used to license AWS- and Azure-native backup and recovery, where one license is consumed per Amazon EC2 instance or Azure VM, regardless of whether the protection uses native snapshots, backup to Amazon S3, backup to Azure, backup copy on-premises or a combination of all four options.

What is required to enable Cloud-native backup and recovery in Veeam Backup & Replication?

Both AWS- and Azure-native backup and recovery were included in version 11.

Hypervisors

What hypervisors does Veeam protect?

Veeam Backup & Replication provides protection for VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and Nutanix AHV, all with the same product. There are not separate versions required for each hypervisor. VUL provides support for all of the above hypervisors.

What if my virtual environment includes both VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V?

Veeam deployments are not hypervisor-specific, so that’s not a problem. To get started, simply purchase the correct number of licenses you need for your virtual environment. Any number or combination of your purchased licenses can be used for VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V or Nutanix AHV environments.

Does Veeam protect the Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV)?

Yes. Veeam Backup & Replication supports backups for AHV with the VUL license, using one license per VM. Downloaded separately, the AHV proxy is a centrally deployable, purpose-built proxy appliance that’s designed to achieve better Nutanix API integration. Take advantage of Acropolis Changed Block Tracking (CBT), which delivers agent-less and application-consistent backups with flexible granular recovery and native interaction with Nutanix guest tools.

LEARN MORE ABOUT VEEAM BACKUPFOR NUTANIX AHV

Can I migrate protection for other Hypervisors to Nutanix AHV?

Yes. With Veeam’s portable subscription model for VUL, you can freely migrate backups between all VUL-enabled workloads.

Veeam Agents

What are Veeam Agents for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac?

Veeam Agents for Microsoft Windows, for Linux and for Mac, key components of the Veeam Cloud Data Management™ platform for the hybrid cloud, are small backup agents designed to provide comprehensive backup and recovery for physical and cloud-based workloads that run on servers, workstations, desktops, laptops and more. They are managed through a single console.

All versions of Veeam Agents for Microsoft Windows, for Linux and for Mac are sold and licensed with VUL and can be accessed with any of the VUL license packages.

Can I back up to a Veeam repository when using the free editions of Veeam Agents for Microsoft Windows and for Linux?

Yes. With the free editions of Veeam Agents for Microsoft Windows and for Linux, you can back up to a Veeam repository that’s backed by a licensed Veeam Backup & Replication server. However, you can’t have both the free and paid editions of Veeam Agents backing up to a Veeam repository at the same time; you must choose to use either all free or all paid agents.

All versions of Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows can be deployed in server mode to enable server-specific features (i.e.., application-aware processing, file indexing and searches, server-friendly scheduling and retention, etc.), making it the best choice for server backups of many enterprise applications.

Learn more about Veeam Agent deployment modes here:

USER GUIDE: VEEAM AGENT FOR MICROSOFT WINDOWS

USER GUIDE: VEEAM AGENT FOR LINUX

What capabilities are included with Veeam Agents?

Veeam Agents have unique capabilities for servers and for workstations. Check out this feature comparison chart that shows what options are available for the protection of servers and workstations.

I only need one or two agent licenses. Why am I required to purchase 10?

Veeam sells licenses in bundles of 10 portable licenses instead of just selling single product-specific licenses. Fortunately, VUL licenses can be used across multiple workloads with the following products and features including: Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE, Enterprise Plugins for SAP HANA and Oracle, Nutanix AHV backups, Network Attached Storage (NAS) backups and more. If fewer than five workloads are needed, try the free editions.

What are Veeam Agents for IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris?

Veeam Agent for IBM AIX is a backup agent designed to ensure the availability of your IBM AIX data by providing file system backup and recovery for IBM LPARs. Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris is a backup agent that’s designed to ensure the availability of your Oracle Solaris data by providing file system backup and recovery for physical servers and servers that run as Oracle Solaris Zones.

Both IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris are included with Veeam Backup & Replication, or it’s related bundle, VUL License, and both require a separate download. There is no longer a separate license SKU for the Veeam Agent for IBM AIX or Oracle Solaris.

Community Edition

What is Veeam Backup & Replication Community Edition?

Veeam Backup & Replication Community Edition offers an excellent introduction to the features and functionality of Veeam Backup & Replication. There is also a Veeam ONE Community Edition. Veeam Community Edition delivers the same functionalities as Veeam Backup & Replication Standard Edition at no cost for up to 10 licenses. Veeam ONE Community Edition delivers similar functionalities to Veeam ONE and is also available for free for up to 10 licenses. See the features of Community Edition here.

BaaS and DRaaS

Does Veeam offer any Backup as a Service (BaaS) or Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) options for customers?

Veeam partners with an incredible ecosystem of cloud and managed service providers to jointly deliver services to customers in over 180 countries. This includes:

BaaS and DRaaS for the data center:
Offer on premises managed services, off-site backup and cloud-based, secondary site disaster recovery.
BaaS for endpoints: Providing a direct connection to the cloud for remote worker laptops and servers.
BaaS for cloud (AWS, Azure, Microsoft Office 365): Ensuring that customers can adopt the cloud with confidence thanks to managed services that execute a hybrid- or multi-cloud approach to backup.

To find a BaaS or DRaaS provider in your area, check out the Veeam-powered Services Directory.

How can cloud and managed service providers use Veeam Backup & Replication to deliver Backup as a Service (BaaS) and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) offerings?

Veeam Backup & Replication, and other related products, can be used by cloud and managed service providers to deliver a wide variety of services to customers, including BaaS and DRaaS for customer data centers, BaaS for endpoints and BaaS for cloud-based workloads, like AWS, Azure and Office 365.

To deliver these services on Veeam Backup & Replication effectively, we recommend that providers explore the capabilities in Veeam Service Provider Console, Veeam Cloud Connect and the broader portfolio of solutions to manage, protect and deliver services to end customers.

Does Veeam Backup & Replication offer multi-tenant support?

Yes! Depending on your use case, multi-tenancy is available. For example, when using Veeam Backup & Replication in an IaaS environment, a VMware vCloud Director integration is available. Additionally, when delivering off-site backup and DRaaS backups that are powered by your cloud environment, Veeam Cloud Connect is a product that natively integrates with Veeam Backup & Replication on-premises at a customer site and passes backups and replicas through a multi-tenant cloud gateway. Veeam Cloud Connect also offers VMware vCloud Director integration.

Does Veeam Backup & Replication integrate with any remote monitoring and management solutions?

Yes! Veeam Service Provider Console, a purpose-built solution for cloud and managed service providers, snaps onto Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam Agents and Veeam Cloud Connect to offer remote monitoring and management capabilities.

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General Veeam licensing information, including licensing criteria and terminology, can be viewed here. The Veeam licensing policy is here.

How are Veeam Backup & Replication and the related product bundles licensed?

Veeam Backup & Replication can be licensed in three ways:

Through the use of a portable VUL, which includes 24.7.365 production support
Using a per-CPU socket license (limited to fewer features and products)
A Veeam Cloud and Service Provider (VCSP) rental license, which is available exclusively to members of our VCSP partner program.

VUL is a portable license that’s sold in bundles of 5-10 fully featured licenses. These licenses can be used across many products or workloads interchangeably. There are one- to five-year licensing terms available and customers can choose to purchase license bundles upfront or to pay annually. Learn more about portable VUL licenses here.

To purchase, contact your preferred reseller, find a Veeam reseller in your area or place an inquiry with Veeam sales.

How are Veeam Agents licensed?

All of the Veeam Agents are included with the Veeam Backup & Replication VUL license or through the VCSP rental licensing program. There is no longer a separate license SKU for Veeam Agents.

How do I upgrade my license?

To migrate to VUL or upgrade, please create a sales inquiry.

While not required for version 11, some customers may need to update their license file. Visit the Veeam licensing portal to download the latest license file.

Note: This protocol is different for VCSP rental users. Check out the VCSP launch resource center on the ProPartner portal for instructions.

Is it possible to stay with my current license version and not upgrade at the latest release?

Yes, you can stay with your current license version, but you will not be able to install or take advantage of the latest version features and benefits.

How do I renew support for my licenses and what happens if it expires?

For VUL license users, 24x7 support and maintenance is always included as long as the subscription is active.

For Per-Socket licenses, To renew your support, please complete a request for a renewal quote. If the maintenance and support lapses, customers will not have access to Veeam support for technical issues and will not have access to any software updates, including patches, feature updates and latest version releases.

How do I upgrade my license to the latest release?

While not required for version 11, some customers may need to update their license file. Visit the Veeam licensing portal to download the latest license file.

Note: This protocol is different for VCSP rental users. Check out the VCSP launch resource center on the ProPartner portal for instructions.

I have a version of Veeam Backup & Replication that has some built-in free VUL licenses. What can I protect?

These gifted VUL license(s) are provided to all socket license customers, with 1 per each CPU socket, up to a maximum of six free VUL licenses. These can be used to protect physical or cloud workloads with the following:

Veeam Agents for Microsoft Windows, Linux and for Mac
Veeam Agents for Oracle Solaris and for IBM AIX
Enterprise application plug-ins for SAP HANA and Oracle RMAN
Veeam Backup for AWS and Microsoft Azure
NAS file shares
Nutanix AHV VMs
And more

Note: All VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V VMs must be protected with socket licenses.

Can I merge my existing licenses with the VUL licenses?

Veeam Backup & Replication or Veeam Availability Suite per-socket licenses can be merged with the VUL license. For your current support term, you can generate a merged license file at my.veeam.com. Instructions on how to merge license files can be found here.

Can I have both VUL per-workload and per-socket licenses?

While the VUL license will always provide the most functionality and flexibility, customers can can have a centrally managed environment with both VUL and socket licenses. Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam Availability Suite sockets can be merged together with VUL licenses. Veeam Backup Essentials sockets can be merged with Veeam Backup & Replication or Veeam Availability Suite VUL licenses, but not with a Veeam Backup Essentials VUL.

Note: If you possess socket licenses in your environment, you must protect all vSphere orHyper-V VMs with sockets in that environment. VUL licenses can be used for any other non-VM workload type. If you migrate to VUL, there is no limitation.

Important note: When merging socket and VUL licenses, be aware that the socket license dictates the edition and capability of the merged environment. For example, if you merge Veeam Availability Suite ENT sockets with a Veeam Availability Suite VUL (ENT+) socket, the environment is still ENT feature set. In order to get ENT+ capabilities, users need to either a.) migrate socket licenses to VUL licenses or b.) upgrade socket licenses to the preferred edition (likely ENT+).

How do I merge license files?

If a customer wants to have a centrally managed environment, they may need to merge license files. To do this, it’s required that maintenance be current for both the per-socket and VUL components. Reference this Veeam Knowledge Base article for more details on how to merge licenses. Contact Veeam support for assistance with any issues.

For Veeam Backup Essentials or other products with maximum environment sizes, what do I do when my virtual environment grows beyond the maximum size?

Please contact the Veeam renewals team if you want to discuss your options or existing promotions.

How do I add Monitoring or DR automation add-ons?

Customers of Veeam Backup & Replication or other products can add additional features at a price that takes their original investments into consideration. Socket license customers must be current on maintenance. Contact your Veeam sales representative to request an upgrade.

My organization currently owns Veeam Backup Essentials. Can I buy licenses of Veeam Availability Suite or Veeam Backup & Replication?

Yes. However, to get a merged key (which would include Veeam Backup Essentials licenses), customers should either upgrade all licenses to Veeam Availability Suite or Veeam Backup & Replication VUL license for full functionality and portability. See the licensing policy to learn more.

I currently license under the VCSP rental pricing model. Has anything changed for my installation?

At version 10, customers were required to install a new VUL, but there are no requirements at version 11.

Instructions for obtaining your VUL implementing them in your environments are available on the VCSP Launch Resource Center on the ProPartner portal.

Still can’t find what you need?

Reference technical documentation for more details here.

System requirements

Product and licensing FAQs