Challenge
The suggestions below leverage the functionality of Veeam ONE in order to automate some administration tasks.
Cause
To be able to use the steps below, make sure you are using Veeam Availability Suite 8.x or 9.x.
Solution
VM with no backup
1. Create VM backup alarm in Veeam ONE via Alarms Management tab.
2. Define the required RPO and assign the alarm.
3. In the Post alarm actions specify a batch file to trigger a backup PowerShell script.
4. When the alarm is triggered, the corresponding PowerShell script will create a quick backup of the VM.
If you don't have any VMs added to the backup jobs, then you can write a PowerShell script that will create a job for the VM and then run it.
Terminate job after X hours
1. Create backup alarm and select jobs you want to monitor.
2. Define the maximum duration.
3. In the post alarm actions specify a batch file to trigger a backup PowerShell script.
4. The PowerShell script can be configured to perform one of the following actions:
• Stop the required backup job.
• Run a script to check for orphaned VM snapshots and then try to consolidate them.
• Run a script to check for orphaned VM snapshots and then try to consolidate them.
Delete orphaned VM snapshots
1. Use one of the predefined VM snapshot alarms (snapshot size or snapshot age).
2. In the post alarm actions specify a batch file to trigger a backup PowerCLI script which will try to consolidate all VM snapshots.
You can even specify the name of the snapshots you want to consolidate in the PowerCLI script.
Automated VM failover
1. Detect failed VMs/hosts/datastores via one of the predefined alarms in Veeam ONE (for example, VM power state, VM Tools state etc.).
2. In the post alarm actions specify a batch file to trigger a backup PowerShell script.
3. To make sure it is not a network glitch run additional verifications within the PowerCLI/PowerShell script.
4. Once all verifications are performed create a failover plan in Veeam backup console and then run it.
4a. As an alternative, you can create a PowerShell script to initiate VM failover operation without using failover plans.
4b. Additionally, you can start VM replicas manually via PowerCLI script.
4b. Additionally, you can start VM replicas manually via PowerCLI script.
VM tags in Veeam ONE and Veeam B&R
1. Open Veeam ONE Business View and create the required categories/groups for automatic categorization rules.
2. Create categorization rule or dynamic group via Business View. See the online help center web page for more info > Configuring Categorization Rules for v.8 and v.9.
3. Configure Veeam ONE to write VM Tags to the vCenter Server > Configuring Options for v.8 and v.9.
4. Verify Veeam ONE Reporter collection job schedule (this job is responsible for writing VM tags) > Scheduling Data Collection for v.8 and v.9.
5. Open Veeam Backup console and start using VM tags as a source for your backup and replication jobs.
Receive alarms via text message
1. Navigate to any alarm you would like to configure this action for.
2. Set Send email notifications as post alarm action.
3. Specify your cell phone number in the format described below. The 10-digit number should be your cell phone number.
Alltel [10-digit phone number]@message.alltel.com Example: 1234567890@message.alltel.com AT&T (formerly Cingular) [10-digit phone number]@txt.att.net [10-digit phone number]@mms.att.net (MMS) [10-digit phone number]@cingularme.com Example: 1234567890@txt.att.net Boost Mobile [10-digit phone number]@myboostmobile.com Example: 1234567890@myboostmobile.com Nextel (now Sprint Nextel) [10-digit telephone number]@messaging.nextel.com Example: 1234567890@messaging.nextel.com Sprint PCS (now Sprint Nextel) [10-digit phone number]@messaging.sprintpcs.com [10-digit phone number]@pm.sprint.com (MMS) Example: 1234567890@messaging.sprintpcs.com T-Mobile [10-digit phone number]@tmomail.net Example: 1234567890@tmomail.net US Cellular [10-digit phone number]email.uscc.net (SMS) [10-digit phone number]@mms.uscc.net (MMS) Example: 1234567890@email.uscc.net Verizon [10-digit phone number]@vtext.com [10-digit phone number]@vzwpix.com (MMS) Example: 1234567890@vtext.com Virgin Mobile USA [10-digit phone number]@vmobl.com Example: 1234567890@vmobl.com
Audible alarms
1. Set a batch script as an action item for the alarm
2. Use “psexec” to execute another *.bat file to play an audio file on any server
Create your OWN alarms for Veeam B&R
1. Navigate to Alarm Management tab.
2. Select Veeam B&R node as the alarm type.
3. Click to create new alarm and select Event as an alarm trigger.
4. Choose any alarm from the list below triggered by Veeam B&R.
Event ID Event Name 23010 Job created 23050 Job modified 23090 Job deleted 23110 Job objects added 32120 Job objects deleted 23130 Job objects modified 23210 SureBackup job created 23220 SureBackup job modified 23230 SureBackup job deleted 23310 SureBackup objects added 23320 SureBackup objects deleted 23330 SureBackup objects modified 110 Backup job started 190 Backup job finished 150 Backup task finished 114 Tape backup job started 194 Tape backup job finished 210 Restore session started 250 Restore vSphere task finished 251 Restore Hyper-V task finished 290 Restore session finished 310 SureBackup job started 350 SureBackup vSphere verification task finished 351 SureBackup vSphere validation task finished 360 SureBackup Hyper-V verification task finished 361 SureBackup Hyper-V validation task finished 390 SureBackup job finished 410 Backup copy job started 450 Backup copy task finished 490 Backup copy job finished 510 File copy job started 590 File copy job finished 512 VM copy job started 592 VM copy job finished 10010 Restore point created 10050 Restore point removed 10090 Restore point updated 10014 Tape restore point created 20114 Tape updated 21210 Proxy server established connection 21214 Proxy server lost connection 21220 Repository server established connection 21224 Repository server lost connection 21230 WAN accelerator established connection 21234 WAN accelerator lost connection 24010 License installed 24020 License expiring 24022 License evaluation expiring 24030 License expired 24040 License support expiring 24050 License support expired 23410 Second destination job has been assigned 23420 Second destination job has been removed 610 Quick migration job has been finished
More Information
Before you implement any of the suggested solution in production, use these script examples in your test environment and make sure you adapt them to your needs.