Category: vExpert

How to: Part Two – Configuring PureStorage Plugin for Veeam

13

How to : Part Two – Configuring PureStorage Plugin for Veeam

Last week, I wrote a blog on how to install the PureStorage plugin for Veeam. In this blog post, I will show you how to configure the PureStorage Plugin within Veeam. This quick and easy process is required in order to utilize all of the PureStorage+Veeam awsomeness!

Requirements

Before we proceed any further, please take note of the following requirements. These requirements are necessary if you wish to utilize Storage Array Snapshots for Backups.

  • Veeam Backup and Replication Enterprise Plus licensing
  • Physical Proxy server with FC/iSCSI access to the PureStorage array (This proxy must be physcical and be zoned/have access to all LUNS housing VMs that you wish to backup/protect)
  • PureStorage array (no additional licenses are required to take snapshots on PureStorage. Go team Orange!)
  • Veeam Backup and replication server must have access to the PureStorage array over the network/Firewall. Port 443 must be allowed in order to access to the PureStorage Array

*Important Note: You can still add the PureStorage array without having a Physical Proxy setup; however, you won’t be able to backup VMs without it*

Benefits

According to Veeam’s website, the following benefits are described below (Taken From Veeam’s Website)

  • Reduce impact on performance of production workloads
  • Enable granular recovery from storage snapshots
  • Application consistent storage snapshot orchestration
  • Automated restore verification and on-demand labs: “Put your data to work”

If you would like more information on this, or if you aren’t a Pure customer, reach out to my buddy Brandon @PureStorage via Twitter at @bdwill

Continue reading “How to: Part Two – Configuring PureStorage Plugin for Veeam”

How to: Part One – Installing PureStorage Plugin for Veeam

13

How to: Installing PureStorage Plugin for Veeam

Tuesday the most anticipated day finally came. The Veeam storage array plugin for PureStorage was finally announced!

Why is this a big deal? Simply put: Now backups can backup off the storage array snapshot itself, which provides faster backup and recovery of protected workloads. Additionally by utilizing this plugin, you will reduce snapshot stun and create a more efficient backup process.

Benefits

According to Veeam’s website, the following benefits are described below (Taken From Veeam’s Website)

  • Reduce impact on performance of production workloads
  • Enable granular recovery from storage snapshots
  • Application consistent storage snapshot orchestration
  • Automated restore verification and on-demand labs: “Put your data to work”

Convinced? I thought so. Let’s install the plugin to take advantage of these features! In this short how to, the steps needed to install this array integration plugin are covered.

If you would like more information on this, or if you aren’t a Pure customer, reach out to my buddy Brandon @PureStorage via Twitter at @bdwill

Continue reading “How to: Part One – Installing PureStorage Plugin for Veeam”

How to: Installing Veeam ONE Monitor

Veeam One 1

In this blog post, we will describe the installation process of Veeam ONE. Veeam ONE is a reporting solution for Veeam Backup and Replication servers, and vCenter itself. It’s a compliment to Veeam Backup and Replication, and it is an included feature of the Veeam Availablity Suite. There are numerous reports one can run within this application, such as reports to see which servers are not being backed up, etc. The benefits of Veeam ONE include visibility into the backup environment, monitoring of components within vCenter, and backup compliance reporting. One if it’s most powerful features is the reporting of vCenter itself. This is a great alternative to other monitoring tools, since you can monitor just about all major system components within your virtual environment. The installation process is similar to the blog post “Installing Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5”, which can be found here.

Continue reading “How to: Installing Veeam ONE Monitor”

How to: Installing Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5

Veeam Install 18

Installing Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5

This past Tuesday was the first day of spring. What better way to usher in the new season than to install Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5! In this blog post, I will show you how quickly it is to install Veeam Backup and Replication. This will be part of a small series on Veeam and the integration is has with other products, such as Dell EMC’s Data Domain, Veeam One, SQL Server 2016, etc

Continue reading “How to: Installing Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5”

New Achievement: VMware vExpert 2018

After a slight delay, I was driving home Friday when I received confirmation of my vExpert 2018 application. The result?

vExpert Confirmation

I am happy to announce that I have officially achieved VMware vExpert 2018! This was my first year to apply, and I am very fortunate to have obtained this award/recognition.

Continue reading “New Achievement: VMware vExpert 2018”

Becoming a vSAN Specialist: Section 3 – vSAN Configuration

VSAN-featured

In this section, I will go over the following objectives found within the VMware vSAN Specialist Blueprint: Objective 3.1 – Identify physical network requirements

Objective 3.1 – Identify physical network requirements

Let’s start with the network basics.

  1. Dedicated network port for vSAN traffic
  2. 10GB (dedicated or shared) highly recommended, required for all flash deployments) <1ms latency
  3. 1GB dedicated for hybrid setups. Real work environments would suffer with 1GB (Minus ROBO) <1ms latency
  4. vSAN VMkernal port required for each ESXi host, even if it isn’t contributing storage
  5. ESXi hosts within a vSAN cluster must all utilize Layer 2/3 upstream

Continue reading “Becoming a vSAN Specialist: Section 3 – vSAN Configuration”

Becoming a vSAN Specialist: Section 2 – vSAN Fundamentals

VSAN-featured

In this section, I will go over the following objectives found within the VMware vSAN Specialist Blueprint: Section 2 – vSAN Fundamentals

Objective 2.1 – Provide a high-level description of vSAN

Introduction to vSAN

vSAN is an enterprise-class software storage solution built directly into the VMware platform. It runs on commodity hardware (x86) or vSAN Ready nodes.  What does this mean? Instead of having a separate software solution controlling the storage, the actual ESXi hosts alongside with vSphere have the vSAN technology (Software Defined Storage) built directly into the kernel/software. This software then utilizes the commodity hardware (compute, storage, network) within the host/appliance to create the perfect marriage of virtualization and software defined storage. It utilizes storage policies to intelligently place VM objects on underlying local storage. This is the special sauce that makes vSAN so great. It automates storage on many levels, which in turn leads to significant simplification with regards to how storage is provisioned and managed.

Why is this important? Instead of having to buy separate software, you can utilize this software since it’s already a part of vSphere. This in combination with local disk installed within x86 hardware makes the vSAN solution a truly modern and software defined solution. This reduces costs and complexity.

Continue reading “Becoming a vSAN Specialist: Section 2 – vSAN Fundamentals”

%d bloggers like this: