Veeam

As we find ourselves quickly coming upon the start of what I’ve come to think of as “IT Conference Season”, one conference that I’ve been a fan of for years in VeeamON. Granted, I’m biased given that Veeam is my current employer, but I’ve long felt that VeeamON is a conference done right. The content has always been strong, technical experts always abound, and the amount of organized social activities seems just right (whereas things can be overwhelming at VMware Explore). ...

As some of you may have heard, I recently made the next jump in my career, and in a move that shocked nobody who knows me, I am now working for Veeam. One of the biggest “cons” that was on my list while evaluating the opportunity was the fact that I would no longer be a part of the Veeam Vanguard, a program that I have the utmost respect for - for its mission that it is looking to accomplish, the fashion in how it strives for this, and of course the people. ...

Last week was VeeamON 2022 in Las Vegas. After a lot of internal back and forth, I ended up making the decision to attend. Going into it, I knew that I had really missed seeing people in person after 2+ years of lockdown, but I really underestimated how great it would feel to see folks in person again. All that aside, I wanted to reflect on some over-arching trends that I saw at the conference as a whole. ...

Yes, it has been awhile, but I figured this was as good a time as any to dust off the login credentials for this site :) As the title alludes to, I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to be a part of the Veeam Vanguard program again for 2022. The last few years have been a bit different for the program, and despite having limited in-person interactions, it did spawn significantly more frequent get togethers (whether formally organized webinars, social events, or special one-off sessions). We’re all hopeful that with 2022 we’ll all be able to see each other at the annual Vanguard Summit. However, with the way the world has been for the past two years, I’m not placing any bets on it yet. ...

A little while back I was playing around with the CDP feature coming in Veeam Backup & Recovery V11. One of the requirements to use it is installing an I/O Filter on your ESXi hosts. The filter is how the magic happens, and there is nothing unusual about this step. Many vendors have I/O Filters available for ESXi . But given that this is a homelab, I tend to do a lot silly things in there. In my case, I found that I was unable to vMotion a VM, which led me down a rabbit hole … ...

Anyone who is a Veeam user is likely well aware of Veeam’s “upcoming” CDP (Continuous Data Protection); it has been somewhat notorious as it was announced way back at VeeamON 2017 in New Orleans. Over the course of time, the release date has slipped a few times, but largely for good reason (e.g. stability or performance issues were deemed unsatisfactory by Veeam’s internal QA process). I most recently wrote about it again last year, when we got another preview of the tech at the Veeam Vanguard Summit. ...

I tend to rebuild my home lab a few times a year; sometimes it is to try out a new process (e.g. scripted installs, upgrade paths, etc.), but more often than not it is because I have broken something so bad that it is just easier to restart. As part of that, I usually try to restore some key VMs from backup. However, the bigger struggle there is keeping my backup jobs up to date. ...

Ahh, CDP (Continuous Data Protection) - the feature that everyone has been waiting for. If you’re new to Veeam, or out of the loop, CDP was first announced way back at VeeamON 2017. There’s been a lot of hype about the feature, because in a nutshell it allows you to get RPOs down to a matter of seconds. It is also able to accomplish this without using snapshots. Sadly, it has taken a long time to come to market. The good news is that the Vanguards saw a functional demo of this at the Vanguard Summit recently. ...

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to attend my fourth Veeam Vanguard Summit; if you aren’t familiar with the event, this is an experience like none other. I’ve written about the Vanguard program before, and chances are I’ll write about it again. The Summit is one pieceof the program, but in my opinion it is one of the most noteworthy components. In a nutshell, it is an opportunity for the Vanguards to spend time with some key Veeam staff, talk about current and upcoming technologies, and have some very deep NDA-level discussions. ...

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to present at VeeamON 2018. The topic in question revolved around the numerous restore scenarios that Veeam Backup & Replication offers. More specifically, I wanted to highlight some of the lesser-known methods. These methods largely came about through conversations that I had with folks, usually at my SWOVUG events or VMUGs. Yes, the conference was back in May, and it is now (barely) July. Firstly, I wanted to check with Veeam first to ensure that I could share the content. Secondly, with the new job, things have been a bit busier as I try to get back into the swing of things. This also explains the infrequent blogging as of late. ...