How to Install Veeam Backup and Replication

Introduction

Veeam® Backup & Replication is a software solution responsible for protecting your data by performing backup, replication and recovery operations. It is a part of Veeam Availability Suite and one of the first products to offer features engineered to suit virtual environments.

Veeam Backup & Replication is available for architectures based on one of the two most popular hypervisors, VMware vSphere, and Microsoft Hyper-V.

This guide will walk you through the steps for installing Veeam Backup & Replication version 9.5.

The installation steps are the same for both VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V environment. Make sure you meet the requirements before you start the installation procedure.

Prerequisites

There are a few prerequisites you should have in mind before you proceed with installing Veeam Backup & Replication. The servers that will run version 9.5 need to meet the designated system requirements.

There are a few more things to note before you start the installation. This includes:

• Uninstall any earlier versions of Veeam Backup & Replication that can interfere with the version 9.5. Make sure there are no other old Veeam components since they may affect the installation procedure.
• Microsoft SQL Server is necessary on the backup server. You can leave the old version if you have it, install it yourself, or let the installation procedure take care of that for you.
• The components for Veeam Backup & Replication need certain ports open. The firewall rules are created automatically during the installation. But, make sure to refer to the list of used ports if you encounter any issue with communication between the infrastructure components.
• Veeam Backup & Replication version 9.5 requires .NET Framework version 4.5.2. Since it is a part of the installation package, you do not need to install it yourself.

Veeam Backup & Replication Installation

In order to start the installation, you need to mount the Veeam Backup & Replication image.

If you did not obtain your copy, visit Veeam’s product download page to get one. Use the application of your choice to mount the ISO image, or you can burn it to a CD/DVD. In order to mount an image to a virtual machine, use the built-in tools of the virtualization management platform and follow the steps listed below.

Launch the Installation Wizard

The wizard should launch automatically once you mount the image or insert the CD/DVD. If that does not happen, then Autorun is disabled for that machine. In that case, run the “Setup.exe” file from the image.

Once the wizard starts, a splash screen will appear with the available standalone components for Veeam Backup & Replication. This includes:

• Veeam Backup & Replication
• Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager
• Veeam Backup & Replication Console

Click on Install and then Next to start the process.

Read and accept the Veeam Backup & Replication license agreement in order to continue the installation. Select I accept the terms in the license agreement and click Next to proceed to the next step of the Veeam installation wizard.

Select License File and Program Features

The Provide License step is optional. You can simply proceed with the Veeam Backup & Replication installation and it will operate in the free edition mode. The wizard will inform you if you already have a license on your machine.

Click on Browse to provide a license file, either a trial or a purchased one. Locate the *.lic file within the file explorer and choose Next.

Next, the Program features screen will let you choose the components you want to install.

• Veeam Backup & Replication
• Veeam Backup Catalog
• Veeam Backup & Replication Console

You can click on Browse to change the installation folder if needed. Leave all three options selected and click Next to continue to the System Configuration Check screen.

Check for Missing Software

In this step, the wizard scans the system to verify all required software is installed. The wizard will continue if all the necessary components are available on your machine. Otherwise, you will see the screen with the missing components.

Choose Install to install the missing components. Once the wizard finishes installing, you will see the status screen where you can click Next to continue to the next step. If you do not want the wizard to install the missing components for you, exit the installation, install those components, and run the wizard again.

Change Installation Settings

You can complete the installation using the default configuration or chose to customize it. To change the settings, check the box that says Let me specify different settings and click Next.

The next screen lets you specify the account under which the Veeam Backup & Replication will run. Veeam recommends selecting LOCAL SYSTEM account. Whichever option you choose, the selected account must have the administrator permissions for that machine.

The manual configuration allows you to select a Microsoft SQL Server on which you want to install the configuration database. You have two available options:

1. Install a new instance of SQL Server. In case you do not have an SQL server installed, the wizard will install Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP3 Express Edition on the local machine. This is sufficient for a majority of users.
2. Use existing the instance of SQL Server. This option is a better choice if you have a large IT environment with hundreds of virtual machines. External servers will provide better performance in such cases. If you select this option, please specify the instance name and the desired Veeam Backup & Replication configuration database.

Chose an authentication mode to connect to the Microsoft SQL Server.

1. Windows authentication credentials of a service account. If you select this option, the wizard will use the account you selected on the previous screen. Simply click Next to continue.
2. SQL Server authentication using the Login ID and password. If you select this option, please enter the credentials for the SQL server in question.

The next screen allows you to edit the Veeam Backup & Replication port configuration. There is no need to change the port configuration unless another service uses one of those ports. Otherwise, leave the default port settings for communication between backup components. The default settings are:

• Catalog Service port is set to 9393.
• Veeam backup service port is set to 9392.
• Secure connections port is set to 9401.

Once you review the port configuration settings, click Next to continue to the Data Locations screen. Here you can specify the drive and path where you want to store the necessary files. Simply click on browse and select the desired locations.

• vPower NFS. Instant VM recovery will use this write cache folder. The path defaults to C drive on the Veeam server and needs 10GB of free space or more. If possible, select a dedicated drive with more space and better performance.
• Guest file system catalog. This folder is used for file indexing. Veeam Enterprise Manager primarily uses it to perform many different functions. The default is also C drive on the local machine, but you can click Browse and select any other location.

When you finish selecting the location for your files, click Next.

Start Veeam Backup & Replication installation

Before the installation starts, the wizard shows the summary of the settings for you to finally review. If you want to keep your Veeam product up to date, check off the box that says Check for updates once the product is installed and do it periodically.

To start the installation process, click Install.

The wizard shows the progress bar for each component. This may take a few minutes, depending on the machine specifications where the installer is running.

Finalizing the Installation

When the wizard completes the installation, the final screen appears letting you know that the setup has finished installing Veeam Backup & Replication. At the same time, the icon for Veeam Backup & Replication Console appears on the desktop.

Click Finish to close the wizard. Please restart your Windows machine to make sure the software performs properly. When the system boots back up, you are ready to start using Veeam Backup & Replication.

Veeam Backup & Replication Console

Once you finish installing Veeam Backup & Replication software package, you can use the console to log in to your backup server. With the console, you can perform a number of data recovery and data protection actions.

Access the console by clicking the Veeam Backup & Replication Console icon on your desktop. The console icon should appear automatically after the installation process completes.

Starting from version 9.0, the console allows for remote connection. For this, you need to install Veeam Backup & Replication console on a dedicated machine.

Insert the backup server name or its IP address in the first field. By default, the console uses the current Windows user’s credentials to connect to the localhost. Uncheck the Use Windows session authentication box if you want to insert alternative credentials. The default port number for this connection is 9392, but you can change it when you need to.

When you finish inserting the necessary information, click Connect.

Once the connection is successful, the console loads and takes you to the Managed servers screen. From this point, add the desired Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware vSphere environment. You can perform any backup infrastructure configuration and management within the GUI. Visit Veeam’s website for more information on the Veeam Backup & Replication Console.

Conclusion

This tutorial introduced you to Veeam Backup & Replication version 9.5 and has guided you through the installation procedure. You should now be able to successfully connect to your backup servers, and perform any necessary operations necessary to implement your data backup strategy.