Make a Veeam backup copy to Microsoft Azure

Veeam can make a backup copy from On-Premise to Microsoft Azure. This is possible thanks to an appliance available on Microsoft Azure called Veeam Cloud Connect. Thanks to Veeam Cloud Connect you can make a backup copy to Microsoft Azure. This enables to follow easily the 3-2-1 backup rule (3 copies on 2 different medias and on 1 remote site). This topic shows you how making this backup copy from On-Premise to Microsoft Azure.

On-Premise architecture overview

I have deployed Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5 with update 1 in a Hyper-V virtual machine. This VM is located on a 2-node cluster based on Storage Spaces Direct. The backups are in a Synology NAS and connected through SMB. I have already set a backup job to protect domain controllers. I will make a backup copy of this job to Microsoft Azure

Deploy and Veeam Cloud Connect

First, the Veeam Cloud Connect must be deployed in Microsoft Azure. Logon to the Azure Portal and look for Veeam Cloud Connect for Enterprise.

Then configure the VM as you wish. Keep in mind that some data disks must be added to the VM for the backup repositories. So, select the VM size with the right number of disks allowed. For this topic, I deploy all Veeam Cloud Connect services in the same VM, but for production, you can deploy services across several VMs. For example, you can dedicate the backup repositories to some VMs and the gateway to others. For my lab needs, I have deployed a DS2_V2 VM.

Once your VM is deployed, we can add some disk for the backup repositories. To add a disk, navigate to the VM settings and select disks.

Once you have added some additional disks, we have to configure a public IP address statically. To set the static IP, navigate to the public IP resource and click on configuration. Then change the assignment setting to static.

You can now connect to the VM across RDP

Configure Veeam Cloud Connect

The first time you connect to the VM, you have to do the following task:

• Add the Veeam Cloud Connect license
• Upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication to the same On-Premise version

Once these tasks are done, you can format the additional disks as below:

Add a backup repository

Now you can open the Veeam Cloud Connect console (which is in fact a Veeam Backup & Replication console). Navigate to backup infrastructure and select Add Backup Repository.

Give a name and a description for your backup repository.

Next, specify the type of backup repository. Because the backup will be located on disks directly attached to the VM, I choose Microsoft Windows Server.

Then specify the repository server. You can add a remote VM if you would like. For this topic, I choose to store backup locally.

Next I specify the drive letter of my additional disk.

In the next screen, I don’t enable the vPower NFS because Hyper-V doesn’t need it.

Configure the Cloud Gateway

Now that backup repository is set, we can configure the Cloud Gateways. The On-Premise Veeam Backup & Replication connects to Veeam in Microsoft Azure through the Cloud Gateways. You can deploy this role to other servers (with for example, a load-balancer). For this topic, the cloud gateway is the same server than other roles. To configure the Cloud Gateways, navigate to Cloud Connect, and select the default cloud gateway. Right click on it and choose Properties.

Select the server and click on next. If you have configured a Network Security Group, don’t forget to allow the external port.

Select This server is located behind NAT, and specify the static public IP of the Azure VM.

Add a tenant

To finish the Veeam Cloud Connect configuration, we should create a tenant. Navigate to Cloud Connect tab and right click on Tenants. Then select Add tenant.

Specify credentials for this tenant and choose which resources are assigned to it.

In the next screen, you can define the number of concurrent tasks and limit the bandwidth for this tenant.

You can also define a quota associated with this tenant. With the below setting, the tenant can use 1000GB on the backup repositories.

To finish, specify which backup repository the tenant can use.

At this moment, we have finished configuring the Veeam Cloud Connect. We can now connect Veeam Cloud Connect from On-Premise Veeam Backup & Replication.

Add Cloud repository to Veeam Backup & Replication

Open your On-Premise Veeam Backup & Replication and navigate to backup infrastructure. Click on Add Service Provider.

Next, specify the static Public IP address of the Veeam Cloud Connect.

In credentials screen, I add the credentials that I have set when I have added the tenant in the Veeam Cloud Connect.

If Veeam Backup & Replication can connect to Veeam Cloud Connect, you should see the available cloud repositories.

Once you have finished, you should have the Veeam Cloud Connect listed in service providers.

Make the backup copy to Microsoft Azure

Now that On-Premise Veeam Backup & Replication is connected to Veeam Cloud Connect, we can make a backup copy. Select a job and click on Backup Copy.

Give a name and a description for this backup copy job. Then choose when the backup copies are created.

Next, add virtual machines to the backup copy job.

In the next screen you can choose the backup repository, the number of restore points to keep and archival policy. After all, the Cloud can replace LTO libraries for long-term backups.

Then choose if you want to transfer data through the WAN accelerators or directly. For this topic, I choose direct.

Because the backup to the Cloud can take a lot of bandwidth, you can schedule when the data can be transferred.

Once the backup job is finished, I run it to copy VM backup to Azure.

While the copy, a new job has been created to receive data.

Once the backup copy job is finished, I open the backup file and as you can see, both backup VMs are now externalized to Microsoft Azure.

Conclusion

The Veeam Cloud Connect feature enables to externalize some backups to Microsoft Azure. Thanks to this feature, you can leverage Microsoft Azure for long-term backups & archival. Moreover the 3-2-1 rule can be applied easily.