Item: Veeam Data Platform
Rating: 9
Author: Pradeep Kabbur

Overall Satisfaction with Veeam Backup & Replication

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using Veeam Backup & Replication across our environment, which includes virtual servers and physical servers. We were spending more on the backup tools and storage, Veeam has reduced that burden as our environments are small or medium businesses.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Scaling up and scaling out in Veeam is very easy when you have an enterprise plus license.
Very good at virtual environment backup as it processes only block level data.
Very easy to migrate data from one environment to another.
Backup data is not dependent on Veeam Server (Backup server) like other products.
If you have backed up data files and catalog files in the media or storage then you can restore data from importing in any Veeam environment.
Easy setup and management.

Cons

They have a lot to improve in the reporting part as reporting came with Veeam once it does not come with Veeam Backup & Replication.
Backup copy job concept has GFS copy data but there are limitations to scheduling as there is no room for flexible schedules. We have to go with what is available.
Veeam cloud connect is a little complex to set up and expensive and has a lot of limitations.
Direct offsite to Cloud object storage is not supported.

Return on Investment

Our restores are very quick and very immediate. We have the option to restore to the cloud as well; so no need to worry in case of disasters.
Backup merge of large servers take a long time for backup copy jobs which creates a problem.
If a backup copy job takes more than one day the next copy will not have the each days' data. Instead it will be one backup copy data so we will miss one day offsite data for a job.

Alternatives Considered

Veritas NetBackup, Carbonite Server Backup and Druva Phoenix

Veeam Backup &Replication has resolved the cost of the disk and media issue that we have faced in NetBackup. It supports Physical and Virtual environments with Cloud integration. We are able to protect the data on premises as well as in the cloud.

Other Software Used

Druva Phoenix, Druva inSync, Acronis Backup Cloud, Veritas NetBackup, Commvault Complete Backup & Recovery, Dell EMC Avamar

Likelihood to Recommend

This tool is best suited for small and medium environments. Server performed well in our use cases
It is not suited for enterprise level or a large environment as managing becomes fuzzy.

Veeam Data Platform Feature Ratings

Using Veeam Backup & Replication

Users and Roles

8 - We all work in backup and recovery. We mostly help to set up the data protections for all the environments.

Support Headcount Required

6 - Our team is having knowledge of Virtualization and a little bit of hands-on experience in Cloud (azure and AWS). They have knowledge of Backup and storage.

Business Processes Supported

Sandbox test or Sure Backup
Instant VM recovery
Application level restore
Ad restore in granular level

Innovative Uses

As Veeam does not support cloud-hosted VMS, we installed an agent and configured the backup.
We were able to migrate data from once repository to another type without any support the first time.
We have migrated data from once Veeam cloud connect to another cloud connect as support did not have an idea how to migrate data from one tenant to another.

Future Planned Uses

We will be setting up a Cloud tier option to offload the Long retention data.
We will test the restore to Azure.
We will set up Microsoft Office 365 Backup. As of now we do not have this tested in our environment.

Likelihood to Renew

It is very reliable and simple to set up. We do not have to worry about anything.

Evaluating Veeam Backup & Replication and Competitors

Products Replaced

Yes - We replaced it with MS Data protection manager and Carbonite Server Backup (Evault) as they are more expensive as compared to Veeam and DPM never compressed data as Veeam does. We replaced Carbonite backup as it is expensive.

Key Differentiators

Price
Product Features
Product Usability
Vendor Reputation
Existing Relationship with the Vendor

We were more concerned about the storage used and the money spent on it. To reduce that, we used Veeam with cloud integration.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

We will concentrate on the features supported and how advanced the tool is. Are they up to date with the data protection features? What is the level of security, compression and deduplication it supports?

Veeam Backup & Replication Implementation

Implementation Rating

Make sure you know the amount of data you want to backup. Depending on this you can estimate the storage required. Also make sure to know how frequently you want to backup the data.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

Change Management Lessons

Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled - Change management is very important as it helps us to set up smoothly.

Implementation Issues

We have not got any major issues in the environment.

Veeam Backup & Replication Support

Support Rating

Support has good knowledge about the product, and they help us in time whenever required. We have solved lot of critical situations where we could not get the details of the issues.

Veeam Data Platform Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Immediate help available Support cares about my success	Need to explain problems multiple times

Premium Support

Yes - As support is good in solving the critical issues in the environment, we would like to have the support for our product so we get immediate help in case we fail to identify the issue.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of Veeam Data Platform Support

During setup we had lot of questions about the product as we were new. They helped in migration of data to different repository, set-up of sandbox test, or sure backup lab.

Using Veeam Backup & Replication

Usability

Veeam is very simple to learn and configure. Supports a lot of advanced features. Veeam Backup & Replication is always up-to-date with the technology and helps to save the money we spend on storing the data.