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Article Number: 000194977

Veeam Backup & Replication with PowerProtect DataDomain

Summary: Why Veeam customers should choose PowerProtect DataDomain storage / Guidelines for Veeam backup and replication with Powerprotect DataDomain.

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Instructions

Why should Veeam customers choose PowerProtect DataDomain storage?

PowerProtect DataDomain Data Invulnerability Architecture ensures recovery is always possible
Minimal PowerProtect DataDomain Storage footprint due to superior deduplication
PowerProtect DataDomain based Cyber Recovery solution protects Veeam backups from Ransomware
PowerProtect DataDomain integrated directly into Veeam UI
Supports Application Direct Backups for Databases including NoSQL types
PowerProtect DataDomain supports up to 1,885 simultaneous backup write streams
Veeam has built-in DDBoost functionality via included plugin
High Performance Backup Repository ` up to 94 TB/hour with DDBoost
Less Network traffic and faster backups with DDBoost thanks to data compression
DDBoost enables Virtual Synthetics and up to 10x faster backups
High Performance mass restore for Disaster Recovery and Cyber Recovery events
High Performance Replication for Disaster recovery
Multi-Protocol Support – CIFS, NFS, DDBoost, VTL, IP and Fiber Channel
PowerProtect DataDomain supported as an extent in Veeam Scale Out Backup Repository (SOBR)

Architecture Overview
Customers that want to use Veeam Backup & Replication with PowerProtect DataDomain should consider the following guidelines. Specifically, if:

There is a requirement for high performance with Veeam features that create random I/O like Instant VM Recovery, DataLabs, database point in time restore, and others mentioned in Veeam KB2660
There is a requirement for multiple copies of backups going to long-term backup storage, tape or cloud
There is a requirement for fast restores of large VM’s that contain multiple virtual hard disks equaling terabytes in size

With the demand placed on backup storage in these scenarios, it is important to consider the hardware configuration as it pertains to where backups are stored.
Below are some hardware configuration options that can be used with the Dell EMC storage portfolio to enable the desired performance across all scenarios. In some cases, there may be a need to combine characteristics of more than one option, but in all cases, it is strongly encouraged that you consult with Dell EMC and/or a value-added reseller to discuss individual needs.
The industry 3-2-1 backup rule can be used as a guideline for the backup infrastructure planning:
3: Maintain at least three copies of your data and applications. That’s the one copy you’re using and two backups. This way, if one of your backups is unavailable for any reason (such as the backup is co- located with your primary copy and both go down), you can still recover what you need.
2: Keep the backup files on 2 different media types to protect against different types of hazards. Storing your backups on at least two different types of media or storage controller logics provides protection from the vulnerabilities that each type may have.
For example: run your business on a general-purpose fast storage system and store your backups on a storage system that is specialized for this purpose, or a separate server with local disks.
1: Keep one of the backups in a different location. Consider a crisis in your primary data center, such as a fire or power failure. If all copies are collocated, they can all be affected, resulting in unplanned downtime for your organization.

Building backups on the first site with PowerProtect DataDomain – A PowerProtect DataDomain system can be used for storing primary backup copies with Veeam. Datapath enhancements in PowerProtect DataDomain Operating System (DDOS) not only make it a suitable target for storing primary copies of VM snapshots but also provides instant VM recovery capabilities.
Add offsite target – in addition to the above scenario, you can use PowerProtect DataDomain replication to place a second copy offsite for disaster recovery.
Retire backups to the Cloud for long-term retention – Using PowerProtect DataDomain Cloud tiering, customers can retire their backup to the public/private cloud. DellEMC Elastic cloud Storage (ECS), AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud are among the supported Cloud platforms with PowerProtect DataDomain. Retiring backups to the Cloud reclaims space for PowerProtect DataDomain systems on-prem. To get a complete list of supported cloud providers, please contact DellEMC.
Restoring from DellEMC PowerProtect DataDomain – Veeam (version 9.5, update 4 and upward) has been optimized with PowerProtect DataDomain software (DDOS 6.x) for faster restores. These optimizations have been specifically targeted for Veeam random IO workloads. Restores can be orchestrated directly from PowerProtect DataDomain (local) or from long-term retention PowerProtect DataDomain systems (offsite or cloud).
Additional configurations options – the following configurations options are highly recommended when using Veeam with PowerProtect DataDomain. These options can be found when navigating through the Veeam GUI to setup backup/restore with PowerProtect DataDomain storage. The options mentioned below assume some familiarity of the reader with configuring Veeam with PowerProtect DataDomain storage. Please consult with DellEMC in cases of seeking clarifications on the mentioned options, to help us optimize your data protection solution.
1. 1. Veeam Repository Settings –
    - Tasks/Streams – PowerProtect DataDomain storage can support a large number of concurrent streams for backup/restore and these depend on the PowerProtect DataDomain model. There are Veeam defaults for these settings so these will need to be set explicitly to get maximum concurrency. Use the “Limit maximum concurrent tasks” setting to set this value.
    - Storage compatibility – Do not use Veeam compression and select the option “Decompress backup data blocks before storing”. Compression is provided by DataDomain DDBoost on the client side and the PowerProtect DataDomain storage on the server side.
    - Enable “Use per-VM backup files” to increase concurrency and performance
  2. b. Job Storage Settings –
    - When using CIFS protocol, create Active Fulls every 7 or 14 days. When using DDBoost, create Synthetic Fulls weekly and Active Fulls monthly.
    - Uncheck “Perform backup files health check” as this is NOT needed with PowerProtect DataDomain storage. PowerProtect DataDomain has its own Data Invulnerability Architecture (DIA) that protects against data corruption.
    - Disable Veeam deduplication by unchecking “Enable inline data deduplication”
    - Set the compression level to “None” for best performance. If you must choose an option other than “None”, you can choose “Dedupe-friendly”.
  3. c. Backup Copy Job (BCJ) Settings
    - Uncheck “Read the entire restore point from source backup instead of synthesizing it from increments” to enable PowerProtect DataDomain synthetic backup processing
  4. d. Proxy Server - To avoid bottlenecks, the best option is to ensure that each proxy server also functions as a gateway server when writing to a PowerProtect DataDomain backup repository
  5. VMware version – updating VMware to the most current version can positively impact performance. We have found that that customers using VMware version 7.0xxxxxx and above have seen better performance when using Veeam with PowerProtect DataDomain storage.