In the third part we bring it all together. We add the Infrastructure Appliance to the VBR server. Then we set it up as a hardened repo, which will later on serve as our primary backup target.

In order to create the hardened repo in your VBR appliance, two steps need to be done. First, the newly installed server is added to VBR as a managed server. Then, the actual repository is created, and all properties such as concurrency and immutability are configured.

To do this, we first log in to the web interface of the VBR server.

Adding the Infrastructure Appliance to VBR

Right after the login, you´ll see your dashboard. As of now, it should be quite empty. Click on “Managed Servers” in the left menu.
After a fresh installation, you should only see that VBR itself in the overview. To add your repo server, just click on “+ Add Server”.
As the description says, we want to add a “Veeam Infrastructure Appliance”, so we select this option.
Enter the FQDN of your repo server and, if you like, a description.

Before hitting the next button, click on “Optional components settings”.
Here you can specify which additional roles and functions your appliance should be capable of. In my scenario, the repo server shall be just a repo server and nothing else, so I cleared all.

I cleared the selection and confirmed with OK.

After the component selection box faded out, I continued by pressing “next”.

The VBR server will now try to establish communications with the appliance. If everything works out, you´ll get a prompt to confirm that you are connecting to the right host with the right fingerprint.

Now you have two choices: the easy and simple one, just click “Yes” and go on. Or you take one minute of your time, connect to the host management console web interface of your repo server, head down to “Backup Infrastructure” and verify the fingerprint.

Don’t stress — when it comes to fingerprint and thumbprint, they’re basically one and the same.

Here you can see the thumbprints of the repo server.
Once you’ve confirmed the thumbprint, the system will check the repo server for missing components. You’ll then receive a list of what the system will install or delete.
On the last page, you´ll get a small summary to review. When you´re done, click on “Finish” to start the actual onboarding process.
After a few minutes, depending on your hardware, the system completes the installation and preparation of the host, and you can finish the process by clicking on “OK.”

Creating the actual Hardened Repository

Click on “Repositories” on the left menu, then “+ Add Repository” and select “Hardened Repository” from the dropdown list.
Give your repo a name and a description and go on with “Next”.
Now you’ll get a dropdown list with all compatible servers that this VBR server has added, select the repo server and go on with “Next”.
Finally, some more choices to pick from.

First, enter the path to your data folder. This is where all backup files will be stored. The second disk is mounted under “/var/lib/veeam.” Choose a name and add it to this prefix. I went with “/var/lib/veeam/hardrepo/”.
Now click on “Populate”, and you should see the capacity and free space of your data disk/partition.

You should definitely keep XFS fast cloning enabled. This will greatly enhance your storage efficiency. I short: The filesystem will internally link already known blocks instead of writing them again. This will really kick in when using synthetic full backups instead of real full backups.
Here´s the link to the Veeam help center regarding Fast Cloning: Fast Clone – Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide

The immutability question is the one with the biggest impact. On the one hand, this can safeguard your data, on the other hand it can also have a downside. Nobody can delete your backups, so if your calculations for needed storage capacity were wrong, and you kept too many old versions, you won´t be able to delete them. This could mean that for some time you won´t be able to save newer backups to your repo.
So plan carefully.

The number of concurrent jobs depends on your hardware. From what I´ve seen in larger productive environments, a good rule of thumb is:
1 CPU core equals 1 concurrent job.
4 GB of memory equals 1 concurrent job.
Here´s the link to the Veeam documentation regarding limits: Limitation of Concurrent Tasks – Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide

When you´re done, click on “Next”.

Now we have a define a mount server, as I have no other system at the moment, I´ll select the VBR server as Linux mount and click “Next” to go on.
Since I’ve selected my VBR server as the mount server, Veeam will now install some necessary packages on the system. Since all packages are already there, you do not need to do anything. Go on with “Next”.
The last step is the summary of all settings. When done reviewing them, click “Finish”.
The system will now configure the repo server. Depending on the hardware, this can take some time.
When everything is done, the new hardened repo server will show up in the repositories overview.

Now we have a working backup infrastructure for most tasks. In the next posts, I´ll guide you through the steps of actually creating backups from vSphere-based virtual machines.