This is an archive version of the document. To get the most up-to-date information, see the current version.

Failover Cluster Support

You can use Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows operating in the managed mode (within the Veeam Agent management scenario) to protect data processed by a failover cluster. Veeam Agent supports Windows Server Failover Clusters running on any of the supported Microsoft Windows Server OS versions. To learn the full list of versions, see System Requirements.

Veeam Agent supports data backup and restore for the following types of clusters:

Windows File Server Failover Clusters
Windows Server Failover Clusters that run the following applications:

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP4 or newer (SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances and AlwaysOn Availability Groups are supported.)
Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 or newer

You can also use Veeam Agent in the managed mode to process Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups (DAGs). To learn more, see Backup of Database Availability Groups.

Limitations for Failover Cluster Support

Failover cluster support in Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows has the following limitations:

Backup of failover clusters is supported in Veeam Agent managed by Veeam Backup & Replication only. You cannot process a failover cluster by Veeam Agent operating in the standalone mode.
Backup of CSV (Cluster Shared Volumes) is not supported. Cluster disks used as CSV are automatically excluded from backup.

AlwaysOn Availability Groups based on SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances are not supported.

AlwaysOn Clusterless Availability Groups are not supported.
Distributed AlwaysOn Groups are not supported.
Backup of Storage Replica log volumes is not supported. Such volumes are automatically excluded from backup because of Microsoft VSS limitations. To learn more, see this Microsoft article.

Failover Cluster Support Note:

Veeam Backup & Replication does not support simultaneous processing of Microsoft SQL Server transaction logs on SQL Server clustered instances with identical names. The limitation applies to clustered instances of different failover clusters as well.

For example, you configure two backup jobs that process transaction logs of different clusters whose SQL clustered instances have identical names. In case these backup jobs run simultaneously, transaction logs will be processed only by the backup job that started first. The second backup job will not process transaction logs.

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