Replication Scenarios

Veeam Backup & Replication supports two replication scenarios:

• On-host replication
• Off-host replication

Both scenarios are applicable for onsite replication and replication to a remote disaster recovery (DR) site. In both scenarios, you can replicate VM data over a direct data path or over a pair of WAN accelerators.

On-Host Replication

On-host replication can be used when you replicate VMs over the LAN or WAN. This scenario requires the following backup infrastructure components:

• Source host. The source Veeam Data Mover runs on the source host.
• Target host. The target Veeam Data Mover runs on the target host.
• [For snapshot replica] Backup repository for storing replica metadata.
• [Optional] WAN accelerators.

No additional infrastructure components are required. Note, however, that the source Veeam Data Mover may cause additional overhead on the source host.

Off-Host Replication

Off-host replication can be used when you replicate VMs both over the LAN and WAN. In contrast to on-host replication, this scenario requires an additional replication infrastructure component – off-host backup proxy.

The off-host replication scenario requires the following replication infrastructure components:

• Source host.
• Off-host backup proxy. The off-host backup proxy must be deployed in the source site and must have access to the source host and the target host. The source Veeam Data Mover runs on the off-host backup proxy.
• Target host. The target Veeam Data Mover runs on the target host.
• [For snapshot replica] Backup repository for storing replica metadata.
• [Optional] WAN accelerators.

During off-host replication, all the necessary data transformations (such as data compression and block filtering) are performed on off-host backup proxy, which helps reduce unwanted overhead on the source host.