Off-Host Backup Proxy

By default, when you perform backup and replication jobs in the Hyper-V environment, VM data is processed directly on the source Hyper-V host where VMs reside, and then moved to the target, bypassing the backup server.

VM data processing can produce unwanted overhead on the production Hyper-V host and impact performance of VMs running on this host. To take data processing off the production Hyper-V host, you can use the off-host backup mode.

The off-host mode shifts the backup and replication load to a dedicated machine — an off-host backup proxy. The off-host backup proxy functions as a “data mover” which retrieves VM data from the source datastore, processes it and transfers to the destination.

The machine performing the role of an off-host backup proxy must meet the following requirements:

• The role of an off-host backup proxy can be assigned only to a physical Microsoft Windows 2008 Server R2 machine with the Hyper-V role enabled, Windows Server 2012 machine with the Hyper-V role enabled or Windows Server 2012 R2 machine with the Hyper-V role enabled.

For evaluation and testing purposes, you can assign the off-host backup proxy role to a VM. To do this, you must enable the Hyper-V role on this VM (use nested virtualization). However, it is not recommended that you use such off-host backup proxies in the production environment. For more information, see https://www.veeam.com/blog/nesting-hyper-v-with-vmware-workstation-8-and-esxi-5.html or http://blogs.technet.com/b/gbanin/archive/2013/06/26/how-to-install-hyper-v-on-a-virtual-machine-in-hyper-v.aspx.

• The off-host backup proxy must have access to the shared storage where VMs to be backed up, replicated or copied are hosted.
• To create and manage volume shadow copies on the shared storage, you must install a VSS hardware provider that supports transportable shadow copies on the off-host proxy and the Hyper-V host. The VSS hardware provider is usually distributed as a part of client components supplied by the storage vendor.

For more information, see Advanced Deployment, Backup Modes and Choosing a VSS Provider.

When you assign the role of an off-host backup proxy to the selected machine, Veeam Backup & Replication automatically installs on it light-weight components and services required for backup proxy functioning. Unlike the backup server, backup proxies do not require a dedicated SQL database — all settings are stored centrally, within the configuration database used by Veeam Backup & Replication.

To enable a Hyper-V host or a Windows machine to act as an off-host backup proxy, Veeam Backup & Replication installs the following services on it:

• Veeam Installer Service is an auxiliary service that is installed and started on any Windows (or Hyper-V) server once it is added to the list of managed servers in the Veeam Backup & Replication console. This service analyzes the system, installs and upgrades necessary components and services.
• Veeam Transport is responsible for deploying and coordinating executable modules that act as "data movers" and perform main job activities on behalf of Veeam Backup & Replication, such as performing data deduplication, compression and so on.
• Veeam Hyper-V Integration Service is responsible for communicating with the VSS framework during backup, replication and other jobs, and performing recovery tasks. The service also deploys a driver that handles changed block tracking for Hyper-V.

Related Topics

Configuring Backup Proxies