---
title: "System Requirements"
description: "The protected Linux computer must meet requirements listed in the table below. The following system requirements apply to the following Veeam Agent for Linux configuration: Veeam Agent for Linux version is 13.1."
canonical: "https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agentforlinux/userguide/system_requirements.html"
breadcrumb: "User Guide > Planning and Preparation > System Requirements"
dateModified: "2026-11-02"
---

# System Requirements

The protected Linux computer must meet requirements listed in the table below.

::: note

The following system requirements apply to the following Veeam Agent for Linux configuration:

- Veeam Agent for Linux version is 13.1.
- Veeam Agent for Linux is operating in the standalone mode.

  To learn about system requirements for Veeam Agent managed by Veeam Backup & Replication, see the [System Requirements for Linux Computers](https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbr/userguide/agents_system_requirements_linux.html?ver=13) section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

- Veeam Agent for Linux is installed with the `veeam-libs`, `veeam,`and Veeam kernel module packages.

  To learn about system requirements for nosnap Veeam Agent for Linux, see [System Requirements for Nosnap Veeam Agent for Linux](system_requirements_nosnap.md).

  To learn about system requirements for nosnap Veeam Agent for Linux on Power, see [System Requirements for Nosnap Veeam Agent for Linux on Power](system_requirements_nosnap_ppc.md).

:::

<table class="Blue_Table">
  <tr style="vertical-align:top">
    <th style="width:200px;">
      <p>Specification</p>
    </th>
    <th>
      <p>Requirement</p>
    </th>
  </tr>
  <tr style="vertical-align:top">
    <td style="width:200px;">
      <p><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hardware</span></p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p><span style="font-weight:bold;">Important!</span> Review the <a href="#hardware_lim">Considerations and Limitations</a> that apply to the supported hardware.</p>
      <p>CPU: x86_64.</p>
      <p>Memory: 1 GB RAM or more. Memory consumption varies depending on the backup type and the total amount of backed-up data. For more information, see <a href="system_requirements_ram.md">RAM Requirements for Backup of Large Number of Files</a>.</p>
      <p>Disk Space: 500 MB free disk space for product installation.</p>
      <p>Network: 10 Mbps or faster network connection to a backup target.</p>
      <p>System firmware: BIOS or UEFI.</p>
      <p>Disk layout: MBR or GPT.</p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr style="vertical-align:top">
    <td style="width:200px;">
      <p><a name="OS" id="OS"/><span style="font-weight:bold;">OS</span></p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p><span style="font-weight:bold;">Important!</span> Review the <a href="#os_limits">Considerations and Limitations</a> that apply to the list of supported OSes.</p>
      <p>Linux kernel version 3.10 to version 7.2 is supported. For the most up-to-date information on the Veeam Agent compatibility with Linux kernel versions of the supported distributions, see <a href="https://www.veeam.com/kb2804" target="_blank">this Veeam KB article</a>.</p>
      <p>Veeam Agent supports the 64-bit versions of the following Linux distributions:</p>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List">Debian 11.0 – 13.7<span style="font-size:7pt; vertical-align:super;">1</span></li>
        <li class="Table_List">Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04, 24.04 and 26.04</li>
      </ul>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List">RHEL 7.9 ELS, 8.4 – 9.8, 10.0 – 10.2</li>
      </ul>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List">Oracle Linux 7 – 10.2 (RHCK)</li>
        <li class="Table_List">Oracle Linux 7 (starting from UEK R4) – Oracle Linux 8 (up to UEK R6)</li>
        <li class="Table_List">Oracle Linux 8 (UEK R7) — for information on installation, see <a href="https://www.veeam.com/kb4394" target="_blank" class="Table_List">this Veeam KB article</a>.</li>
        <li class="Table_List">Oracle Linux 9 (UEK R7)</li>
      </ul>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List">Oracle Linux 9 (UEK R8) – for information on installing Veeam Agent on Oracle Linux 9 with UEK R8, see <a href="https://www.veeam.com/kb4732" target="_blank" class="Table_List">this Veeam KB article</a>.</li>
        <li class="Table_List">Oracle Linux 10 (UEK R8)</li>
      </ul>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List">SLES 12 SP5, 15 SP3 – 15 SP7 and 16.0</li>
        <li class="Table_List">SLES for SAP 12 SP5, 15 SP3 – 15 SP7 and 16.0</li>
      </ul>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List">Rocky Linux 8.10, 9.4, 9.6, 9.8, 10.0 and 10.2</li>
        <li class="Table_List">AlmaLinux 8.10, 9.4, 9.6, 9.8, 10.0 and 10.2</li>
      </ul>
      <p><span style="font-size:7pt; vertical-align:super;">1</span> To install Veeam Agent on Debian 13, additional prerequisite <a href="#deb13">software</a> is required.</p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr style="vertical-align:top">
    <td style="width:200px;">
      <p><a name="filesystem" id="filesystem"/><span style="font-weight:bold;">File System</span></p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p><span style="font-weight:bold;">Important!</span> Review the <a href="#file_sys_lim">Considerations and Limitations</a> that apply to the list of supported file systems.</p>
      <p>Veeam Agent for Linux supports consistent snapshot-based data backup for the following file systems:</p>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List">BTRFS (for OSes that run Linux kernel 3.16 or later) </li>
        <li class="Table_List">Ext 2/3/4</li>
        <li class="Table_List">F2FS</li>
        <li class="Table_List">FAT16</li>
        <li class="Table_List">FAT32</li>
        <li class="Table_List">HFS</li>
        <li class="Table_List">HFS+</li>
        <li class="Table_List">JFS</li>
        <li class="Table_List">NTFS</li>
        <li class="Table_List">ReiserFS</li>
        <li class="Table_List">XFS</li>
      </ul>
      <p>The supported file system (except for BTRFS) can reside on a simple volume or LVM2 volume; volumes protected with encryption software such as dm-crypt are supported. BTRFS is supported only if it resides directly on a physical device with no additional abstraction layers (such as LVM, software RAID, dm-crypt and so on) below or above it.</p>
      <p>Other file systems, file systems that are not located on logical volumes, as well as network file systems like NFS or SMB shares can be backed up using the snapshot-less mode only. For details, see <a href="file_backup_snapshotless.md">Snapshot-Less File-Level Backup</a>.</p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr style="vertical-align:top">
    <td style="width:200px;">
      <p><a name="software" id="software"/><span style="font-weight:bold;">Software</span></p>
    </td>
    <td>
      <p><span style="font-weight:bold;">Important!</span> Review the <a href="#software_lim">Considerations and Limitations</a> that apply to the list of supported components.</p>
      <p>Protected computer must have the following components installed:</p>
      <p><a name="deb13" id="deb13"/><span class="T_Emphasis">Only for installing </span><span class="T_Emphasis">Veeam Agent</span><span class="T_Emphasis"> using dkms packages:</span></p>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">linux-headers</span> (for Debian-based systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">linux-headers-amd64</span> (for Debian 13. For package specifics, see <a href="#software_lim" class="Table_List">Considerations and Limitations</a>)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">kernel-headers</span> (for RHEL-based systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">kernel-devel</span> (for RHEL-based systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">kernel-uek-devel</span> (for Oracle Linux systems with UEK)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">dkms</span></li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">gcc</span></li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">make</span></li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">perl</span></li>
      </ul>
      <p><span class="T_Emphasis">For general operations, backup and restore:</span></p>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">libudev</span> (for managing devices during backup and restore)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">libacl</span> (for backup and restore of ACLs)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">libattr</span> (for backup and restore of extended file attributes)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">lvm2</span> (for LVM snapshots and other LVM-related operations)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">libfuse2</span> (FUSE libraries for Debian-based and SLES-based systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">fuse-libs</span> (FUSE libraries for RedHat-based systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">libncurses5</span> (for rendering TUI on SLES 12)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">libncurses6</span> (for rendering TUI on RHEL 8 – 10 and SLES 15 and 16)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">dmidecode</span> (for managing Veeam Agent with </li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">libmysqlclient</span> (for processing MySQL database systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">libpq5</span> (for processing PostgreSQL database systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">python3</span> (for installing Veeam Agent on <a href="#python3" class="Table_List">some distributions</a> and other operations)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">btrfs-progs</span> (version 3.16 or later, for backup of BTRFS)</li>
      </ul>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">wget</span> (for downloading recovery ISO)</li>
      </ul>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">tar</span> (for file system indexing, log export and rotation)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">gzip</span> (for file system indexing, log export and rotation)</li>
      </ul>
      <p><span class="T_Emphasis">For creating custom Veeam Recovery Media:</span></p>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">efibootmgr</span> (for UEFI-based systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">isolinux</span> (for Debian-based systems)</li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">syslinux</span> (for RHEL-based systems)</li>
      </ul>
      <ul>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">mksquashfs</span></li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">unsquashfs</span></li>
        <li class="Table_List"><span class="T_Filenames">xorriso</span> (for custom Veeam Recovery Media with EFI support)</li>
      </ul>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

## Considerations and Limitations {#limits}

<a id="hardware_lim"></a>**Hardware**

- For virtual machines, only full virtualization type is supported. Oracle VM virtual machines are supported with [limitations](baremetal_volume_restore_byb.md#oracle_vm). Virtual I/O (VirtIO) devices have [experimental support](https://www.veeam.com/kb2976) status. Containers of any kind — including Docker containers — and paravirtualized instances are not supported, regardless of the guest OS version. Backup of such devices may result in corruption of the source file system — for example, see [this Veeam KB article](https://www.veeam.com/kb4428).
- Devices managed by Veritas Volume Manager are not supported.

<a id="os_limits"></a>**OS**

- Linux kernel version 3.10 to version 7.2 is supported as long as you use kernels supplied by your distribution.
- <a id="ga"></a>Only GA versions of the [supported distributions](#OS) that have been released before the current version of Veeam Agent for Linux are supported.

  If a new version of a supported Linux distribution is released after the release of the current version of Veeam Agent, Veeam Agent may require a patch to support this new OS version. For details on Veeam Agent compatibility with Linux OS versions, see [this Veeam KB article](https://www.veeam.com/kb2804). Customers with a valid contract can request a patch from Veeam Support; for other customers, the support of the new Linux distribution will be provided with the next release of Veeam Agent.

- Veeam Agent supports the following versions of RHEL with Extended Update Support Add-On: 8.4, 8.6, 8.8, 8.10, 9.0, 9.2, 9.4, 9.6, 9.8, 10.0 and 10.2.
- <a id="prebuilt"></a>For the following distributions, we recommend installing Veeam kernel modules from pre-built binary packages provided by Veeam:

  - RHEL 7.9 ELS, 8.4 – 9.8, 10.0 – 10.2
  - Rocky Linux 8.10, 9.4 – 9.8, 10.0 and 10.2
  - AlmaLinux 8.10, 9.4 – 9.8, 10.0 – 10.2
  - SLES 12 SP5, 15 SP3 – 15 SP7 and 16.0
  - SLES for SAP 12 SP5, 15 SP3 – 15 SP7 and 16.0

  <a id="dkms"></a>For other supported distributions, use the `dkms` packages instead of the pre-built binary packages with Veeam kernel modules.

  <a id="snap"></a>Pre-built binary blksnap kernel module packages require kernel 5.3.18 or later.

  For details on installing Veeam Agent on every supported distribution, see [Installing Veeam Agent for Linux](installation_process.md).

- To ensure proper functioning of the Veeam kernel module, verify that your system does not have any of the following modules installed: `hcpdriver`, `snapapi26`, `snapapi`, `snapper`, `dattobd`, `dattobd-dkms`, `dkms-dattobd`, `cdr` or `cxbf`.
- The Linux OS must be configured to receive software updates from the default repositories enabled after OS installation. This requirement is met if the distribution’s base system, patches and fixes are bit-for-bit identical to those of one of the supported distributions, regardless of which entity provides support to the customer.
- For cloud-based installations that use customized kernels (such as Linux distributions deployed from AWS Marketplace or Azure Marketplace), the Veeam kernel module has experimental support status. For details about experimental support, see [this Veeam KB article](https://www.veeam.com/kb2976).
- RHEL and Oracle Linux (RHCK) are supported up to certain kernel versions. For details, see [this Veeam KB article](https://www.veeam.com/kb2804).
- Ubuntu with Linux kernel for KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is not supported. For the list of `linux-kvm` kernels for Ubuntu, see [Ubuntu documentation](https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-kvm).
- AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10 is not supported.
- [Oracle Linux (UEK) 7.0 – 7.4] If the operating system has the FIPS mode enabled, you must sign the DKMS Veeam kernel module. For more information on automating the process of signing DKMS kernel modules, see [Linux documentation](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Signed_kernel_modules#DKMS_support).

<a id="file_sys_lim"></a>**File System**

- File-level backup has the following limitations:

  - Total size of all file systems must not exceed 216 TiB. This limitation applies to all file systems where files you plan to back up are located.
  - Size of a file included in a file-level backup must not exceed 16 TB. 
  - Name of a file must not be larger than 254 bytes. 

    Keep in mind that characters that you can use in the file name may be encoded in 2 bytes or more.

- To store volume snapshots, the `blksnap` kernel module requires an Ext4, BTRFS or XFS file system.
- Veeam Agent supports backup of extended attributes with the following limitations:

  - Veeam Agent backs up extended attributes only with the following public namespaces: `system`, `security`, `trusted`, and `user`.
  - All extended attribute names and values of a file must not exceed 4096 bytes (size of a default ext4 file system block). Veeam Agent does not back up attributes exceeding the limit. 

    For the kernel version 4.13 or later, if a value of extended attribute exceeds the limit, Veeam Agent uses the `ea_inodes` feature. Backups created using the `ea_inodes` feature cannot be mounted on kernel versions up to 4.12.

- Each volume included in a backup must have a unique UUID.
- Veeam kernel module provides a RAM-based changed block tracking (CBT) mechanism. Every time the module is unloaded or Veeam Agent for Linux computer is rebooted, CBT data is reset. As a result, Veeam Agent reads the entire data added to the backup scope to detect what blocks have changed since the last job session, and incremental backup requires greater time.
- Consider the following about backup of computers that are used as cluster nodes:

  - To back up data on local disks, you can use snapshot-based file-level or volume-level backup with the following limitations:

    - Do not perform entire machine backup.
    - Do not include data from shared disks or entire shared disks in the backup scope.

    ::: important

    If you add a shared disk — for example, a device managed by a clustered file system or clustered LVM, to the backup scope, Veeam Agent may place a permanent exclusive lock on the device. This lock can make the disk inaccessible to other cluster nodes and cause a service interruption.

    :::

  - Data on shared disks, clustered file systems or clustered LVM can be backed up only in the [snapshot-less file-level backup](file_backup_snapshotless.md) mode.
  - Backup of clustered file systems using a native file system snapshot, or a snapshot created with the help of custom pre-job or post-job scripts, is not supported.

  To protect data on computers that function as cluster nodes, you can also create backups using nosnap Veeam Agent for Linux. For more information, see [System Requirements for Nosnap Veeam Agent for Linux](system_requirements_nosnap.md#cluster).

- Certain limitations for Dell PowerPath configuration apply. To learn more, see [this Veeam KB article](https://www.veeam.com/kb2771).
- Backup of file and directory attributes (for example, a — append only, c — compressed, and so on) is not supported.
- Veeam Agent for Linux does not back up volumes that reside on USB devices and SD cards.
- Veeam Agent for Linux does not back up LVM snapshots.
- BFQ I/O scheduler is not supported.
- Sparse files are not supported. Veeam Agent backs up and restores sparse files as regular files.
- Backup of pseudo file systems, such as `/proc`, `/sys`, `tmpfs`, `devfs` and others, is not supported.
- Backup of pseudo-RAID, or driver-level RAID, configurations is not supported. Only hardware RAID arrays managed by dedicated controllers and Linux native software RAID (`mdadm`) are supported.  

- During backup, network file systems are skipped unless explicitly included into the backup scope.
- Backup of BTRFS volumes and subvolumes with enabled file-system compression is not supported.
- Veeam Agent does not preserve BTRFS space-saving mechanisms, such as reflinks and snapshots: each subvolume is copied into the backup file independently, even if it shares blocks with the base subvolume. As a result, backup size can scale with the number of subvolumes on the source, effectively multiplying the base subvolume's size by the subvolume count.

  This can be especially significant for BTRFS volumes used as backing storage for container runtimes (for example, Docker, Podman, or containerd configured with a btrfs storage driver), where image layers and containers create subvolume snapshots, causing backup size to grow with layer and container count.

  As a workaround, exclude the BTRFS volume from the backup. Alternatively, add only the base subvolume to the backup job scope. This option excludes any image-layer or container subvolumes from the backup.

<a id="software_lim"></a>**Software**

::: important

Linux user account used to work with Veeam Agent for Linux must have  `/bin/bash` set as the default shell.

:::

- [For Debian 13] Veeam Agent installs the latest version of `linux-headers-amd64` with the matching kernel and its headers. This can cause the kernel to be upgraded, which might affect drivers or software that rely on a specific kernel version. After kernel upgrade, you may need to rebuild or reinstall any custom kernel modules that you have on the system.
- Version of the following packages varies according to the Linux kernel version that you use:

  - linux-headers and linux-headers-amd64 (for Debian-based systems)
  - kernel-headers (for RedHat-based systems)
  - kernel-devel (for RedHat-based systems)
  - kernel-uek-devel (for Oracle Linux systems with UEK)

- The `dmidecode` package is required for Veeam Agent management — a valid BIOS UUID must be obtainable either from `dmidecode | grep -i uuid` or from `/sys/class/dmi/id/product_uuid`. Each Veeam Agent that consumes a license installed in Veeam Backup & Replication must have a unique BIOS UUID. If a valid UUID cannot be obtained, Veeam Agent will generate it automatically.
- The `python3` package or another RPM package providing a `/usr/bin/python3` binary is required for RHEL 8.4 and later distributions if a pre-built binary Veeam kernel module package is to be installed.

## Backup Source

Any file systems and devices that are accessible from the host OS. To learn about limitations, see [File System](#filesystem).

## Backup Target

Backup can be performed to the following types of storage:

- On-premises or cloud-based object storage.
- Local (internal) storage of the protected computer (not recommended).
- Direct attached storage (DAS), such as USB, eSATA or Firewire external drives.
- Network Attached Storage (NAS) able to represent itself as SMB (CIFS) or NFS share. Requires `cifs-utils` or `nfs-utils` packages to be installed on the Veeam Agent for Linux computer, depending on a network storage type. 
- Veeam Backup & Replication 13.1 backup repository  (including deduplication appliances).

  ::: note

  To benefit from all recent enhancements and improvements, make sure to install the latest available build of Veeam Backup & Replication.

  :::

- Veeam Cloud Connect 13.1 backup repository.

::: important

Consider the following about backup repositories:

- [For local storage] A backup repository should be created on a separate volume from the volume that contains data you plan to back up.
- [For Veeam backup repository] Backup repositories with enabled KMS encryption are not supported.

:::

## Network

Consider the following:

- If you back up to a repository managed by a Veeam backup server, Veeam Agent for Linux must be able to establish a direct IP connection to the Veeam Backup & Replication server. Veeam Agent for Linux cannot work with Veeam Backup & Replication that is located behind the NAT gateway.
- Domain names of the Veeam Agent computer, Veeam Backup & Replication server and other servers in the Veeam backup infrastructure must be resolvable into IPv4 or IPv6 addresses.