Veeam Agent Management Infrastructure

The Veeam Agent management infrastructure comprises the following components:

• Veeam backup server
• Veeam Agent computers
• Distribution server

Veeam Backup Server

The Veeam backup server is the core component in the backup infrastructure that fills the role of the “configuration and control center”. To use the Veeam Agent management functionality offered by Veeam Backup & Replication, you can use the backup server that is already running in your backup infrastructure or deploy a separate backup server.

To learn more, see the Deployment section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

Veeam Agent Computers

To manage Veeam Agents on computers in your infrastructure, you must add computers that you want to protect to the inventory in the Veeam Backup & Replication console and deploy Veeam Agents. In Veeam Backup & Replication, protected computers are organized into protection groups. To learn more, see Protection Groups.

Veeam Backup & Replication lets you manage Veeam Agent on computers of the following types:

• Workstations, servers, and failover clusters running a Microsoft Windows OS
• Workstations and servers running a Linux OS
• Servers running a Unix OS
• Workstations and servers running a macOS

If you want to manage Veeam Agents installed on protected computers in Veeam Backup & Replication, you must set Veeam Agents in the managed mode. In this mode, all data protection and administration tasks are performed by a backup administrator in Veeam Backup & Replication. In some scenarios, a user can also perform a limited set of backup and disaster recovery tasks directly on a protected computer.

The following Veeam Agent configurations operate in the managed mode:

• Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows and Veeam Agent for Linux deployed on remote computers by Veeam Backup & Replication automatically.

Veeam Backup & Replication is set up to automatically discover computers added to the inventory and deploy Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows and Veeam Agent for Linux on these computers. To learn more, see Protected Computers Discovery and Veeam Agent Deployment.

On every Microsoft Windows computer added to the inventory, Veeam Backup & Replication installs the Veeam Installer Service. The service performs the following tasks:

• Collects information about the protected computer and sends it to the Veeam backup server. The collected data includes details on the computer type, platform, host name, guest OS, BIOS UUID, IP address, and information about Veeam Agent (its presence on the computer, product version and license installed).
• Downloads Veeam Agent setup files from the distribution server and installs Veeam Agent on the protected computer.

On Linux computers, Veeam Backup & Replication does not install additional components for Veeam Agent deployment. Veeam Backup & Replication connects to a Linux computer via SSH and performs necessary operations on the computer. Keep in mind that to connect to Linux computer via SSH, this Linux computer must be added to the list of trusted hosts. To learn more, see Configuring Security Settings.

• Veeam Agents deployed on remote computers by user manually.

On Unix and macOS computers, you must deploy Veeam Agent for IBM AIX, Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris, or Veeam Agent for Mac on a computer you want to protect and set a connection to Veeam Backup & Replication. You can manually deploy Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows and Veeam Agent for Linux as well. After that, you can use Veeam Backup & Replication to perform necessary operations on the computers. To learn more, see Protected Computers Discovery and Veeam Agent Deployment.

Distribution Server

The distribution server is an architecture component in the Veeam Agent management infrastructure used for automated deployment of Veeam Agent setup files to protected computers. When you instruct Veeam Backup & Replication to install Veeam Agent on a protected computer, the Veeam backup server communicates to the distribution server, and Veeam Backup & Replication uploads Veeam Agent setup file from the distribution server to the target computer.

By default, the role of the distribution server is assigned to the backup server itself. However, you can deploy a dedicated distribution server to reduce workload on the backup server. To deploy a distribution server, you need to add a Windows-based server to Veeam Backup & Replication. To learn more, see the Adding Microsoft Windows Servers section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide. After you assigned the role of distribution server, you need to select this server in the properties of a protection group. To learn more, see Specify Discovery and Deployment Options.

A machine performing the role of the distribution server must meet the following requirements:

• The role of the distribution server can be assigned to a physical or virtual machine.
• The machine must run a 64-bit Microsoft Windows OS.
• You must add the machine to the Veeam Backup & Replication console as a managed server.

The distribution server comprises the following services and components:

• Veeam Distribution Service
• Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Redistributable
• Veeam Agent for Linux Redistributable

Keep in mind that Veeam Backup & Replication does not support automated deployment of Veeam Agent for IBM AIX, Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris and Veeam Agent for Mac. You must deploy these Veeam Agent on computers using setup files generated by Veeam Backup & Replication. To learn more, see Deploying Veeam Agents Using Generated Setup Files.