Backup to Object Storage

If you want to store your data in a cloud-based or on-premises object storage, you can create Veeam Agent backups in repositories provided by the object storage.

The following Veeam Agents support the object storage as a primary repository for backup jobs, backup policies, and backup copy jobs:

• Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows
• Veeam Agent for Linux
• Veeam Agent for Mac

You can store Veeam Agent backups on the following types of the object storage:

• Amazon S3
• S3 compatible
• Google Cloud Storage
• Microsoft Azure Blob Storage
• IBM Cloud Object Storage
• Wasabi Cloud Storage
• Veeam Data Cloud Vault

• 11:11 Cloud Object Storage

Veeam Agents communicate with the object storage using one of the following connection modes:

• Connection through a gateway server. With this connection mode, Veeam Agents access object storage through Veeam Backup & Replication. As a result, Veeam Agent access to object storage is managed by a proxy component — a gateway server assigned in the Veeam Backup & Replication console. Backup data is sent from Veeam Agent computer to the gateway server, then it is sent from gateway server to the object storage.
• Direct connection. With this connection mode, Veeam Agents access object storage directly. Backup data is sent from Veeam Agent computer to the object storage. Veeam Agent access to object storage is managed by Application Programming Interface (API) provided by an external cloud service provider. To learn more, see Access Permissions for Direct Connection to Object Storage.

If you plan to back up to the repository in the object storage in the direct connection mode and a backup job managed by Veeam Agent, keep in mind that Veeam Agents will still connect to Veeam Backup & Replication periodically. Using these connections, Veeam Agent will update license and backup job settings. These connections are not necessary for backup job sessions.

Getting Started

To back up Veeam Agent computer data to an object storage, you must complete the following steps:

1. Add repository in the Veeam backup console. To learn more, see the Adding Object Storage Repositories section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

You can use an object storage in Veeam Backup & Replication as one of the following repositories:

• Backup repository. To learn more, see the Backup Repositories section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.
• Scale-out backup repository added as a Veeam backup repository. To learn more, see the Scale-Out Backup Repositories section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.
• Cloud repository. To learn more, see the Backup to Object Storage section in the Veeam Cloud Connect Guide.

2. [For S3 compatible object storage] Set access to the added S3 compatible object storage. To learn more see the Managing Permissions for S3 Compatible Object Storage section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.
3. Create a Veeam Agent backup job or policy and specify the following repository as a target location for backup files:

• If the object storage is configured as a backup repository or a scale-out backup repository in your infrastructure, specify a Veeam backup repository as a target location for backup files, then select the repository from the list of available repositories.
• If the object storage is provided to you by Service Provider, specify a Veeam Cloud Connect repository as a target location for backup files, then select the repository from the list of available repositories.

To learn more, see Working with Veeam Agent Backup Jobs and Policies.

Limitations

Before you configure your backup infrastructure to back up to the object storage, consider the following limitations:

• You cannot back up data using Veeam Agent backup job or policy to the following storage devices:

• AWS SnowBall
• Azure Databox

• Data in object storage repositories must be managed solely by Veeam Backup & Replication, including retention and data management. Lifecycle rules are not supported, and their enabling may result in backup and restore failures.
• For backups located in object storage repositories, synthetic full backup method is not supported.
• For backups located in object storage repositories, compact full backup file option is not supported.
• For backups located in object storage repositories, data recovery options are not available if you access the object storage repository using credentials with the read-only access permissions.
• If you plan to add more than one repository in the object storage as a performance tier of a scale-out backup repository and you plan to back up to these repositories using a direct connection, you can use only managed by backup server backup jobs. If you want to back up data to a scale-out backup repository with backup jobs managed by Veeam Agent, you can use only scale-out backup repositories that have only one repository in the object storage in the direct connection mode as a performance tier.

• [For backup jobs managed by Veeam Agent] If you have a backup job targeted at an object storage added as an extent of a scale-out backup repository in the direct connection mode and you put this extent to the Maintenance or Seal mode during the backup job session while there is no connection between Veeam Backup & Replication and the object storage, the current and subsequent backup job sessions will end successfully.

To learn about modes you can put extents of scale-out backup repositories to, see the Service Actions with Scale-Out Backup Repositories section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

• [For backup jobs managed by Veeam Agent] You cannot back up data to the Veeam Data Cloud Vault storage added in the direct connection mode.
• [For backup jobs managed by Veeam Agent] If you back up data to the S3 compatible object storage with multiple buckets, Veeam Agent will ignore the number of workloads set for one bucket and will store all backups in a single child bucket. To learn more about multiple buckets, see the Multiple Buckets for S3 Compatible Object Storage Repositories section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.
• [For backup jobs managed by Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows or Veeam Agent for Linux] If you back up data to an object storage added as a Veeam backup repository in the direct connection mode and you apply backup policy settings after you completed restore to another database from an unencrypted configuration backup, the application of the settings will fail because in this case temporary credentials to access the object storage are not stored in the database.

To learn about the configuration backup, see the Veeam Backup & Replication Configuration Database section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

• [For backup jobs managed by backup server] If you back up data to the S3 compatible object storage added as a Veeam Cloud Connect repository in the direct connection mode, Veeam Agent first transfers data to Veeam Backup & Replication, and then from Veeam Backup & Replication to the object storage.

• For Microsoft Azure Blob storage, Veeam Agents do not support soft delete for blobs.
• If you plan to back up data to the Microsoft Azure Blob storage using a direct connection, the following limitations apply:

• Cool tier is not supported for the following configurations:

• Backup policies targeted at the object storage added as the Veeam backup repository.
• Backup jobs and policies targeted at the object storage added as cloud repository.

To learn more about access tiers for blob data, see Microsoft documentation.

• Immutability is not supported for the following configurations:

• Backup policies targeted at the object storage added as the Veeam backup repository.
• Backup jobs and policies targeted at the object storage added as cloud repository.

To learn more about immutability, see the Immutability for Object Storage Repositories section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

• Veeam Agents do not support direct backup under the general-purpose V1 storage account type.