Step 7. Specify Discovery and Deployment Options

The Options step of the wizard is available if you have chosen to define a protection scope that includes individual computers, Microsoft Active Directory objects, computers specified in a CSV file, or cloud machines.

At this step of the wizard, specify settings for protected computers discovery and Veeam Agent deployment.

Veeam Backup & Replication regularly connects to protected computers according to the schedule defined in the protection group settings. At this step of the wizard, you can define the discovery schedule and specify operations that Veeam Backup & Replication must perform on discovered computers. You can also select which server in your backup infrastructure should act as a distribution server for Veeam Agents.

To specify discovery and deployment options:

  1. In the Discovery section, define schedule for automatic computer discovery within the scope of the protection group:
  • To run the rescan job at specific time daily, on defined week days or with specific periodicity, select Daily at this time. Use the fields on the right to configure the necessary schedule.
  • To run the rescan job repeatedly throughout a day with a specific time interval, select Periodically every. In the field on the right, select the necessary time unit: Hours or Minutes. Click Schedule and use the time table to define the permitted time window for the rescan job. In the Start time within an hour field, specify the exact time when the job must start.
  • To run the rescan job continuously, select the Periodically every option and choose Continuously from the list on the right. A new rescan job session will start as soon as the previous rescan job session finishes.

Step 7. Specify Discovery and Deployment Options NOTE

You cannot create a protection group without defining schedule for automatic discovery. However, you can disable automatic discovery for a specific protection group, if needed. To learn more, see Disabling Protection Group.

  1. In the Deployment section, select the object that will be responsible for the Veeam Agents distribution:
  • If you plan to create any protection group excluding protection group for cloud machines, from the Distribution server list, select a Microsoft Windows server that you plan to use as a distribution server. Veeam Backup & Replication will use the distribution server to upload Veeam Agent setup files to computers added to the protection group. By default, Veeam Backup & Replication assigns the distribution server role to the backup server. To learn more, see Distribution Server.
  • If you plan to create a protection group for cloud machines, from the Distribution repository list, select a Microsoft Azure blob storage or Amazon S3 storage repository that you plan to use as a distribution repository. Veeam Backup & Replication will use the distribution repository to upload Veeam Agent setup files to cloud machines added to the protection group.

If you have not added the necessary repository to your infrastructure before, click Add to add a new repository. To learn more, see Adding Azure Blob Storage or Adding Amazon S3 Storage in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

IMPORTANT

If you plan to use the Azure Blob Storage repository as a distribution repository, consider the following:

  • You must add a repository using a general-purpose v2 storage account. Other account types are not supported.
  • You cannot add a repository using the Microsoft Entra ID account.
  1. If you want to instruct Veeam Backup & Replication to automatically deploy Veeam Agents on all discovered computers in the protection group, in the Deployment section, make sure that the Install backup agent check box is selected.

You can also choose to disable automated Veeam Agent installation. In this case, you will need to install Veeam Agent on every computer included in the protection group and discovered by Veeam Backup & Replication. To learn more, see Installing Veeam Agent.

Keep in mind that Veeam Backup & Replication installs the Veeam Installer Service or Veeam Deployer Service on every computer added to the protection group even if the Install backup agent check box is not selected in the protection group settings.

Step 7. Specify Discovery and Deployment Options TIP

To learn how to use protection groups to automatically deploy Veeam plug-ins for enterprise applications, see Veeam Plug-ins for Enterprise Applications Guide.

  1. If you want to instruct Veeam Backup & Replication to automatically upgrade Veeam Agent on discovered computers when a new version of Veeam Agent appears on the distribution server, in the Deployment section, make sure that the Auto-update backup agents and plug-ins check box is selected.
  2. [For protection groups that include Microsoft Windows computers] Select the Install changed block tracking driver check box if you want to install the advanced changed block tracking (CBT) driver on computers protected with Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows.

Keep in mind that Veeam Backup & Replication will install the CBT driver only on those computers that run supported Microsoft Windows OS versions.

To learn more, see the Veeam Changed Block Tracking Driver section in the Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows User Guide.

Step 7. Specify Discovery and Deployment Options TIP

Veeam Backup & Replication 12 can install the CBT driver on a wider range of Microsoft Windows OS versions, but Veeam Backup & Replication will not install drivers automatically after upgrade. To install drivers in the existing protection group on the computers running OS versions that got support only in Veeam Backup & Replication 12, open the Edit Protection Group wizard, make sure that the Install changed block tracking driver check box is selected and re-save the protection group.

  1. Select the Perform reboot automatically if required check box to allow Veeam Backup & Replication to reboot a protected computer. In particular, the reboot operation is required as part of the Veeam CBT driver installation process.
  2. Click Advanced to specify advanced settings for the protection group. To learn more, see Specify Advanced Protection Group Settings.

Step 7. Specify Discovery and Deployment Options