System Requirements

Make sure that components in the Veeam Agent management infrastructure meet system requirements listed below.

Veeam Backup Server

To learn about system requirements for the Veeam backup server and other Veeam Backup & Replication components, see the System Requirements section in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide.

Veeam Agent Computer (Microsoft Windows)

A computer that you want to protect with Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows must meet the following requirements:

Specification

Requirement

Hardware

CPU: x86-64 processor.

Memory: 2 GB RAM or more. Memory consumption varies depending on number and size of processed disks.

Disk Space: 200–700 MB for product installation. Required disk space varies depending on the Veeam Agent usage scenario.

Network: 1 Mbps or faster. High latency and reasonably unstable WAN links are supported.

System firmware: BIOS or UEFI.

Drive encryption: Microsoft BitLocker (optional). BitLocker encrypted volumes must be unlocked at the moment when Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows starts the backup or restore operation. Only Microsoft BitLocker is supported for drive encryption. Other drive encryption products are not supported.

OS

Both 64-bit and 32-bit (where applicable) versions of the following operating systems are supported1:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2022
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016
  • Microsoft Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel (from version 1803 to version 20H2)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP12
  • Microsoft Windows 11 (version 22H2)
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (from version 1803 to version 22H2)3
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Long-Term Servicing Channel (versions 2015, 2016 and 2019)
  • Microsoft Windows 8.14
  • Microsoft Windows 7 SP14

Each Veeam Agent computer that consumes a license installed in Veeam Backup & Replication must have a unique BIOS UUID.

1 Consider the following:

  • Running Veeam Agent on Insider versions of Microsoft Windows Client and Server OSes is not supported. 
  • Server Core installations of Microsoft Windows Server OSes can be backed-up only by Veeam Agent backup jobs managed by the Veeam backup server.
  • Windows Embedded / Windows IoT OSes are supported (except for custom builds by certain vendors that do not have components required for Veeam Agent operation).

2 Veeam CBT driver is supported only if Microsoft Windows update KB3033929 is installed on the Veeam Agent computer.

3 Microsoft Windows 10 Education is supported starting from build 10586 and later.

4 OS is not supported for cloud machines.

File System

Microsoft Windows FAT, NTFS, ReFS file systems are supported.

The supported file system must reside on a volume that is 64 TB or smaller, because Veeam Agent uses the Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider to create a volume shadow copy during the backup. To learn more, see this Microsoft article.

Database

SQLite database engine (installed with the product).

Software

The following required 3rd party software is included in the Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Redistributable. During the Veeam Agent deployment process, Veeam Backup & Replication checks whether all prerequisite software is available on the target computer. If some of the required software components are missing, Veeam Backup & Replication will install missing software automatically.

  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2
  • Windows Universal C Runtime Library

Consider the following:

 

Veeam Agent Computer (Linux)

A computer that you want to protect with Veeam Agent for Linux must meet the following requirements:

 

Specification

Requirement

Hardware

CPU: x64 or x86 (i386 and later).

Memory: 1 GB RAM or more. Memory consumption varies depending on the backup type and the total amount of backed-up data.

Disk Space: 100–500 MB for product installation. Required disk space varies depending on the Veeam Agent usage scenario.

Network: 10 Mbps or faster network connection to a backup target.

System firmware: BIOS or UEFI.

Disk layout: MBR or GPT.

For virtual machines: Only full virtualization type is supported. Oracle VM virtual machines are supported with limitations. Virtual I/O (VirtIO) devices have experimental support status. Other containers and paravirtualized instances are not supported.

OS

IMPORTANT! Check considerations and limitations that apply to the list of supported OSes.

Linux kernel version 2.6.32 to version 6.3 is supported.

Veeam Agent supports 64-bit versions of the following distributions1:

  • Debian 10.13 – 12.0
  • Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04, 22.10 and 23.04
  • RHEL 6.4 – 9.2
  • CentOS 7
  • Oracle Linux 6 – 9.2 (RHCK)
  • Oracle Linux 6 (starting from UEK R2) – Oracle Linux 8 (up to UEK R6)
  • Oracle Linux 8 (UEK R7) — for information on installation, see this Veeam KB article.
  • Oracle Linux 9 (up to 5.15.0-103.114.4.el9uek)
  • SLES 12 SP4, 12 SP5, 15 SP1 – 15 SP5
  • SLES for SAP 12 SP4, 12 SP5, 15 SP1 – 15 SP5
  • Fedora 36, 37 and 38
  • openSUSE Leap 15.3 – 15.5
  • openSUSE Tumbleweed has an experimental support status. To learn more about experimental support, see this Veeam KB article.
  • Amazon Linux 2 (kernel 5.10 or later) — this distribution is supported for cloud machines only.

Veeam Agent supports 32-bit versions of RHEL 6 and Oracle Linux 6 distributions only.

1 Starting from Veeam Backup & Replication 12 (build 12.0.0.1420 with Cumulative Patch P20230718 installed), support of the following OS versions is added: Debian 12.0, Ubuntu 23.04, RHEL 9.2, Oracle Linux 9.2, SLES 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, openSUSE 15.5 and Fedora 38.

 

File System

IMPORTANT! Check considerations and limitations that apply to the list of supported file systems.

Veeam Agent for Linux supports consistent snapshot-based data backup for the following file systems1:

  • Btrfs (for OSes that run Linux kernel 3.16 or later)
  • Ext 2/3/4
  • F2FS
  • FAT16
  • FAT32
  • HFS
  • HFS+
  • JFS
  • NILFS2
  • NTFS
  • ReiserFS
  • XFS

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.

Data that resides on other file systems and volumes (including NFS and SMB shares) can be backed up using the snapshot-less mode. To learn more, see the Snapshot-Less File-Level Backup section in the Veeam Agent for Linux User Guide.

Software

IMPORTANT! Check considerations and limitations that apply to the list of supported components.

Protected computer must have the following components installed:

  • dkms
  • gcc
  • make
  • perl
  • linux-headers (for Debian-based systems)
  • kernel-headers (for RedHat-based systems)
  • kernel-devel (for RedHat-based systems)
  • libudev
  • libacl
  • libattr
  • lvm2
  • libfuse2 (FUSE libraries for Debian-based and SLES-based systems)
  • fuse-libs (FUSE libraries for RedHat-based and Fedora systems)
  • libncurses5
  • dmidecode
  • libmysqlclient
  • libpq5
  • python3
  • efibootmgr (for UEFI-based systems)
  • isolinux (for Debian-based systems)
  • syslinux (for RedHat-based systems)
  • btrfs-progs (for backup of Btrfs file system)
  • mksquashfs (for custom Veeam Recovery Media)
  • unsquashfs (for custom Veeam Recovery Media)
  • wget (for custom Veeam Recovery Media)
  • xorriso (for custom Veeam Recovery Media with EFI support)

For file system indexing, the following utilities are required: tar and gzip.

Considerations and Limitations (Linux)

OS

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. To learn more about Veeam Agent compatibility with Linux OS versions, see this Veeam KB article. 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.

  • To ensure proper functioning of the Veeam kernel module, verify that your system does not have any of the following modules installed: hcdriver, snapapi26, snapapi, snapper, dattobd, dattobd-dkms, dkms-dattobd, cdr or cxbf.
  • The Linux OS must be set up to receive software updates from the default repositories enabled in the OS after installation.
  • For cloud-based installations that use customized kernels (such as Linux distributions deployed from AWS Marketplace or Azure Marketplace), the veeamsnap kernel module has experimental support status. To learn more about experimental support, see this Veeam KB article.
  • Automatic Veeam Agent deployment from the Veeam backup console is not supported for the following distributions:
  • Fedora
  • openSUSE Tumbleweed

You need to install Veeam Agent for Linux directly on a target computer. To learn more, see the Installing Veeam Agent for Linux section in the Veeam Agent for Linux User Guide.

  • RHEL, CentOS, and Oracle Linux (RHCK) are supported up to certain kernel versions. To learn more, see this Veeam KB article.

File System

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

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.

  • BFQ I/O scheduler is not supported.
  • Sparse files are not supported. Veeam Agent for Linux 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 Btrfs volumes and subvolumes with enabled file-system compression is not supported.

Software

System Requirements IMPORTANT

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

To learn more, see the Installing Veeam Agent for Linux section in the Veeam Agent for Linux User Guide.

  • Version of the following packages varies according to the Linux kernel version that you use:
  • linux-headers (for Debian-based systems)
  • kernel-headers (for RedHat-based systems)
  • kernel-devel (for RedHat-based systems)
  • For openSUSE and SLES distributions, either of the following packages is required: libncurses5 or libncurses6.
  • 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 will generate it automatically.
  • The libmysqlclient package is required to process MySQL database system located on the Veeam Agent server. Package version varies according to the MySQL database system version that you use.
  • The libpq5 package is required to process PostgreSQL database system located on the Veeam Agent server.
  • The python3 package or another RPM package providing a /usr/bin/python3 binary is required for CentOS, RHEL 7.0 and later distributions if a pre-built binary kmod-veeamsnap package is to be installed.
  • The btrfs-progs package version 3.16 or later is required.

Veeam Agent Computer (IBM AIX)

A computer that you want to protect with Veeam Agent for IBM AIX must meet the following requirements:

Specification

Requirement

Hardware

Memory: 1 GB RAM. For information about RAM requirements for backup of a great number of files, see the RAM Requirements for Large-Scale Environments section in the Veeam Agent for IBM AIX User Guide.

Disk space: 1.5 GB free disk space for product installation.

Network: 10 Mbps or faster network connection to a backup target.

OS

IBM AIX versions starting from version 7.1 up to the latest update of version 7.3 are supported.

Note:

  • IBM AIX 6.1 is supported starting from Technology Level 5 (TL 5).
  • Backup of a Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) is not supported.
  • Only GA versions of the IBM AIX operating system that have been released before the Veeam Agent for IBM AIX 4.0 are are supported.

File System

All file systems supported by the supported operating systems.

Note:

  • Total size of all file systems included in a file-level backup must not exceed 218 TB.
  • The maximum number of files in one backup job is 20,000,000. To back up a greater number of files, use multiple jobs.
  • Size of a file in a backup must not exceed 16 TB.
  • Name of a file in a backup 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.

  • Sparse files are not supported. Veeam Agent backs up and restores sparse files as regular files.
  • JFS external snapshots are not supported.

Software

The following utilities must be installed on the machine:

  • mlocate (version 0.26-1) — required for file system indexing. It is provided along with the product in the product installation media.
  • tar — required for file system indexing, exporting and rotating logs. It is installed with the product.
  • gzip — required for file system indexing, exporting and rotating logs. It must be installed separately.
  • mkisofs — required for creating Veeam recovery Media.

[For IBM AIX 7.3, 7.2 and 7.1 TL1 or higher] This utility is pre-installed in the OS and does not require separate installation.

[For IBM AIX 7.1 TL0 and 6.1] You must install version 1.13 of the mkisofs utility.

AIX Environment

The LIBPATH AIX environment variable on the Veeam Agent computer must be set to blank (default value). If a different value is specified for this variable, you must make adjustments to the AIX environment for proper operation of Veeam Agent. To learn more, see this Veeam KB article.

Veeam Agent Computer (Oracle Solaris)

A computer that you want to protect with Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris must meet the following requirements:

Specification

Requirement

Hardware

CPU: Oracle SPARC or Intel x86 processor.

Memory: 1 GB RAM. For information about RAM requirements for backup of a great number of files, see the RAM Requirements for Large-Scale Environments section in the Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris User Guide.

Disk space: 250 MB free disk space for product installation.

Network: 10 Mbps or faster network connection to a backup target.

OS

Oracle Solaris 10 – 11.4 operating systems on machines based on the SPARC and Intel x86 architecture are supported.

Note: Only GA versions of the Oracle Solaris OS that have been released before the Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris version 4.0 are supported.

File System

All file systems supported by the supported operating systems.

Note:

  • Total size of all file systems included in a file-level backup must not exceed 218 TB.
  • The maximum number of files in one backup job is 20,000,000. To back up a greater number of files, use multiple jobs.
  • Size of a file in a backup must not exceed 16 TB.
  • Name of a file in a backup 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.

  • Sparse files are not supported. Veeam Agent backs up and restores sparse files as regular files.

Software

For file system indexing, the following utilities are required: tar, mlocate and gzip.

  • mlocate (version 0.26-1 or later) – required for file system indexing. If your system does not have the mlocate utility, you can install it from the product installation media.
  • tar - required for file system indexing, exporting and rotating logs. It is installed with the product.
  • gzip – required for file system indexing, exporting and rotating logs. It must be installed separately.
  • xorriso – required for creating Veeam Recovery Media.

Oracle Solaris minimal install (Core System Support Software Group) requires adding the following packages: SUMWtoo, SUNWzoneu and SUNWzoner.

Veeam Agent Computer (macOS)

A computer that you want to protect with Veeam Agent for Mac must meet the following requirements:

Specification

Requirement

Hardware

The protected macOS computer must meet the following hardware requirements:

  • CPU: x64 or ARM Apple-branded hardware*
  • Disk Space: 450 MB free disk space for product installation
  • Network: 10 Mbps or faster network connection to a backup target

* On a macOS computer with the ARM Apple-branded hardware, the product is running using the Rosetta Translation Environment.

OS

Veeam Agent supports the following macOS versions:

  • 13 Ventura
  • 12 Monterey
  • 11 Big Sur
  • 10.15 Catalina
  • 10.14 Mojave
  • 10.13.6 High Sierra

File System

Veeam Agent supports consistent data backup with snapshot for the APFS file system.

The following file systems can be backed up in the snapshot-less mode:

  • HFS+
  • MS-DOS (FAT)
  • exFAT
  • NTFS
  • FAT32
  • SMB  

Consider the following:

  • Sortware RAID is not supported.
  • Total size of all file systems included in a backup must not exceed 218 TB.
  • Size of a file in a backup must not exceed 16 TB.
  • Name of a file in a backup 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.

Backup Target

Backup can be performed to the following types of storage:

For Veeam Agent backup jobs managed by the backup server

For Veeam Agent backup jobs managed by Veeam Agent

System Requirements IMPORTANT

[For Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows] Storage devices with the exFAT file system are not supported as a backup target.

 

Network

Consider the following:

Keep in mind that for Veeam Agent computers that are included in a protection group for pre-installed Veeam Agents, only Veeam Backup & Replication server must be resolvable into IPv4 or IPv6 address.

IMPORTANT

Veeam products support the Kerberos authentication protocol and IPv6 addresses starting from the following versions:

  • Veeam Backup & Replication 12
  • Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows 6.0
  • Veeam Agent for Linux 6.0
  • Veeam Agent for Mac 2.0
  • Veeam Agent for IBM AIX 4.0
  • Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris 4.0

Veeam Backup & Replication 12 will not be able to use the Kerberos autentication protocol and IPv6 addresses to communicate with earlier versions of Veeam Agents. To start using these features, upgrade Veeam Agents. To learn more, see Upgrading Veeam Agent.

To learn more about new features see the following sections of the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide: