This is an archive version of the document. To get the most up-to-date information, see the current version.

Before You Begin

Before you install Veeam Backup & Replication, check the following prerequisites:

A machine on which you plan to install Veeam Backup & Replication must meet the system requirements. For more information, see System Requirements.
Veeam Backup & Replication must not be installed directly on a Hyper-V host. Such installation may lead to unpredictable system behavior. Instead, create a VM on the host and install Veeam Backup & Replication on the VM.

A user account that you plan to use for installation must have sufficient permissions. For more information, see Permissions.
Backup infrastructure components communicate with each other over specific ports. These ports must be open. For more information, see Ports.

You must remove Veeam Backup & Replication components of versions that are not supported by the upgrade procedure from the target machine. You may also need to remove earlier versions of other Veeam products and components.
Before deploying Veeam Backup & Replication, define where the Veeam Backup & Replication server will be located. Depending on what kind of protection are you planning to use, the Veeam Backup & Replication server should be located on the source site or the Disaster Recovery site.

When replication is used: If you plan to use replication , the Veeam Backup & Replication server should be deployed in the disaster recovery site. In this case, if the production host crashes, Veeam Backup & Replication will automatically fail over to the replica without any manual operations. The source backup infrastructure still can be managed with the same Veeam Backup & Replication server with the help of backup proxies deployed in the source site.
When only backup features are used: If you plan to use Veeam Backup & Replication for backup jobs only, the backup server should be placed in the production site.

Configuration Database

Before deploying Veeam Backup & Replication, decide which version of Microsoft SQL Server you need to use:

If you do not prepare a SQL Server in advance, Veeam Backup & Replication will install an Express Edition of SQL Server, which is limited to store 10 GB of configuration data. The Express Edition is enough for evaluation purposes and not very large environments (<500 VMs).
If your infrastructure is large (more than 500 VMs), you may consider to install a Microsoft SQL Server in advance.
Also, you must decide do you need the SQL Server installed on the same server as Veeam Backup & Replication or on a remote server.

Veeam Backup & Replication requires Microsoft SQL Server deployed either locally on the backup server or remotely. If Microsoft SQL Server is not installed, the Veeam Backup & Replication setup will install Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition locally on the backup server. For more information, see System Requirements.

If Microsoft SQL Server is installed by the previous product version, Veeam Backup & Replication will connect to the existing configuration database, upgrade it (if necessary) and use it for work.

It is recommended to run the Microsoft SQL Server instance locally to eliminate latency issues. However, in some scenarios a remote Microsoft SQL Server instance can be the better choice:

High Availability. SQL Clustering and AlwaysOn Availability Group on external SQL Servers can be used for high availability of the configuration database. To learn about the configuration details, see this Veeam KB article.
Licensing. Some enterprises have dedicated virtual clusters for SQL Servers due to licensing constraints. In such cases, you can place the Veeam configuration database on an existing instance to lower the total cost of ownership.

The usage of Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition is limited by the database size up to 10 GB. If you plan to have larger databases, use other editions of Microsoft SQL Server.