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Backup Server

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    The backup server is a Windows-based physical or virtual machine on which Veeam Backup & Replication is installed. It is the core component in the backup infrastructure that fills the role of the “configuration and control center”. The backup server performs all types of administrative activities:

    • Coordinates backup, replication, recovery verification and restore tasks
    • Controls job scheduling and resource allocation
    • Is used to set up and manage backup infrastructure components as well as specify global settings for the backup infrastructure

    In addition to its primary functions, a newly deployed backup server also performs the roles of the default backup proxy and the backup repository (it manages data handling and data storing tasks).

    Backup Server Services and Components

    The backup server uses the following services and components:

    • Veeam Backup Service is a Windows service that coordinates all operations performed by Veeam Backup & Replication such as backup, replication, recovery verification and restore tasks. The Veeam Backup Service runs under the Local System account or account that has the Local Administrator permissions on the backup server.
    • Veeam Broker Service interacts with the virtual infrastructure to collect and cache the virtual infrastructure topology. Jobs and tasks query information about the virtual infrastructure topology from the broker service, which accelerates job and task performance.
    • Veeam Guest Catalog Service manages guest OS file system indexing for VMs and replicates system index data files to enable search through guest OS files. Index data is stored in the Veeam Backup Catalog — a folder on the backup server. The Veeam Guest Catalog Service running on the backup server works in conjunction with search components installed on Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager and (optionally) a dedicated Microsoft Search Server.
    • Mount Service mounts backups and replicas for file-level access, browsing the VM guest file system and restoring VM guest OS files and application items to the original location.
    • Backup Proxy Services. In addition to dedicated services, the backup server runs a set of Data Mover Services. For details, see Backup Proxy.
    • Veeam Backup & Replication Configuration Database stores data about the backup infrastructure, jobs, sessions and so on. The database instance can be located on a SQL Server installed either locally (on the same machine where the backup server is running) or remotely.
    • Veeam Backup & Replication Console provides the application user interface and allows user access to the application's functionality.
    • Veeam Backup PowerShell Snap-In is an extension for Microsoft Windows PowerShell 2.0. Veeam Backup PowerShell adds a set of cmdlets to allow users to perform backup, replication and recovery tasks through the command-line interface of PowerShell or run custom scripts to fully automate operation of Veeam Backup & Replication.

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