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Transport Modes

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    Job efficiency and time required for job completion greatly depends on the transport mode. The transport mode is a method that is used by the Veeam Data Mover to retrieve VM data from the source and write VM data to the target.

    For data retrieval, Veeam Backup & Replication offers the following modes (starting from the most efficient):

    The Veeam Data Mover responsible for data retrieval runs on a backup proxy. Correspondingly, the transport mode can be defined in the settings of the backup proxy that performs the job.

    When configuring backup proxy settings, you can manually select a transport mode, or let Veeam Backup & Replication select the most appropriate mode automatically. If you use automatic mode selection, Veeam Backup & Replication will scan backup proxy configuration and its connection to the VMware vSphere infrastructure to choose the optimal transport mode. If several transport modes are available for the same backup proxy, Veeam Backup & Replication will choose the mode in the following order: Direct storage access > Virtual appliance > Network.

    The selected transported mode is used for data retrieval. For writing data to the target, Veeam Backup & Replication picks the transport mode automatically, based on the configuration of the backup proxy and transport mode limitations.

    For all transport modes, Veeam Backup & Replication leverages VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP). VADP can be used for VMware vSphere starting from version 4.

    Applicability and efficiency of each transport mode primarily depends on the type of datastore used by the source host — local or shared, and on the backup proxy type — physical or virtual. The table below shows recommendations for installing the backup proxy, depending on the storage type and desired transport mode.

    Production Storage Type

    Direct Storage Access

    Virtual Appliance

    Network Mode

    Fiber Channel (FC) SAN

    Install a backup proxy on a physical server with a direct FC access to the SAN.

    Install a backup proxy on a VM running on an ESX(i) host connected to the storage device.

    This mode is not recommended on 1 Gb Ethernet but works well with 10 Gb Ethernet.

    Install a backup proxy on any machine on the storage network.

    iSCSI SAN

    Install a backup proxy on a physical or virtual machine.

    NFS Storage

    Install a backup proxy on a physical or virtual machine.

    Local Storage

    Not supported

    Install a backup proxy on a VM on every ESX(i) host.

    Install a backup proxy on any machine in the storage network.