Veeam Backup & Replication 12
User Guide for VMware vSphere
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Upgrade Checklist

Use the following checklist to ensure your infrastructure is ready for the Veeam Backup & Replication upgrade. The built-in configuration check mechanism of the Veeam Backup & Replication Upgrade wizard performs some of the checks. Still, you can control them manually before starting the upgrade procedure.

Licensing

  1. Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 uses the same license file format introduced with version 10, so you can use your existing version 10 or 11 license file to install version 12.3. Your support contract must be active as of the date when the product version you are installing was built.
  2. Your support contract must be active as of the date when the product build you are installing was built. This is determined by the support expiration date in the installed license. If required, you can install a new license during the upgrade procedure.
  3. Are you using Veeam Backup Starter? This edition has been discontinued, so Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 will not accept such a license file. Download a replacement license file from the Customer Portal before upgrading.

System Requirements

  1. Check if the backup server to be upgraded is installed on the supported operating system version according to the System Requirements section. If it is not, create a configuration backup, install Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 on the supported OS first, then restore the configuration backup created earlier. For information on how to perform the migration, see the Migrating Veeam Backup & Replication to Another Backup Server section.
  2. Ensure that the backup server has sufficient disk space. The minimum disk space is calculated on-the-fly after the system configuration check during the upgrade procedure. It is based on the list of required packages to be installed on the machine and usually is about 9 GB. We recommend providing the minimum disk space calculated during the system configuration check, but not less than 41.5 GB of disk space: 3 x ISO size (36.5 GB) in the selected installation path (for example, D:\VBR) plus 5 GB for the database operations on the system volume (for example, C:).
  3. Make sure that other servers that you plan to use as backup infrastructure components meet the system requirements listed in the System Requirements section of this document. In particular, ensure all backup infrastructure servers are based on 64-bit operating systems.

Note that starting from Veeam Backup & Replication 12 (build 12.0.0.1420), Microsoft Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel versions are not supported. If you are upgrading from earlier Veeam Backup & Replication versions, make sure you do not have such servers in your backup infrastructure.

  1. Make sure that the environment you are going to protect with Veeam Backup & Replication meets the requirements listed in the Supported Platforms and Applications section of this document. In particular:
  • Make sure that VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter server are upgraded to the minimum supported version 6.0 or remove these servers from the backup server configuration to continue.
  • Make sure that VMware Cloud Director is upgraded to the minimum supported version 10.1 or remove the hosts from the backup server configuration to continue.
  1. Backup infrastructure components communicate with each other over specific ports. These ports must be open. For more information, see the Ports section.
  2. Make sure that all necessary permissions are granted. For information on permissions, see the Permissions for VMware vSphere section.
  3. Are you using a hardened repository? Consider the following:
  • Make sure that any Linux server associated with the hardened repository is configured to use a non-root account. For more information, see this Veeam KB article.
  • Veeam Backup & Replication does not support symlinks in the path to the hardened repository. If necessary, you can re-map backups to the new paths by using the steps described in the Switching from Linux Repository to Hardened Repository sub-section. If you have any problems, contact Veeam Customer Support.
  • Make sure that the Linux server used as a hardened repository does not have Veeam Agent for Linux installed. Update of hardened repository components will fail if Veeam Backup & Replication detects Veeam Agent for Linux - managed or standalone - on the server. For more information on uninstalling Veeam Agent for Linux, see Uninstalling Veeam Agent and Other Veeam Components if Veeam Agent for Linux is managed by Veeam Backup & Replication or Uninstalling Veeam Agent for Linux if Veeam Agent is operating in the standalone mode.
  1. Do you have any jobs using the Transform previous backup chains into rollbacks option? This option has been removed from the product and such jobs are no longer supported. For more information, see this Veeam KB article.
  2. Are you using File to Tape jobs? Consider the following:
  • File to tape jobs have been re-engineered for scalability and are no longer free starting from Veeam Backup & Replication 12.0 (build 12.0.0.1402). You will have a grace period of 3 months following the upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 12 from earlier versions during which your existing jobs will not consume a license. For more information, see the Instance Consumption for Object Storage Backup, File Backup and File to Tape Jobs section. Note that backup to tape jobs do not consume licenses.
  • File to tape jobs can now process Distributed File Systems (DFS) data.
  1. Are you using installations of Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 on the same machine? First upgrade Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, second upgrade Veeam Backup & Replication.
  2. Azure compute accounts based on Azure AD user credentials (created with the Use the existing account option) are obsolete. You need to replace these accounts with new ones to restore workloads to Microsoft Azure, use the Microsoft Azure archive storage or Microsoft Azure Plug-in for Veeam Backup & Replication appliance.
  3. Are you using integration with Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure? If yes, after you upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 and replace the obsolete accounts from p.11, select the existing Microsoft Azure Compute account in the Manage Cloud Credentials, click Edit, and go through the Microsoft Azure Compute Account to update account permissions. Otherwise, you can face problems when adding an external repository with backups created by Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure 6.0.
  4. Are you using Server 2019 based ReFS backup repositories? If yes, avoid upgrading them to Server 2022 and mounting ReFS volumes from Server 2019 to new Server 2022 installations until you read this thread on Veeam R&D forums. Microsoft has addressed the known regression in the ReFS format upgrade code, and the fix is now publicly available.
  5. Are you using Scale-Out Backup Repositories with immutable performance tier extents? Make sure that all extents have the same immutability settings.
  6. Are you using a customized AntivirusInfos.xml file? During the upgrade, Veeam Backup & Replication will replace it with the default file. Make sure that you save your customized file at another path and after the upgrade make necessary changes to the default file.
  7. Are you using Azure Local (formerly known as Azure Stack HCI)? You may need to apply an updated WDAC policy before upgrading if you have WDAC enabled on your Azure Local nodes. For more information, see this Veeam KB article.

Integration with Veeam Management and Monitoring Products

  1. Are you using Veeam ONE to monitor your backup infrastructure? If yes, upgrade it first. Veeam ONE supports monitoring of backup servers version 11a or later.
  2. Are you using Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager? If yes, consider the following:
  • Important! Starting with Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager 12, a new port (port 9405) is used for certificate communication between Enterprise Manager and Veeam Backup & Replication. Ensure that your firewalls are configured to take into account this new port to avoid communication issues between Enterprise Manager and Veeam Backup & Replication.
  • Start the upgrade procedure with this component. Veeam Backup & Replication should be upgraded after that. If you have a backup server installed on the same machine, upgrade it immediately after completing upgrade of the Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager server. Otherwise, the Veeam Configuration Database Connection Utility (DBConfig) utility will not work properly for Veeam Backup & Replication.
  • From Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager, you cannot edit jobs that are managed by backup servers of earlier versions as well as Veeam Agent backup jobs, file share backup jobs, and backup copy jobs. To edit settings of such jobs, use the Veeam Backup & Replication console.
  1. Are you using Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager server added to Veeam ONE? If yes, first upgrade Veeam ONE, second upgrade Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager, and third upgrade Veeam Backup & Replication.
  2. Are you using Cloud Connect? If yes, consider the following:
  • Check with your Cloud Connect service provider if they have already upgraded their system to at least the version you are upgrading to.
  • Ensure your Cloud Connect tenants use the supported Veeam product versions. The minimal supported tenant versions are: Veeam Backup & Replication 12.0, Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows 6.0, Veeam Agent for Linux 6.0, Veeam Agent for Mac 2.0.
  1. Are you using Veeam Recovery Orchestrator? If yes, note that Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.0 is compatible with Veeam Backup & Replication 11a and 12, Veeam Recovery Orchestrator 7.0 — with Veeam Backup & Replication 12, 12.1 and 12.2, Veeam Recovery Orchestrator 7.1 — with Veeam Backup & Replication 12, 12.1, 12.2 and 12.3. If necessary, upgrade Veeam Recovery Orchestrator before upgrading to Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3.

Integration with Veeam Backup for Public Clouds

Are you using Veeam Backup & Replication integrated with Veeam Backup for Public Cloud solutions? If yes, first upgrade Veeam Backup & Replication to version 12.3. Second upgrade plug-ins for Veeam Backup for AWS, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure and Veeam Backup for Google Cloud. Third upgrade connected appliances to the most recent version.

Integration with Veeam Backup for Hypervisors

Are you using Veeam Backup & Replication integrated with Veeam Backup for Hypervisors?

Integration with Veeam Backup Agents and Enterprise Plug-Ins

  1. Are you using Veeam Agents managed through Veeam Backup & Replication?
  1. Are you using Veeam Plug-in for Oracle RMAN, Veeam Plug-in for SAP HANA, Veeam Plug-in for SAP on Oracle, Veeam Plug-in for IBM Db2 or Veeam Plug-in for Microsoft SQL Server? If yes, you upgrade Veeam Backup & Replication first, then you can upgrade Veeam Plug-ins.

Note that Veeam Backup & Replication supports only two latest minor updates of Veeam Plug-ins. For example, Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 supports Veeam Plug-ins of versions 12.3 and 12.2.

Storage System Snapshot Integration

  1. IBM FlashSystem: In Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3, the storage snapshot integration functionality was re-implemented as an independent plug-in. After the upgrade, download and install the IBM FlashSystem Plug-in for Veeam Backup & Replication from the Veeam Download page to continue using jobs utilizing storage snapshots on IBM FlashSystem arrays.
  2. Make sure your storage systems work on a supported operating system:
  • Huawei: Storage arrays of this vendor are not supported for Veeam storage snapshot integration. Remove the storage arrays from the backup server configuration and use other backup transport modes instead.
  • Cisco HyperFlex: The minimum supported operating system version is v4.0(2x). Upgrade to it or remove the storage arrays from the backup server configuration.
  • HPE 3PAR WSAPI: The minimum supported WSAPI version is 1.5. Upgrade to it or remove the storage arrays from the backup server configuration.
  • HPE Nimble: The minimum supported operating system version is 5.0. Upgrade to it or remove the storage arrays from the backup server configuration.
  • Dell Data Domain: The supported operating system version is 7.3 to 8.1. Upgrade to it or the backup jobs pointed to this repository will fail to start.
  • HPE StoreOnce: The minimum supported operating system version is 3.18.18 for Gen3 and 4.2.3 for Gen4. Upgrade to it or the backup jobs pointed to this repository will fail to start.
  1. IBM HyperSwap: If you upgrade Veeam Backup & Replication to version 12.3 from the previous versions, select the secondary destination for IBM HyperSwap configurations explicitly in the backup job.

Other Changes

  1. Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 supports protecting unstructured data backups with backup to tape jobs. If you have entire repositories added as sources for backup to tape jobs, make sure these repositories contain only backups that you want to protect with backup to tape jobs.
  2. If you use persistent agents for guest OS processing in a Kerberos-only environment, perform the steps listed in this Veeam KB article.
  3. If you use Kerberos authentication for Guest OS processing with persistent guest agent components, create several Service Principal Names in Active Directory before upgrading to Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3. For more information, see this Veeam KB article.
  4. If you have HPE StoreOnce backup copy jobs where the source backup repository has immutability enabled and the target backup repository has immutability disabled, backups copied by backup copy jobs will not be immutable. For immutability to work, make sure both HPE StoreOnce repositories have immutability enabled.
  5. Note that background retention is now applied to daily backups belonging to disabled backup jobs, as well as to orphaned backups. Background retention is still applied to GFS backups belonging to disabled backup jobs, as well as to orphaned backups.

Upgrade Process

  1. Make sure the latest run for all existing jobs has completed successfully. Rerun the failed jobs.
  2. Ensure there are no running jobs, restore sessions, Instant Recovery sessions, and SureBackup jobs. We recommend that you do not stop running jobs and let them complete successfully.
  3. Disable any periodic and backup copy jobs temporarily to prevent them from starting during the upgrade.
  4. Disable CDP policies. Otherwise the CDP filter will not be upgraded.
  5. Ensure there are no active tasks from standalone (unmounted) agents.
  6. Ensure there are no active Veeam Recovery Orchestrator tasks.
  7. Perform the configuration backup, as described in the Running Configuration Backups Manually section.

Ensure you have configuration backup encryption enabled, otherwise stored credentials will not be included in it. For more information, see the Creating Encrypted Configuration Backups section.

Page updated 4/30/2025

Page content applies to build 12.3.1.1139

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