Managing Veeam Backup Agents

As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), you can offer managed backup and recovery services to a client company with Veeam backup agents. Veeam Service Provider Console serves as a platform for centralized management of Veeam backup agents, allowing you to easily perform the following operations:

• Automating the deployment and configuration of Veeam backup agents on computers in local and remote networks
• Configuring and automating backup jobs, or starting them manually
• Configuring and applying backup policies to specify the parameters of Veeam backup agent jobs
• Monitoring and reporting on the status of data protection operations
• Generating and sharing invoices that provide a detailed description of the cost of services provided to a company

Deploying Veeam Backup Agents

You can deploy Veeam backup agents using Veeam Service Provider Console. Deployment requires an environment with two logical sites:

• The management site, where Veeam Service Provider Console is deployed.
• The client site, where client computers reside.

The management and client sites normally belong to different networks separated by WAN links. However, for trial purposes, these sites can be parts of the same network.

Veeam Service Provider Console supports the following methods for installing and configuring Veeam backup agents on computers in the client infrastructure:

• Configuring and running discovery rules in Veeam Service Provider Console

This method allows you to run discovery and initiate the installation procedure in Veeam Service Provider Console portal, minimizing manual operations with managed computers. For details, see Deploying Management Agents with Discovery Rules in the Guide for Service Providers.

• Installing the software manually and registering it with Veeam Service Provider Console

This method is beneficial for protecting laptops and roaming user profile data. For details, see section Deploying Management Agents Manually in the Guide for Service Providers.

• Using 3rd party automation tools, such as GPO

For details, see section How to Deploy Windows Management Agents with GPO in the Guide for Service Providers.

Veeam Service Provider Console provides you with the option to send a welcome email to client companies when you register them. The welcome email includes a link to the relevant installation instructions, which enables the client company to install Veeam Service Provider Console management agents and Veeam backup agents.

If you install Veeam Service Provider Console management agents manually or using 3rd party automation tools, you can configure auto deployment settings to specify whether Veeam Service Provider Console registers new management agents automatically. You can also specify whether registered management agents automatically install Veeam backup agent on hosting computers and assign a backup policy. For details, see section Installing Veeam Backup Agents Automatically in the Guide for Service Providers.

Configuring Backup Policies

After installing the Veeam backup agents on client computers, you can configure and apply a backup policy in Veeam Service Provider Console. A backup policy includes the parameters of a Veeam backup agent job, allowing you to specify the source and destination of protected files, and schedule the backup job to run automatically.

Veeam Service Provider Console provides default policies for Windows, Linux and Mac computers. You can modify a default backup policy, create custom backup policies with different configuration settings, or create backup policies based on Veeam backup agent jobs. Backup policies can be assigned to computer groups, client companies, or applications. For details, see section Configuring Backup Policies in the Guide for Service Providers.

You can configure backup policies to use object storage repositories as cloud repositories, and allocate them to client companies. The client company can then set the cloud repository as a target for Veeam backup agent jobs. For details, see section Integration with Object Storage Repositories in the Guide for Service Providers.

You can also configure Veeam backup agent job settings for individual managed computers instead of assigning backup policies. For details, see section Configuring Backup Job Settings for Individual Computers in the Guide for Service Providers.

Managing Veeam Backup Agent Jobs

After installing the Veeam backup agents, you can configure backup job settings or a backup policy to ensure that the backup of client data is performed automatically in accordance with the schedule you specified. Alternatively, you can start backup jobs manually anytime in Veeam Service Provider Console.

You can perform the following operations without accessing Veeam backup agents on managed computers:

• Starting and stopping Veeam backup agent jobs: for example, you can restart failed backup jobs to avoid company data loss.
• Enabling and disabling scheduled Veeam backup agent jobs: for example, you can temporarily disable a job to prevent a it from writing data to a cloud repository by a configured schedule.
• Modifying Veeam backup agent job settings on a single computer without affecting the job configuration applied to other Veeam backup agent.
• Removing unnecessary backup job configurations for protected data on managed computers.
• Viewing Veeam backup agent job details and exporting them to CSV or XML files.

For details on working with agent backup jobs, see section Managing Veeam Backup Agent Jobs in the Guide for Service Providers.

Data Recovery

Veeam Service Provider Console provides you with the option to restore individual files and folders from backups created by Veeam backup agent jobs. You can restore backed up files and folders to their initial location, or download restored data to your computer using the file-level restore portal. The portal displays the backup content and enables recovery from backups created by Veeam backup agent jobs on Windows, Linux and Mac computers. When you restore guest OS files and folders, Veeam Service Provider Console connects to the Veeam backup agent installed on the remote computer, which performs the restore process.

The portal enables you to browse the guest OS files and folders, restore them to their original location, and overwrite or keep the original objects. You can also download a ZIP archive with restored objects to your computer.

For recovery, you can use Veeam backup agent backups stored in the following locations:

• Veeam Backup & Replication repository
• Veeam Cloud Connect repository
• Local drive
• Network-shared folder

The option to perform file-level restore is also available for client company users with the appropriate roles. For details, see section Company User Roles and Permissions in the Guide for Service Providers.

For details on file-level restore, see section Performing File-Level Restore in the Guide for Service Providers.

Creating Backup Reports

Veeam Service Provider Console enables you to monitor the resources used by Veeam backup agent jobs, as well as create and share reports and invoices with client companies. You can create the Protected Computers report in Veeam Service Provider Console to analyze the efficiency of data protection implemented with Veeam backup agents. The report examines whether managed computers have valid backup restore points created within the specified time range (RPO period), and provide information on the completion status of recent backup job sessions. For details, see section Protected Computers Backup Report in the Guide for Service Providers.

Veeam Service Provider Console allows you to send generated backup reports to client companies by email as PDF attachments to report notifications. You can send the reports manually, or automate reporting with a configured schedule. For details on how to configure backup reports, see section Configuring Backup Reports in the Guide for Service Providers.

Configuring Subscription Plans

You can calculate the cost of backup services provided to a company by creating a subscription plan in Veeam Service Provider Console. A subscription plan describes how much you as a service provider will charge for each service, and includes additional details, such as the payment currency, tax and discount amounts. You can assign a subscription plan to each managed company. Client details and information on any subscription plans assigned to the company are stored in the company account.

You can configure the monthly rate for storing agent backups in a cloud storage as part of the Subscription Plan. For details, see section Specify Rates for Cloud Connect Services in the Guide for Service Providers.

Veeam Service Provider Console provides a preconfigured default subscription plan with no charge rates. You can customize this subscription plan to suit your needs, or create new subscription plans as required.

You can create multiple subscription plans for different pricing tiers or provided service levels. For example, if you use the Service Level Agreement (SLA) model, you can create subscription plans for different service levels, then assign the subscription plans to companies based on their SLA. For details on subscription plans, see section Managing Subscription Plans in the Guide for Service Providers.

For details on the services for which you can charge client companies, see section Services in the Guide for Service Providers. For details on how the cost of provided services is calculated, see section How Cost of Services is Calculated in the Guide for Service Providers.

Creating Invoices

You can generate an invoice in Veeam Service Provider Console to calculate the cost of services provided to a company. The invoice provides information about the cost of consumed services in accordance with a subscription plan assigned to a company.

From Veeam Service Provider Console, you can send an invoice to a client company by email. Invoices are sent as PDF files attached to billing notifications. You can also configure a schedule according to which invoices will be generated to automate invoicing.

For more information about working with invoices, see section Managing Invoices in the Guide for Service Providers.

Managing Licenses

To facilitate license management, you can configure integration with VCSP Pulse. Integration allows you to create license keys for managed Veeam products and assign the keys internally or to client companies. For details, see section Integration with VCSP Pulse in the Guide for Service Providers.

If you use a Rental license for Veeam Service Provider Console, you must submit a license usage report to Veeam every month. Before you submit a license usage report, you can view it, and, if necessary, adjust the number of workloads for client companies. For details on how to submit a license usage report, see section Submitting License Usage Report in the Guide for Service Providers.