Before You Begin

Before you create a backup job, check the following prerequisites and limitations.

Prerequisites

• Nutanix AHV cluster whose VMs you want to backup must be added to the infrastructure of Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV.
• The backup repository where you want to store the backup files must be added to the Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure.
• The backup repository must have enough space to store created backup files.

Nutanix AHV Cluster Limitations

• Some Nutanix API calls may fail during backup due to AHV 5.5.x API bug. This typically can occur if many parallel backup jobs are running at the same time.

Nutanix is aware of the issue and is working on a patch.

• Nutanix CVM limitations:
• Nutanix’s CVM cannot be backed up by Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV. It is controlled by Nutanix as cluster nodes are added to the cluster.
• If you raise the number of concurrent backup tasks, backup jobs may fail due to CVM resource limitations. The CVM on each node of the cluster may need additional resources.

Backup Job Functionality Limitations

• Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV creates application-consistent backups when the source VM meets Nutanix requirements described in: https://portal.nutanix.com/#/page/docs/details?targetId=Web-Console-Guide-Prism-v55:wc-dr-application-consistent-snapshots-wc-r.html. If a VM does not meet these requirements, the proxy appliance will create a crash-consistent backup.

Note that Veeam proxy appliance does not take part in guest processing of VMs. The creation of application-consistent snapshots is performed on the Nutanix AHV side. Also, keep in mind that Nutanix AHV does not perform data truncation. To perform data truncation, you can use customized pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts. Note that Veeam Software does not provide support for cases with customized scripts.

To create application-consistent backups, you can also use Veeam Agent for Linux or Veeam Agent for Windows. To activate Veeam agents, use the same license that you used for Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV.

• Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV cannot create snapshots of VMs where NearSync is enabled, due to Nutanix NearSync restrictions. For details, see: https://portal.nutanix.com/#/page/docs/details?targetId=Web-Console-Guide-Prism-v55:wc-dr-near-sync-requirements-limitations-r.html.
• Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV creates the forever forward incremental per-VM backup chains (one backup chain contains data for one VM). When you add several VMs to a backup job, Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV creates individual backup chains on the Veeam backup repository, one for each VM processed by the job.

• You cannot back up a VM if the restore process is running for this VM. Wait for the restore process to finish, and then you can start the backup job.

• Backup job compression, deduplication and block size settings cannot be changed. Built-in settings:
• 1 MB block size;
• LZ4 compression;
• deduplication is enabled.

• Fast cloning on ReFS repositories is not supported for backup jobs created by Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV.

Note that for backup copy jobs, cloning on ReFS repositories is supported.

• You can configure encryption settings in the repository settings via Veeam Backup & Replication console.
• GDPR locations cannot be set within Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV backup jobs.
• Health check of backup files is not supported for backups created by Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV.
• Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV does not support backing up Volume Groups.

Linked Protection Domains Limitations

• Only one protection domain can be added in backup job settings. If you need to protect multiple protection domains, create multiple backup jobs.
• Inactive protection domains are not visible in backup job settings.
• If a protection domain was linked as a backup job source, only VMs from that protection domain will be protected by the backup job. Individual volume groups added to the protection domain will not be protected by the backup job.

Backup Chain Limitations

• Veeam Backup & Replication creates per-VM backup chains: one backup chain contains data for one VM only. Even if you add several VMs to a backup job, Veeam Backup & Replication will create several backup chains on the Veeam backup repository, one per every VM processed by the job.
• You cannot disable deduplication and compression of backups.
• Backup chain is forever forward incremental, but you can create active full backups manually. For details on the backup method, see Forever Forward Incremental Backup.

Backup Jobs in Veeam Backup & Replication Console

Backup jobs and backups created by Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV are viewable in Veeam Backup & Replication console. However, some of the Veeam Backup & Replication functionality is not available for these backups. Mind the following limitations.

Backups Policies

• In Veeam Backup & Replication console, you cannot create or edit backup jobs of Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV.
• In Veeam Backup & Replication console, you can:

• Disable backup jobs of Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV. If you disable the policy, the proxy appliance will not be able to send backups to the backup repository.
• Use policies as a source for backup copy or backup to tape jobs.
• Delete unused backup jobs of Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV.
• View statistics of backup jobs.

• Email and SNMP notifications are not supported for the backup jobs of Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV.
• If you rename a job in Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV, it will not be updated in Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure. However, Veeam Backup & Replication will perform the job successfully and keep the correct backup chain.