Architecture Overview
The Veeam Backup for AWS infrastructure includes the following components:
The backup appliance is a Linux-based EC2 instance where Veeam Backup for AWS is installed. The backup appliance performs the following administrative activities:
- Manages infrastructure components.
- Coordinates snapshot creation, backup and recovery tasks.
- Controls backup policy scheduling.
- Generates daily reports and email notifications.
Backup Appliance Components
The backup appliance uses the following components:
- Backup service — coordinates data protection and disaster recovery operations.
- Configuration database — stores data collected for the Veeam Backup for AWS infrastructure, backup policies, sessions and so on.
- Web UI — provides a web interface that allows user to access to the Veeam Backup for AWS functionality.
- Updater service — allows Veeam Backup for AWS to check, view and install product and package updates.
- Self Backup service — allows Veeam Backup for AWS to backup and restore the configuration database of the backup appliance.
- REST API service — allows users to perform operations with Veeam Backup for AWS entities using HTTP requests and standard HTTP methods. For details, see the Veeam Backup for AWS REST API Reference.
A backup repository is a folder in an Amazon S3 bucket where Veeam Backup for AWS stores image-level backups of EC2 instances and additional copies of Amazon VPC configurations.
To communicate with a backup repository, Veeam Backup for AWS uses Veeam Data Mover — the service that runs on a worker instance and that is responsible for data processing and transfer. When a backup policy addresses the backup repository, the Veeam Data Mover establishes a connection with the repository to enable data transfer. To learn how Veeam Backup for AWS communicates with backup repositories, see Managing Backup Repositories.
Important |
Backup files are stored in backup repositories in the native Veeam format and must be modified neither manually nor by 3rd party tools. Otherwise, Veeam Backup for AWS may fail to restore the backed-up data. |
Encryption on Backup Repositories
For enhanced data security, Veeam Backup for AWS allows you to enable encryption at the repository level. Veeam Backup for AWS encrypts backup files stored in backup repositories the same way as Veeam Backup & Replication encrypts backup files stored in backup repositories. To learn what algorithms Veeam Backup & Replication uses to encrypt backup files, see the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide, section Encryption Standards. To learn how to enable encryption at the repository level, see Adding Backup Repositories.
Veeam Backup for AWS also supports scenarios where data is backed up to S3 buckets with enabled Amazon S3 default encryption. You can add the S3 bucket to the backup infrastructure as a backup repository and use it as a target for image-level backups. For information on Amazon S3 default encryption, see AWS Documentation.
A worker instance is a Linux-based EC2 instance that is responsible for the interaction between the backup appliance and other components of the Veeam Backup for AWS infrastructure. Worker instances process backup workload and distribute backup traffic when transferring data to backup repositories.
Veeam Backup for AWS automatically launches a worker instance in Amazon EC2 for the duration of a backup, restore or retention process and removes it immediately after the process is complete. Veeam Backup for AWS launches one worker instance per each AWS resource specified in a backup policy, restore or retention task. To minimize cross-region traffic charges, depending on the data protection and disaster recovery operation, Veeam Backup for AWS launches the worker instance in the following location:
Operation | Worker Instance Location | Default Worker Profile |
---|---|---|
Creating EC2 image-level backups | AWS Region in which a processed EC2 instance resides |
|
EC2 instance restore | AWS Region to which an EC2 instance is restored | |
EC2 volume-level restore | AWS Region to which the volumes of a processed EC2 instance are restored | |
Performing health check for EC2 backups | AWS Region in which a backup repository with backed-up data resides | |
Creating EC2 archived backups | AWS Region in which a standard backup repository with backed-up data resides |
|
EC2 file-level restore from cloud-native snapshots or replicated snapshots | AWS Region in which a snapshot is located |
|
EC2 file-level restore from image-level backups | AWS Region in which a backup repository with backed-up data resides |
|
EFS indexing | Availability Zone in which a file system has a mount target created |
|
EC2 backup retention | AWS Region in which a backup repository with backed-up data resides |
|
Worker instances are deployed based on worker configurations and profiles that can be created either automatically by Veeam Backup for AWS, or manually by the user as described in section Managing Worker Instances.
Worker Instance Components
A worker instance uses the following components:
- Veeam Data Mover — the service that performs data processing tasks. During backup, the Veeam Data Mover retrieves EC2 instance data from snapshots and stores the retrieved data to backup repositories. During restore, the Veeam Data Mover transfers backed-up data from backup repositories to the target location.
- File-level recovery browser — the web service that allows you to find and save files and folders of a backed-up EC2 instance to the local machine. The file-level recovery browser is installed automatically on every worker instance that is launched for file-level recovery.
Security Certificates for Worker Instances
Veeam Backup for AWS uses self-signed TLS certificates to establish secure communication between the web browser on the local machine and the file-level recovery browser on the worker instance during file-level restore. A self-signed certificate is generated automatically on the worker instance when the restore session starts.