Scenarios

A workload (Azure VM, SQL database, file share) is considered to be protected if it has a restore point (backup or snapshot) created by a backup policy during the past 31 days. The number of license units that a protected workload consumes depends on the workload type and product edition. For details, see Veeam Licensing Policy.

Note

If a workload has snapshots and backups created manually, it does not consume any license units. To learn how to create cloud-native snapshots of Azure VMs and file shares manually, see the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide, sections Creating VM Snapshots Manually and Creating File Share Snapshots Manually. To learn how to create image-level backups of SQL databases manually, see the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide, section Creating SQL Backups Manually.

When you add a Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance to the backup infrastructure, the following scenarios are applied:

If you connect to an existing Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance, the BYOL license installed on the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance becomes invalid. Protected workloads start consuming license units from the license installed on the backup server after the backup policy sessions run on the connected appliance.

When you remove the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance from the backup infrastructure, Veeam Backup & Replication stops counting backed-up workloads. Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure continues using the license that had been used before you added Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance to the backup infrastructure.

If you deploy a new Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance from the Veeam Backup & Replication console, workloads start consuming license units from the license installed on the backup server after you create and run backup policies.

When you remove the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance from the backup infrastructure, Veeam Backup & Replication stops counting backed-up workloads and Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure switches to the Free edition that allows you to protect up to 10 instances free of charge. To back up more than 10 instances, you must install a BYOL license on the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance. To learn how to install a new BYOL license, see the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide, section Licensing.

Licensing When Connection to Veeam Backup & Replication is Lost

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure stores information on protected workloads licensed by Veeam Backup & Replication. This information allows you to back up workloads even if the connection between the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance and backup server is lost. However, the following conditions must be met:

The workload must have already been licensed by the backup server.
The workload must be listed as licensed on the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance side. For more information, see the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide, section Revoking License Units.
The connection must be lost not more than 31 days ago.

Note that the loss of connection with Veeam Backup & Replication does not affect restore processes and creating of snapshots manually.