Licensing Scenarios

A workload (Azure VM, SQL database and so on) is considered protected if it has a backup or snapshot created by a backup policy in the last 31 days. The number of license instances that a protected workload consumes depends on the workload type and product edition. For details, see Veeam Licensing Policy.

Note

Manual creation of snapshots and SQL backups does not require license instances. For more information on how to create snapshots and backups manually, see the Creating VM Snapshots Manually, Creating Azure SQL Backups Manually and Creating File Share Snapshots Manually sections in the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide.

When you add a Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance to the Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure, there are two possible license scenarios:

Connecting to an existing Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance

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 will start consuming license instances from the Veeam Backup & Replication license after the policies run on the connected appliance.

If you remove the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance from Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure, Veeam Backup & Replication will stop counting backed-up workloads. Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure continues using the license that was used before you added Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure to the Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure.

Deploying a new Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance

If you deploy a new Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance in the Veeam Backup & Replication console, protected workloads start consuming instances from the Veeam Backup & Replication license.

If you remove the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance from Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure, Veeam Backup & Replication stops counting backed-up workloads and Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure switches to the Free license with 10 available instances. To back up more than 10 instances, you must install a BYOL license on the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance. To see how to install a new BYOL license, see the Licensing section in the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide.

Licensing When Connection to Veeam Backup & Replication is Lost

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure stores information about 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 Veeam Backup & Replication server is lost. To back up a workload in case of the connection loss, make sure the following conditions are met:

The workload has already been licensed before the loss of the connection. Note that you are not able to back up new workloads until the connection with Veeam Backup & Replication is restored.
The workload is still listed as licensed on the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance side. For more information on how to open the list of licensed workloads, see the Revoking License Units section (steps 1–2) in the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide.
The connection was lost less than 31 days ago.

Note that the loss of connection with Veeam Backup & Replication does not affect restore processes and manual creation of snapshots and SQL backups.