Tag Archives: VEEAM

VeeeamOn 2023 – The Community Event for Data Recovery Experts

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Why attend VeeamOn?

VeeeamOn 2023 – The Community Event for Data Recovery Experts is in less than 50 days. During May 22nd -25th 2023, Veeam is organizing a hybrid event in Miami, Florida, USA. You can attend in person or online. This is “The Community Event for Data Recovery Experts” so if you fall into that target group, try to be there!

The high-level agenda is already available as well as the speakers list. A detailed agenda and schedule will be available any moment now. As you can see the content is real world actionable content. You will learn concepts, get tips, gain a deeper understanding of the challenges you face. Next to that you will learn how to address those challenges from industry experts and fellow professionals. Yes, it is not just vendor driven. The event speakers include partners, fellow IT professionals at customers sharing their knowledge and expertise with you!

This is truly a community event, and it will help you expand your on-prem, hybrid, cloud and security skills when it comes to data recovery. You will learn to build better solutions while growing your professional network in the global community.

VeeamOn is really special!

What sets Veeam apart is how accessible their top talent and leadership is. I have experienced it firsthand. That’s why I have found memories of the times I attend VeeamOn or other Veeam events. Parts of that is the conversations I had with Anton Gostev, Danny Allen, Rick Vanover and their team members. All solid technologists with a no nonsense, straight talk attitude when it comes to our business and technical challenges. This is pretty unique and shows how much they are involved in guiding Veeam on the best possible course to serve their customers as well as possible! I would say it is a privilege, but to Veeam each of their customers truly matters. How do I know? I am one and Veeam is a beacon of light and hope for other vendors to follow.

Call to action

Register now for VeeeamOn 2023 – The Community Event for Data Recovery Experts and do not miss out! Because I am a Veeam Vanguard and as gift to my readers and followers Veeam provided me with this discount code VOMIAMI1002. Using it will give you a 100$ discount when registering. I really hope you can make it, if not in person, then at least online. The good news is that Veeam got pretty good at organizing online events and makes those interactive as well. I wish you a great conference!

Create virtual machines for a Veeam hardened repository lab

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Introduction

In this blog post, I will give you a script to create virtual machines for a Veeam hardened repository lab.

Create virtual machines for a Veeam hardened repository lab
The script has just created two virtual machines for you

Some of you have asked me to do some knowledge transfer about configuring a Veeam hardened repository. For lab work virtualization is your friend. I hope to show you some of the Ubuntu Linux configurations I do. When time permits I will blog about this and you can follow along. I will share what I can on my blog.

Running the script

Now, if you have Hyper-V running on a lab node or on your desktop or laptop you can create virtual machines for a Veeam hardened repository lab with the PowerShell script below. Just adjust the parameters and make sure you have the Ubuntu 20.04 Server ISO in the right place. The script creates the virtual machine configuration files under a folder with the name of the virtual machine in the path you specify in the variables The VM it creates will boot into the Ubuntu setup and we can walk through it and configure it.

Pay attention to the -version of the virtual machine. I run Windows Server 2022 and Windows 11 on my PCs so you might need to adjust that to a version your Hyper-V installation supports.

Also, pay attention to the VLAN IDs used. That suits my lab network. It might not suit yours. Use VLAN ID 0 to disable the VLAN identifier on a NIC.

Clear-Host
$VMPrefix = 'AAAA-XFSREPO-0'
$Path = "D:\VirtualMachines\"
$ISOPath = 'D:\VirtualMachines\ISO\ubuntu-20.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso'
$NumberOfCPUs = 2
$Memory = 4GB
$vSwitch = 'DataWiseTech'
$NumberOfVMs = 2
$VlanIdTeam = 2
$VlanIDSMB1 = 40
$VlanIdSMB2 = 50
$VmVersion = '10.0'

ForEach ($Counter in 1..$NumberOfVMs) {
    $VMName = $VMPrefix + $Counter
    $DataDisk01Path = "$Path$VMName\Virtual Hard Disks\$VMName-DATA01.vhdx"
    $DataDisk02Path = "$Path$VMName\Virtual Hard Disks\$VMName-DATA02.vhdx"
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "Creating VM $VMName in $Path ..."
    New-VM -Name $VMName -path $Path -NewVHDPath "$Path$VMName\Virtual Hard Disks\$VMName-OS.vhdx" `
        -NewVHDSizeBytes 65GB -Version 10.0 -Generation 2 -MemoryStartupBytes $Memory -SwitchName $vSwitch| out-null

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "Setting VM $VMName its number of CPUs to $NumberOfCPUs ..."
    Set-VMProcessor –VMName $VMName –count 2

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Magenta "Adding NICs LAN-HOST01, LAN-HOST02, SMB1 and SMB2 to $VMName"
    #Remove-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -Name 'Network Adapter'

    Rename-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -Name 'Network Adapter' -NewName LAN-HOST-01
    #Connect-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -Name LAN -SwitchName $vSwitch
    Add-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -SwitchName DataWiseTech -Name LAN-HOST-02 -DeviceNaming On
    Add-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -SwitchName $vSwitch -Name SMB1 -DeviceNaming On
    Add-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -SwitchName $vSwitch -Name SMB2 -DeviceNaming On
    
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Magenta "Assigning VLANs to NICs LAN-HOST01, LAN-HOST02, SMB1 and SMB2 to $VMName"
    Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -VMName $VMName -VMNetworkAdapterName LAN-HOST-01 -Access -VLANId $VlanIdTeam
    Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -VMName $VMName -VMNetworkAdapterName LAN-HOST-02 -Access -VLANId $VlanIdTeam  
    Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -VMName $VMName -VMNetworkAdapterName SMB1 -Access -VLANId $VlanIdSMB1
    Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -VMName $VMName -VMNetworkAdapterName SMB2 -Access -VLANId $VlanIdSmb2

    Set-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -Name LAN-HOST-01 -DhcpGuard On -RouterGuard On -DeviceNaming On -MacAddressSpoofing On -AllowTeaming On
    Set-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -Name LAN-HOST-02 -DhcpGuard On -RouterGuard On -MacAddressSpoofing On -AllowTeaming On
    Set-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -Name SMB1 -DhcpGuard On -RouterGuard On -MacAddressSpoofing Off -AllowTeaming off
    Set-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName $VMName -Name SMB2 -DhcpGuard On -RouterGuard On -MacAddressSpoofing Off -AllowTeaming off

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor yellow "Adding DVD Drive to $VMName"
    Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName -ControllerNumber 0 -ControllerLocation 8 

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor yellow "Mounting $ISOPath to DVD Drive on $VMName"
    Set-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName -Path $ISOPath

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor White "Setting DVD with $ISOPath as first boot device on $VMName"
    $DVDWithOurISO = ((Get-VMFirmware -VMName $VMName).BootOrder | Where-Object Device -like *DVD*).Device
    
    Set-VMFirmware -VMName $VMName -FirstBootDevice $DVDWithOurISO `
    -EnableSecureBoot On -SecureBootTemplate MicrosoftUEFICertificateAuthority

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "Creating two data disks and adding them to $VMName"
    New-VHD -Path $DataDisk01Path -Dynamic -SizeBytes 150GB | out-null
    New-VHD -Path $DataDisk02Path -Dynamic -SizeBytes 150GB | out-null

    Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $VMName -ControllerNumber 0 `
    -ControllerLocation 1 -ControllerType SCSI  -Path $DataDisk01Path

    Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $VMName -ControllerNumber 0 `
    -ControllerLocation 2 -ControllerType SCSI  -Path $DataDisk02Path

    $VM = Get-VM $VMName 
    write-Host "VM $VM  has been created" -ForegroundColor green
    write-Host ""
}

Conclusion

In conclusion, that’s it for now. Play with the script and you will create virtual machines for a Veeam hardened repository lab in no time. That way you are ready to test and educate yourself. Don’t forget that you need to have sufficient resources on your host. Virtualization is cool but it is not magic.

Some of the settings won’t make sense to some of you, but during the future post, this will become clear. These are specific to Ubuntu networking on Hyper-V.

I hope to publish the steps I take in the coming months. As with many, time is my limiting factor so have patience. In the meanwhile, you read up about the Veeam hardened repository.

I made Veeam Vanguard 2022!

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This morning I got an e-mail informing me that my 2022 Veeam Vanguard Renewal Nomination has been approved. Yes, I made Veeam Vanguard 2022! That’s is awesome news. While for the past two years, with Corona and Covid-19, community life has been different, it has most certainly not withered away. Quite the contrary, and the Veeam Vangaurd program has not been different. First, Veeam has made a great effort to support the community through all this. Secondly, the one in-person/hybrid event that was possible during all this (the Veeam Vanguard Summit 2021 in Prague) their care for us and our health was exemplary.

But that is not what being a Veeam Vanguard is all about, it does show that the community works to bring people together. Working, learing, sharing together builds community. And with the pandemic hopefully subsiding we will not have missed a single beat.

I am a Veeam Vanguard 2021
I am a Veeam Vanguard once more in 2022!

The Veeam Vanguard Program

I invite you to read all about the Veeam Vanguard Program here. If you are working with Veeam solution in any way, shape or form and like to share your knowledge it might be something for you! Veeam Vanguards come from all walks of life and backgrounds. What unites them in this community is their expertise in different verticals and in different disciplines. They all contribute to the community at large in different ways.

Honored, happy and humbled

As is often the case with awards and recognition it makes honored to be recognized, proud while also feeling humble. You must realize we all stand on the shoulders of giants. In the process of becoming an expert there is always the realization of how much we don’t know. Add in some “imposter syndrome” and there is no room for hubris. There is however joy of being part of the Veeam Vanguard programs. It means having the opportunity to spend my time learning along people that are the best in the business. Thank you Veeam and a big shout out the Rick, Nikola, Kseniya and the entire Product Strategy Team at Veeam for making this possible.

Response and feedback about the Veeam hardened repository presentation

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Veeam hardened repository presentation

It is great to get so much response and feedback about the Veeam hardened repository presentation. So, first of all, I thank all those reaching out to me in regards to the TechNine virtual user group session I gave on this subject.

Response and feedback about the Veeam hardened repository presentation
Immutability and backup chains – this was a well received presentation!

Most of you did so via the contact e-mail on my blog and not via a comment on the original blog post here. Many of you asked for a recording. Let’s address that first.

Where is the recording?

There is no recording. The TechNine user group tries to bring people together for the events and promote interactive discussions afterward. Hence, no recording is available. They do this to stimulate participation.

I did not make this presentation exclusively for TechNine, but they did get the world premiere. The good news is that I will be giving this session again and I will even be doing a webcast with my fellow Microsoft MVP and Veeam Vanguard Carsten Rachfahl about this. In the webcast, we will discuss the hardened repository at length and it will be published online.

So, nothing to worry about, you will get other opportunities to attend and you will have a recoding of the content reasonably soon.

Reaching out to me

Lately, I have noticed that my readers and social media followers seem to have gotten increasingly shy and do not ask their questions publicly via the blog comments section or social media.

That poses a challenge to me. While I would like to help you all individually, that approach just doesn’t scale. I have a job, family, life, and interest to pursue. I just cannot allocate the time to do so.

Veeam hardened repository presentation
I do explain this on my contact page!

Please ask you questions in the comments section of the relevant blog post and I will normally get to it. The benefit is that that public answer can help others as well with limited effort from myself. If the answer to a super interesting question is lengthy, I can decide to turn it into a blog post. That also helps all people out there. Thank you for being respectful of my time and sharing with the community yourself!