As a delegate for Tech Field Day Xtra at Cisco Live this year I was pleased to sit in on a presentation from Veeam about their new Cloud Connect product.

Previously only available to large enterprise, rapid DR response times, DR data centre space and IP mobility were things that smaller organizations could only dream of doing.   Veeam is responding to that need.

First, let’s remember the rule as a reminder

3 – Copies

2 – Different Media

1 –  Off Site

 

We have a few challenges to getting this data “Off-Site”.  Many are still using tape,  but more and more people want to get this data off-site automatically, and more often.

Many organizations are trying to reduce RTO – Recovery Time Objective.     How fast can we get back online after a serious problem?

Here is a quick intro into Veeam Cloud Connect by Clint Wyckoff @clintwyckoff –

 

The RTO Challenges

“15 Minutes” is a common theme these days.  With current technology this is pretty easy to do — On Site.     Once we decide that for whatever reason we want to recover off site we have a few challenges.

1.    Backup Copies – that data has to be off site, we have to get it there
2.    Data Availability – That data has to be AVAILABLE.   No tapes stored in a vault or a box, and nothing that we have to “restore” in order to bring it online
3.    Connectivity

I want to discuss a few options we have for #3….

Assuming you have data centre space, either yours, or rented.

1)   Over the WAN – Different IP – This has all sorts of challenges, application issues, hostname resolution, firewall considerations,  NAT if it is published.   There are some tools out there that help you with this, but it always has been a bit of a dogs breakfast.

2)  Over the WAN – Same IP – This gets complicated fast,  your choices are move the entire subnet,  use a protocol like OTV (expensive on the hardware side) or some other method.

Option 1 is what we have been doing for years,  various tools have tried to make it easier (Think DoubleTake) but it was very hard to get working, and you need infrastructure – real infrastructure on the far end.

Options 2 is expensive, and complex, not something many customers want to invest both time, money and resources in.

 

 

Veeam NEA

Without any “geekery”, without OTV, or VPN links,  Cloud Connect with NEA – Network Extension Appliance allows your virtual machines to power back up at the DR data centre with zero effort by the customer.   The IP does not change – the application comes up, and the Network Extension Appliance simply transports the traffic destined to and from that VM back to the customer site.   They operate as a proxy-arp on site for the IP and MAC of the server.

The reverse replication can happen, and then when ready you can fail back.

This is bringing the benefits of very large scale enterprise level availability – to the SMB sized customers.      With a personal level of control.

You don’t need any special network gear, storage or servers.   You don’t even need to own data centre space.    You purchase resources from a Veeam Cloud Connect provider, and your service is up and running in shared infrastructure.

Reduced Operating Costs

This means reduced operating costs, you are not paying for dedicated DR infrastructure at your provider,  your machines are not running consuming resources, and the product is designed for “Pay as you grow” so you can start small and grow without significnat capital outlay

Wrap

This is a great idea – the complexities of the network connectivity alone associated with the traditional method make many shy away, and when you add in the Veeam backup product which is already well respected in the industry and now provide off-site recovery with the click of a mouse, in my opinion, Veeam has a winner here.

DEMO

Watch below as Veeam provides a great demo of the product while the Tech Field Day team asks the hard questions