Item: Veeam Backup for Azure
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Veeam to automate snapshots of critical business resources and replicate to recovery hardware. This has contributed to decreased recovery time as well as decreased downtime. The set up and install has been straightforward, the costs have not been astronomical and we are able to backup/replicate to multiple storage arrays on-site as well as the less frequent off-site backups.

Pros and Cons

Adding more endpoints to manage is straightforward
Thin client works with Windows and Linux
On-site and remote backup locations are supported

Some settings require testing before it's clear what impact they have
Volume level backup sizes are questionable but seem to work as intended
Scheduled backups sometimes fail on the first try (possible user error, unclear)

Return on Investment

Cost varies based on type of backup, but is reasonable for small-medium businesses (per machine)
Appears to support multiple Veeam servers
Scheduled jobs can be handled by the installed client

Usability

Veeam server setup, client install and scheduled backups were working the same day we got a trial licence. We added more targeted PCs and VMs over the coming weeks as work permitted. The overall usability of Veeam is quite good and we have successfully cloned PCs to identical hardware. Backup and recovery times seems to be more constrained by disk I/O than Veeam.

Alternatives Considered

Veeam came recommended to over other options based on how our resources are set up and used by end-users. Some machines are bare-metal, virtual, and a few resources are mobile. Veeam also supports Windows, Mac OS and Linux. While we are trying to move to more easily supported tech, Veeam was seen to be flexible enough to be a catch-all solution for our current tech-stack. As a small-to-medium business, the per VM/workstation licencing is ideal.

Key Insights

Do you think Veeam Backup for Azure delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Veeam Backup for Azure's feature set?

Yes

Did Veeam Backup for Azure live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Veeam Backup for Azure go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Veeam Backup for Azure again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

Veeam Backup has allowed us to take incremental backups of VMs and PCs that require significant up time. These backups are a critical part of our disaster recovery plan and also allow us to replicate/spin up recent copies for testing purposes. They are also useful as an additional recovery option on staff machines where users may store data locally instead on networked storage or SharePoint. It is also useful for the migration of a user setup to newer hardware.

Veeam Backup - works with small IT departments and an array of setups

Overall Satisfaction with Veeam Backup for Azure