Small explanation on Veeam today, and specifically on the Scale-Out Backup repository feature, otherwise called SOBR.

What is Scale-Out Backup Repository?

This is a feature that will allow to add storage capacity within a pool, and this in a totally transparent way for the “repository” and for the existing jobs. Thus, you will be able to increase your destination target in an “infinite” way without interruption, without having to move your data to a larger “repository”, since it is Veeam who takes care of everything!

Source: helpcenter.veeam.com

You can mix “repository” of any type within the same Scale-Out:

• Microsoft Windows Backup repositories
• Linux Backup repositories
• Shared folders
• Deduplicating Storage Appliances

The types of jobs and tasks that are compatible are as follows:

• Backup Jobs
• Backup Copy Jobs
• VeeamZIP Tasks
• Backup jobs created by Veeam Agent for Linux 2.0 and higher
• Backup jobs created by Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows 2.0 and higher

The limitations of Scale-Out Backup Repository

• This feature is available only for enterprise and enterprise Plus versions
• Scale-Out Backup repository does not work for the following tasks:
  • Setup Backup Job
  • Replication jobs
  • VM Copy Jobs
  • Veeam Agent Backup jobs created by Veeam Endpoint backup 1.5 or earlier and Veeam agent for Linux 1.0 Update 1 or earlier
• You will not be able to add a member to your Scale-Out If an unsupported job is currently being run on that member.
• If a backup repository is a member of a SOBR, you will no longer be able to use it as a “simple repository”.
• Similarly you will not be able to add this member to another SOBR, if it is already part of a SOBR.

You can see the complete list of limitations of the feature here

How to deploy a Scale-Out Backup Repository?

In order to be able to deploy a new Scale-Out Backup repository It is necessary to have existing repository. In our context, we will consider that they already exist.

1. Go to the Backup infrastructure part and right click on scale-out Repositories then ADD scale-out repository

2. Choose name and Description then Next

3. Select Add then choose the two or + existing repository to integrate into the scale-out

4. Finally select advanced options and choose the options that suit you.

5. Select Yes if you want the Scale-Out to automatically be the new target for existing jobs

6. Select the desired policy type:

Data locality: Will place on the same member all the current backup string (. vbk +. Vib)

Performance: Will separate the incremental (. vib) files from the full files (. vbk) to distribute the I/O on the two extents

7. Final summary

8. Once your Scale-Out is created, you can see its total capacity in the associated menu.

Troubleshooting

When creating the Scale-Out I encountered a problem with a job of type “Windows Agent Backup Copy”.

Unable to add extent “Remote-repository backups VM” because it serves as the target for one or more job types which are not supported by a scale-out backup repository

This is a known bug at Veeam when you want to outsource backups from a physical machine to a Scale-Out repository. This bug will be fixed in update 4 which should come out very soon…

The solution to this problem is described here, in a post that I opened on the forum Veeam and that was solved by the technical support.

Maxime

Hi ! I’m Maxime. Founder and independant author of vDays.net. I have worked in service IT since 6 years ago, after a 5 years’ internship. Via this blog, I would like share and discuss with you on new technologies, especially on virtualization and VMware. If you want to know more about me, check out my “about me” page or follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn

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