Backup specialist Veeam has launched the all-in-one Veeam Data Platform that comprises Veeam Backup & Replication, monitoring tool VeeamONE, Veeam Recovery Orchestrator automation functionality, and SaaS backup modules for Salesforce and Office365. In this, it replaces Veeam Availability Suite, which previously bundled all Veeam’s data protection products together.
Kubernetes container backup product Kasten can be sold with Veeam Data Platform but is not yet integrated into the VeeamOne console.
“We have put our solutions together in a new platform to respond to new data security challenges in ransomware, hybrid cloud and containerisation,” said Patrick Rohrbasser, regional vice-president for Veeam.
“Speaking of new challenges, the emphasis is more than ever on the ability to restore activity rapidly after an incident,” said Rohrbasser.
“Enterprises don’t just want a backup copy. They want to better orchestrate their ability to return to normality and that requires complex planning and sticking to regulatory requirements. Veeam Data Platform offers tools for automation and monitoring as well as proactive decision support to achieve these goals.”
Backup, maintenance and organisation
The Veeam Backup & Replication layer provides backup functionality in real time, asynchronous replication to a secondary disaster recovery (DR) site, and restore without delay – and that is in nearly all possible scenarios, such as in VMs or physical machines, on-site or in the cloud, on Windows, Linux or Mac, files or databases, etc.
Compared with version 11, Veeam Backup & Replication v12 claims 500 new functions. These include immutable copies, now extended to all hosted copies of backups, which means volumes in block, file and object mode as well as cloud-stored data in AWS and Azure. Another salient addition is the possibility to directly save backups to object storage without conversion.
The VeeamOne layer brings automated backup testing to ensure they are healthy and restorable. Besides write errors, notably those that might corrupt data during database saves, VeeamOne also detects ransomware hidden in backups. The software offers rapid resolution to these kinds of problems. Finally, VeeamOne brings analytics to backup. The customer can define conditions that must be fulfilled for backups to conform to its requirements and to audit them.
The final layer, Veeam Recovery Orchestrator, is software that allows for pre-defined restore scenarios that can be initiated with a click. The software doesn’t just restore to where the customer wants, it also tests the data, cleans it of any infection if necessary, then puts the servers needed to run the data back online. It is even possible to simulate scenarios before an incident arises.
“Simply put, Veeam Data Platform allows enterprises to gain time as they face new challenges and with a shortage of skills,” said Rohrbasser.
Three commercial versions
Veeam Data Platform is sold with three levels of functionality. The most costly version – Premium – comprises all functions, as well as being underwritten by the Veeam Ransomware Warranty, which compensates customers in case of a cyber attack that’s not resolved by Veeam Data Platform.
The Advance version lacks the Veeam Recovery Orchestrator layer, while Foundation is more or less a new offering in Veeam Backup & Replication. It should be noted that it’s no longer possible to buy VeeamOne separately.
The Office365 and Salesforce modules, as well as Kasten, can be bought separately or as part of Veeam Data Platform.
“We can sell these products as part of Veeam Data Platform,” said Rohrbasser. “But these are very desirable functions that we can aim at enterprises that are not yet our customers.
“Kasten, in particular, has seen a lot of success among our competitors’ customer base. One of the reasons is that, beyond backup, Kasten is a great tool to migrate containers between different Kubernetes clusters.”