Touching the physical world: Veeam Agents for Windows Linux
When searching for an efficient backup solution for the virtual world, you’ll sooner or later likely end up by Veeam’s flagship product „Backup Replication“.
In the Data Center Backup and Recovery Software market for the virtual world (whether VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V), Veeam is clearly a leading vendor.
But when it comes to the physical world (I am talking about servers) there is no solution available by Veeam.
But that’s changing now!
With the new Veeam Agents for Windows (currently in public Beta) and Linux (already available), Veeam is able to close this gap.
So let’s take a look at the Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows:
The well known free solution „Veeam Endpoint Backup“ will continue to exist in the free edition of Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows.
But it is being expanded to Windows Server 2016 support, source-side encryption and the possibility to recover a free agent backup directly to a MS Hyper-V VM or even to Microsoft Azure. Many features for a free edition, right?
In addition, there are now two paid versions available: Workstation and Server
As you can see in the table, all paid editions include an 24.7.365 support beside the technical features.
Workstation Edition
Choosing the workstation edition enables you to use the new Backup Cache, a nice functionality for mobile users. If the configured primary backup target is not available, the scheduled incremental backups will be stored to a local folder. As soon as the primary backup target is available again, the cached backups will be synced automatically.
Also possible for mobile users: backing up directly to Veeam Cloud connect (here you can find supported service providers).
Server Edition
With the server edition you get all the features you need, to perform backups of your physical servers in an enterprise environment. Needless to say, that the agents integrate themselves perfectly into your well-known Veeam Backup Replication Console/Infrastructure.
If you are already using Veeam Backup Replication, you may know these features:
- Application-aware processing engine (eg. for Oracle, SQL, Sharepoint)
- Transaction log backup for databases
- Guest file system indexing and search (inclusive the integration with Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager catalog search and 1-Click FLR)
- Server-focused job scheduler
Installation:
I will not provide a detailed step-by-step guide how to install the Veeam Windows Agent in this blog post. If you are looking for something like this, I recommend you this blog post: step-by-step-guide-veeam-agent-for-Windows
I installed and tested the Windows Agent in a lab, and I can assure you, that the installation works as easy as usual with products from Veeam.
You prefer to watch a video about this topic instead of reading?
I can recommend you this one, recorded as part of Tech Field Day 13:
Veeam Agent is a free Backup software for Windows computers
No matter how much effort you put in to ensure the proper functioning of your Windows computer, it is bound to behave erratically at some time or another. The reasons could be many, starting from a ransomware attack, an incompatible installation, software expiry, or even a hardware failure. Such times are definitely few and once in a while but still there is a need to ensure that your data is secure when such incidences happen.
To safeguard your PC data, you need to constantly backup them and have a plan for recovery in case a mishap occurs. This is when you may require a tool that can assist you in backing up your data and provide a recovery option too.
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows is a useful backup and recovery software for Windows-based desktops and laptops and is compatible with the latest Windows 11/10. This freeware can help in backing up your files, volumes, or the entire PC.
Please note that Veeam Agent was earlier called Veeam Endpoint Backup Free. Here is a look at the features and how to use them.
Veeam Agent Free Backup software for Windows
Backing up your data
Veeam Agent Free Backup software provides Image-based backups of your files, drives or even the whole PC. The tool saves only the blocks of data changed since the last backup. Talking about where to backup, Veeam allows you a variety of options to choose from.
Backups can be done on the USB drive, External hard disks or a network location. The recent update to Veeam has now added a possibility to actually eject the USB drive after the backup is completed. Hence, although the drive is physically connected, there are no chances of malware or virus leaking into the backed-up files.
Recovery of the data
- Removable storage devices: Using a USB storage device which is the best option if PC is infected with a virus, malware or cryptolocker.
- Taskbar: Using the taskbar icon you can also restore full volumes. This option can be used if your PC can be booted.
- Start Menu: The third option is through the Windows start menu.
- Bare-metal Restore: Restore your entire system to the same or different hardware
- Volume-level restore: Restore a failed hard drive or corrupted partition
- File-level restore: Restore individual files from ANY backup type in minutes
Using Veeam Agent Free Backup software
The program requires you to create an account on the site before you are allowed to download the free backup tool. Those with corporate email addresses get full access. The installation file is a bit bulky, and if you have weak internet access, then it will take time to download 197 MB. However, these are the only two drawbacks.
Step 1: Choosing Backup Drive
During the installation, the program prompts you to insert a backup target. As shown in the below screenshot, you can configure backup later as well.
If you insert an external drive now, the tool automatically detects it and prompts you to choose it for backup.
In case the chosen storage device doesn’t have sufficient storage memory, the program automatically pop-up a message to attach another device or skip auto configuration.
Step 2: Create Recovery Media
As soon as the installation is completed, you are prompted to create recovery media which you can use if the Windows system fails to boot. You may create recovery media from within the program as well if you don’t create it during installation.
Veeam Endpoint Backup Free also includes device drivers and network settings into the backup image so as ensure a smooth recovery.
The recovery media is easy to configure, and the recovery image can be placed either on a removable storage device, a CD, a DVD or a BD media or within an ISO file and used as an alternative booting method, in case your computer fails to start. The program shows you the size of the recovery image as below.
Once you have selected the type of recovery media (I selected ISO as shown below) you can choose the location where you want to save the file. Veeam also lets you put a username and password to the recovery media so that it is not accessible to others.
While testing, it took around 2 minutes for the ISO file to be generated. Below screenshot shows the progress while recovery is completed.
Step 3: Choosing Backup Drive
Backing up any drive anytime is easy. You just have to click Configure Backup and select the drive you want to backup.
Once you have selected the drive, choose the destination where you want to save the backup.
Veeam Agent Free Backup software lets you save backups either on your local drive, shared folder or Veeam backup and replication repository.
How to schedule backup using Veeam Agent Free Backup software
While creating backups you can schedule the days of the week when you want the backup to run.
Select the drive you want to take backup select the destination and browse through Schedule. Under Schedule, click on “Days” tab and then select “On these days”. As shown below, you can easily select the days you want the backups to happen
Veeam Agent Free Backup software can protect from ransomware
Veeam Agent Free Backup software offers CryptoLocker ransomware protection for USB Storage. This feature allows backing up a system with a USB drive connected where at the end of the backup it gets disconnected but not unplugged. Hence, although a Cryptolocker may sneak in the PC after the backup was taken, it is not able to spread to the backups.
Email notification for reports
To keep track of what was backed up and what remains, especially if you are managing multiple PCs, you can enable email notification under “Settings” to receive reports on your email address.
- Battery drain prevention. To reduce power consumption and save battery life, job retries are now automatically suspended while your device is running off of the battery.
- Protection from a missed daily backup.
- File-level backup optimizations to improve performance by 10% on average, increase stability and reduce VSS warnings.
- File exclusion logic enhancement
- Ability to skip bad blocks
- Full backup to a custom location.
- Job progress monitors progress indicator on the Veeam Endpoint Backup taskbar icon.
- Wi-Fi signal strength display. Current Wi-Fi signal strength is now displayed on the Wi-Fi icon of the Recovery
- Media screen to inform you about possible connectivity issues that may result in slow or failed recovery.
- Backup history chart switch. Backup chart mode can now be switched between size and duration using the right-click menu, without having to go into the Control Panel settings.
- Volume resize UI to prevent conversion mistakes due to large numbers.
Veeam Agent Free Backup software is useful freeware that allows you to quickly create restore volumes and backups of important data. The tool has built in several features that are not commonly found with other backup tools.
In case you haven’t backed up your data, it is worth using Veeam Agent Free Backup software. Click here to visit the site for sign-up and download.
- Veeam Backup Replication Community Edition Free lets you backup, restore and manage Virtual machines
- Veeam ONE Free Community Edition is a monitoring and reporting for VMware and Hyper-V.
Video Guide Windows Server 2016 Backup Solution from Veeam
Video Guide Windows Server 2016 Backup Solution from Veeam, Windows Server 2016 Backup Solution from Veeam. Veeam has a backup and restores solution for Microsoft Windows devices.
Veeam Agent for Physical Machine
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows can take backups of servers, desktops, and laptops. Previously, this solution was known as “Veeam Endpoint Backup”.
In this post, we will see Video Guide Windows Server 2016 Backup Solution from Veeam.
Following are the three posts that will cover the Windows endpoint backup solution from Veeam.
- Windows 10 backup and recovery Software from Veeam
- Video Guide Windows Server 2016 Backup Solution from Veeam
- Video Guide Windows Server 2016 File Volume Recovery Solution from Veeam
Install Veeam Agent for Windows on Server 2016
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows is a data protection and disaster recovery solution for physical and virtual machines. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows can be used to protect different types of computers and devices: desktops, laptops, and tablets.
The solution can be installed on any computer that runs the following OSes
The installation of the Veeam Agent for Windows is straightforward. It will automatically take care of installing prerequisites like SQL express etc. After the installation, you will be able to see
- Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Service
- Veeam Agent Tray
- SQL Server 2012 Express LocalDB
How to Create Recovery Media for Server 2016
Once the Veeam Agent for Windows is installed, the first step is to create a Veeam Recovery media. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows lets us create a Veeam Recovery Media. The recovery media is nothing but a recovery image of your computer.
You can boot your computer/server with recovery media and fix the OS system errors on your server 2016 or restore data from the backup.
Microsoft Windows RE (Recovery Environment) automatically reboots after 72 hours of continuous use. All data that has not been saved before reboot will be lost.
You can launch the recovery media creation wizard from the Veeam Agent for the Windows home page. As you can see in the video tutorial here, media creation is a straightforward process.
It took nearly 9 minutes to create a recovery media on my server 2016. The wizard will prompt to format the USB during the media creation process. At the high-level following are the tasks.
- Mounting Recovery Environment Image
- Copy Veeam Recovery Environment files
- Adding.NET framework
- Adding system drivers
- Copying boot files
- Unmounting Recovery Image
- Preparing USB disk
- Copying data to USB disk
- Recovery media has been created
Take Full Backup of Server 2016 using Veeam Agent for Windows.
Veeam Agent for Windows 3 types of backup modes are available. And those backup modes are “Entire computer,” “Volume-level backup,” and “File-Level backup.” Veeam Agent for Windows servers supports five backup options. And those options are listed down.
- Removable storage device
- Local computer drive
- Network shared folder
- A Veeam backup server manages the backup repository
- Cloud repository managed by a Veeam Cloud Connect service provider
“Configure backup” is the Veeam agent’s option to start configuring and scheduling the backup for the Windows server. Back up your entire server is the recommended option in the Veeam Agent for Windows. This helps with fast recovery on any level.
I selected the Entire Computer backup option for my server 2016. I used the external hard disk (local storage) to take the backup of server 2016. This is my Hyper-V server in my lab.
details are available in the video tutorial here. Following are the tasks which I could see.
- Initializing
- Preparing for backup
- Creating VSS snapshot
- Calculating digests
- Getting list of local users
- System Reserved (disk 0) (500.0 MB) 42.0 MB read at 42 MB/s
- (C:)(49.0 GB)42.4 GB read at 74 MB/s
- Local Disk (E:) (188.5 GB) 37.4 GB read at 84 MB/s
- Saving GuestMembers.xml
- Finalizing
- Truncating transaction logs
- Truncating SQL server transaction logs
- Processing finished
Author
Anoop is Microsoft MVP! He is a Solution Architect in enterprise client management with more than 20 years of experience (calculation done in 2021) in IT. He is a blogger, Speaker, and Local User Group HTMD Community leader. His main FOCUS is on Device Management technologies like SCCM 2012, Current Branch, and Intune. E writes about ConfigMgr, Windows 11, Windows 10, Azure AD, Microsoft Intune, Windows 365, AVD, etc…
Windows Backup Restore Tool – Veeam Agent for Windows
Let us discuss Windows Backup Restore Tool – Veeam Agent for Windows. Windows 10 desktops and laptops can be backed up with the enterprise-class tool without paying any license.
The Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows will help you backup and restore Windows workstations and servers. This tool can be used for Free Windows 10 Backup Tool and Restore.
License – Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows is a free tool for Windows 10 desktops and laptops. But, you have to pay the license cost if you want the backup workstation and Windows servers.
To work with a commercial version of Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, you must obtain a license and install it on the protected computer.
The following are the license options for the Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows.
- Free Tool for Windows Desktop and Laptops
- Trial Version with full functionality for 30 days
- License for Windows Workstation
- License for Windows Servers
If you do not install a license, you will be able to use the product’s free edition only.
How to deploy Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows
Veeam Agent for Windows – Install License
When you launch the Veeam Agent for the first time, this displays a notification window offering to install a license. You can choose to install the license immediately or postpone this operation.
Until you install a license for the Veeam agent, you can use the product’s free edition. To take the back of Windows servers, you need to install the commercial license.
- Launch Veeam Agent
- Click on About
- Click on the Install button
- Browse the license file
- Click on Open
- If the license file is valid, the Workstation Server options will be enabled for the Veeam agent.
How to Windows 10 Recovery Media
In the following video post, you will see how to install Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows. Also, create recovery media or Boot media for Windows 10 1809. Try out the Free Windows 10 Backup Tool and recovery media.
Free Windows 10 Backup Tool Restore Tool
Free Tool from Veeam agent to backup and restore Windows 10 devices. How to Backup Windows 10 and How to Restore Windows 10 Files. Try out the free Windows 10 Backup Tool.
