Scale-Out Backup Repository

A scale-out backup repository is a repository system with horizontal scaling support for multi-tier storage of data. It consists of one or more backup repositories called performance extents, and can be expanded with an on-premises or cloud-based object repository called capacity extent. The capacities of all the storage devices and systems within a scale-out backup repository are summarized.

The main benefits of this feature are as follows:

• It provides a convenient way of managing the backup storage.
• The scale-out backup repository can be expanded at any moment: if the performance extents of your scale-out backup repository run out of space, you can add a new performance extent to the existing scale-out backup repository. For example, if backup data grows and the backup repository reaches the storage limit, you can add a new storage system to the scale-out backup repository. The free space on this storage system will be added to the capacity of the scale-out backup repository. As a result, you will not have to move backups to a backup repository of a larger size.
• It supports any backup target supported by Veeam: Windows or Linux servers with local or DAS storage, network shares, deduplicating storage appliances. All the features of any storage device or system are preserved.
• It allows you to set up granular performance policy. For more information, see Backup File Placement.
• It provides practically unlimited cloud-based storage capacity: you can instruct Veeam Backup & Replication to offload data from extents to the cloud for long-term storage. For details, see Capacity Tier.

A scale-out backup repository can comprise different tiers, or logical levels of storage.

• Performance tier is the level used for the fast access to the data. It consists of one or more backup repositories called performance extents.

For more information, see Performance Tier.

• Capacity tier is an additional level for storing data that needs to be accessed less frequently. However, you still can restore your data directly from it. The capacity tier consists of one cloud-based or on-premises object storage repository called capacity extent.

For more information, see Capacity Tier.

A scale-out backup repository can be used for the following types of jobs and tasks:

• Backup jobs
• Backup copy jobs.

You can copy backups that reside in scale-out backup repositories and store backup copies in scale-out backup repositories

• Veeam backups for Amazon and Azure (via backup copy jobs)

• VeeamZIP tasks
• Backup jobs created by Veeam Agent for Linux 2.0 or later
• Backup jobs created by Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows 2.0 or later
• NAS backup jobs
• Backup jobs for Nutanix AHV

Backup files stored in the scale-out repository can be used for all types of restores, replication from backup and backup copy jobs. You can verify such backups with SureBackup jobs. The scale-out backup repository can be used as a staging backup repository for restore from tape media. Files restored from the tape media are placed to the extents according to data placement policy configured for the scale-out backup repository. For more information, see Backup File Placement.

To deploy a scale-out backup repository, you must configure one or more backup repositories and add them to a scale-out backup repository as performance extents. You can mix backup repositories of different types in one scale-out backup repository:

• Microsoft Windows backup repositories
• Linux backup repositories
• Shared folders
• Deduplicating storage appliances

For example, you can add a Microsoft Windows backup repository and deduplicating storage appliance to the same scale-out backup repository.

In This Section

• Limitations for Scale-out Backup Repositories
• Performance Tier
• Capacity Tier
• Adding Scale-Out Repositories
• Managing Scale-Out Backup Repositories