Veeam To Backblaze

30-04-2021

Veeam To Backblaze

Veeam is a data availability and protection service that consists of three products: Veeam Availability Suite, Veeam Backup and Replication, and Veeam ONE. This reputable platform automates backup and recovery to reduce the workload of IT professionals. What’s more, it can restore files within 15 minutes of an incident. Additionally, Backblaze is certified as Veeam Ready - Object and Veeam Ready - Object with Immutability. Immutability is an important part of protecting backups from threats such as ransomware or stolen credentials by ensuring your backed-up data is safe and secure for a specified timeframe.

2 days ago Leading storage cloud company Backblaze, and Jamf (JAMF)—the standard in Apple enterprise management—announced a joint solution partnership to make Ba. Currently, the popular recommendation seems to be around leveraging VTL devices such as Starwinds or the AWS Storage Gateway (configured as a Tape Gateway) for sending Veeam backups into object storage. One of the main reasons behind this is the way Veeam handles tape, that is ‘write-once’ and never read again unless performing a restore. Getting your Veeam data offsite with 3 easy steps: Create your Backblaze B2 Account (below). Add Backblaze B2 as your backup repository and Scale Out Backup Repository in your Veeam console. Check the box to move and/or copy your restore points to the cloud and run your backup job.

I am using Veeam version 10.0.1.4854 and the latest patch and am having trouble adding a Backblaze B2 repository. I am encountering the error message 'Failed to load Amazon S3 Compatible configuration'.
I have opened a ticket with Veeam support using Case #04593670 but know that may take a while to receive a response. I recall reading a forum thread somewhere that stated that only Veeam versions 10.0.0 and 9.5 was currently working with adding a new B2 Repository due to an issue on the Backblaze side. The thread also indicated it was possible to update to the latest version after already adding the repo. Of course I can't find this thread for the life of me.
So I am just wanted to see if anyone can confirm this is true before I attempt to downgrade to an earlier version.

So.... today I saw an email from Backblaze saying they now have native s3 api support! I already use their personal and B2 backup services with absolutely no complaints.

Why not try this out with some Veeam Backup products to see if it all fires up, starting with Backup for Office365.

TLDR; it works great! no issues whatsoever, up and running in less time than you can make a cup of coffee.

If you do not already have a Backblaze B2 account - create one here, first 10gb is free so you can kick the tires without even entering a credit card.

Now you need to create a new bucket. If you already have some you will notice that there is a blank entry next to endpoint. It instructs you that:

Buckets created before May 4, 2020 cannot be used with our S3 Compatible APIs.

All good, create a new one

The bucket with then appear in your list - note the new s3 endpoint, you will need this when you get into Veeam Backup for Office365

Now, what good is a bucket with out anyway to access it. Create some application keys/credentials - head over to the App Keys settings in Backblaze and hit create new. Fill our your desired settings and as good practice secure it out to only allow access to your new bucket.

Your new application key will appear, save these somewhere secure as they only appear once. You will need these in Veeam when creating the repository.

Jump into Veeam Backup for Office365 Console- time to create a new Backup Repository. Make your way into the Backup Infrastructure panel and Add a new backup repository.

Give it a meaningful name

Then select the S3 compatible option

Now enter the s3 endpoint copied from the Backblaze panel into the Service endpoint on the Veeam wizard.

Veeam Backblaze S3

Then Select add credential, entering the App Key ID and Secret created and saved securely earlier.

Hit next with the new credentials selected -

Your bucket(s) will now show, select the destination bucket - in my case VeeamBackupO365 - now you need to browse a folder for Veeam to upload backup data too. If this is a new repository you will need to create one like I did below called Data.

If you jump into Backblaze after hitting next you can see Veeam has created the Data folder and some parent folders.

Select desired retention settings, and complete the wizard

Veeam Backup To Backblaze

Your new repository is ready for use and can be used for backup job targets.

Time to create a new backup job. For this demo I am going for a backup of just my user and of course target the new backblazeb2-s3 backup repository. Work through the wizard.