Purpose:
Section titled “Purpose:”The purpose of this standard is to define how CIT will conduct backups. Veeam is a proven reliable system for backup and data restoration. This standard targets CIT and its clients to provide secure and reliable disaster recovery infrastructure.
Assumptions:
Section titled “Assumptions:”- Adequate storage for backups
- Backups are stored on different media than production data
- Sufficient network and internet throughput
- Deduplication and compression ratio is 2:1
Risks:
Section titled “Risks:”- Not calculating for adequate backup storage needs
- Storing backup data on same media as production data introduces the risk of losing ALL data if media fails
- Risk of failed backups and offsite backup storage if network and internet throughput is not sufficient
- Not copying backup data offsite puts clients data at risk in the event of a disaster (earthquakes, fire, theft, etc.).
Dependencies:
Section titled “Dependencies:”- For agent based backups: Windows Server 2012 or newer / Linux kernel 2.6.32 or newer (ref Veeam Agent for Linux Agent User Guide)
- Note that Windows Server 2012 is EOL Oct 10, 2023
- For host based backups: vSphere 6.0 and newer / Hyper-V 2012 or newer
Requirements:
Section titled “Requirements:”- Service account for Veeam with Domain Admin rights
- Client will pay monthly for each Veeam license used to backup their servers for both on premise backups and any offsite or cIT Cloud backups.
- On Premise Servers Require the Following:
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Network connectivity between Backup systems, Production Data, and Storage
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Firewall opening for Veeam ports
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AV exclusions for Veeam
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Backup server must have minimum 2 CPU cores and 8 GB RAM
Veeam backup server requires Microsoft Windows 2019 or later (64-bit only) 6.Storage Recommendation
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Minimum: RAID5, Synology NAS
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Preferred: RAID6, Dedicated HPE Server
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4:1 ratio for backup storage. Example: Production total disk utilization is 1TB, at least 4TB of backup storage is recommended for 30 retention points
- 5 GB for product installation and 4.5 GB for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 installation. 10 GB per 100 VMs for guest file system catalog folder (persistent data). Additional free disk space for Instant VM Recovery cache folder (non-persistent data, at least 10 GB recommended).
- 1 Gbps or faster for on-site backup and replication, and 1 Mbps or faster for offsite backup and replication. High latency and reasonably unstable WAN links are supported.
Standard:
Section titled “Standard:”- cIT uses Veeam to backup systems daily
- Each backup creates a retention point.
- cIT Private cloud Standard:
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Minimum retention points in cIT Private cloud are held for 30 days.
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Geographically diverse offsite copies are held for 7 Day with repository site determined based on needs and initial data location
- Onsite Server Standard:
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Retention points are held for a minimum of 30 days by default, unless other requirements are needed
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Separate server with dedicated direct attached storage to hold backup repository.
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Geographically diverse offsite copies with repository site determined based on needs and initial data location.
- For Installation, onboard/offboard, and initial setup, see WI listed in References.
- Clients unable to meet requirements will sign release of liability.
- Invoicing:
- Clients in cIT cloud will be billed based on usage as data size grows
- Space Requirements:
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cIT cloud backup copy repositories are set at fixed 512 GB increments and invoiced accordingly. Repositories will be increased when usage exceeds 90%.
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Azure cloud backup copy repositories are set per Azure fixed disk sizes and invoiced accordingly. Repositories will be increased to the next Azure disk size when usage exceeds 90%.
- Backup Monitoring:
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Centralized Services (NOC) will monitor for successful backups daily.
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Any backups that have failed for 48 hours shall be investigated, worked to resolution, and notified to Client.
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Backup repository usage alerts will be generated at 85% and Centralized Services will remediate as appropriate.
Recommended Default Settings:
Section titled “Recommended Default Settings:”- Daily Backups retained for 30 Days
- Forever Incremental Backup
- Backups are stored on cIT backup storage
- Offsite backup copies in cIT Private cloud are held for 7 days
References:
Section titled “References:”- See attachment for Veeam links
Glossary
Section titled “Glossary”Geographically diverse offsite replication - Geographic diversity is imperative when it comes to disaster recovery planning. Primary and secondary backup sites should have enough distance between each other to minimize the potential for a disaster, such as an outage, or fire, to take down both sites.