HUGE, NEW AWS backup and recovery release!

David Hill

Today, Veeam releases its latest AWS backup and recovery solution: Veeam Backup for AWS v3. This is the biggest release since the original launch just one year ago, and it contains some massive new capabilities for protecting AWS data, especially ones most requested by our users.

For those not already using Veeam Backup for AWS, the solution is deployed right from the AWS Marketplace and enables Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Relational Database (Amazon RDS) and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) backup using native AWS snapshots and backs up to Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) object storage. There’s also the possibility to perform backup copy jobs to any other Veeam-supported repository through Veeam Backup & Replication. Recovery options are equally flexible and very fast to minimize the risk of outage, with full and file-level recovery options within AWS or to any other Veeam-supported platform.

Let’s dive in and see some of the new key capabilities in this release.

Amazon RDS backup

You can now fully automate and schedule snapshots of Amazon RDS, including replication of those snapshots across AWS accounts and regions. Restores of the entire database are ridiculously fast and can overwrite at the existing location or be stored as a new instance into a new region or account. This support extends to the following databases:

Protecting an Amazon RDS instance is as simple as creating a new policy using the same wizard you’re likely familiar with. Simply select Policies, RDS and click Add.

In the same way that we protect Amazon EC2 instances, you can protect databases either by picking the individual database or by using tags. Restores are performed in the same manner, simply pick the restore point you want to use and run through the restore wizard, specifying which AWS account and region you want to restore the database to.

Amazon VPC backup

Support for Amazon VPC backup has also been added. This capability provides the ability to protect all the configuration items within a VPC, including Security Groups, route tables, Subnets and many more. As deployments grow within Amazon EC2, being able to protect your VPC settings becomes critical when trying to perform restores. Imagine a scenario where you have been the target of a malicious attack and need to restore all the workloads in a particular region. Manually recreating all the security groups prior to restoring the workloads would be a time-consuming and cumbersome task, if records have even been kept of the configurations. By backing up all these configuration settings, you can easily recreate a VPC in seconds.

Veeam Backup for AWS provides the ability to detect changes in VPC configurations. By clicking the compare button, you’ll see the restore points window provides information on any changes that have been made. By selecting a restore point, we can then compare the attributes between the backup and what is in production. This gives the backup operator the ability to then decide whether to perform a restore.

Role-Based Access Control

Access to the web UI and portal is now configurable using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). With RBAC support, we added SAML2 support which allows you to configure an identity prover. This lets operations teams limit the usage of the Veeam Backup for AWS portal to specific tasks. There are three roles that can be used to provide access to the portal:

By restricting access, consumers now have the ability to ensure compliance within the operations procedures is adhered too. These accounts are created in the configuration area of Veeam Backup for AWS and added under portal users. When creating a portal user, you simply select either a local Veeam Backup for AWS account or an Identity Provider Account. 

File-Level Recovery enhancements

While File-Level Recovery has been a feature of Veeam Backup for AWS since its original launch, it is now possible to restore files to the original location. Previously, it was only possible to download the files to the desktop which the operator was accessing the portal. Now with File-Level Recovery, we can choose to restore to the original location. This will restore all the selected files directly back to the Amazon EC2 instance and the originating folder within that Amazon EC2 instance.

AWS Outpost support

Veeam Backup for AWS v3 now provides support for AWS Outposts. Anyone who is using AWS Outposts in an on-premises data center can use Veeam Backup for AWS to protect and restore workloads running on Outposts. With AWS Outpost support, this provides consumers the capabilities to manage these hybrid AWS environments.

Summary

In summary, this new release brings the capabilities that customers are looking for when using the AWS platform. Capabilities to protect not only Amazon EC2 instances, but Amazon RDS and Amazon VPCs are critical for enterprises and developers alike who use AWS-native backup and recovery services. For Veeam customers managing hybrid- or multi-cloud environments, this same functionality is available as part of Veeam Backup & Replication, giving you the flexibility and power to move and manage your data regardless of where it lives.

There are so many more new features that I can’t cover in this single post, so I encourage you to go out and deploy the newest release through the AWS Marketplace and take it for a spin. In true Veeam style, you can even protect up to 10 AWS instances for FREE.

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