Veeam VMCA2022 Veeam Certified Architect 2022 Exam Practice Test

If using Veeam’s native encryption, the repository type that will be impacted the most is the deduplicating storage appliance. This is because Veeam Backup & Replication uses different encryption keys for every job session, which makes the encrypted data blocks appear as different even if they contain duplicate data. This reduces the deduplication ratio and increases the storage consumption on the deduplicating appliance. If you want to achieve a higher deduplication ratio, youcan disable data encryption or use the encryption feature on the deduplicating appliance itself1

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To design a solution that meets the needs and requirements of Veeam University Hospital, you need to consider the impact and benefit of adding extra proxy servers to your backup infrastructure. This will help you to optimize the performance and efficiency of your backup and restore operations, as well as to prepare for future growth and expansion.

According to the web search results, a proxy server is a component that retrieves data from the source host, processes it and transfers to the backup repository. It also performs data compression, deduplication, encryption, etc. You can deploy backup proxies both in the primary site and in remote sites1.

The immediate result of adding the extra proxy server is A. The time for backup to complete could be reduced.

This result means that:

•The time for backup to complete is a metric that measures how long it takes to perform a backup job from start to finish. It depends on various factors, such as the size and type of data, the backup method and frequency, the network bandwidth and latency, etc.

•Adding an extra proxy server can reduce the time for backup to complete, by distributing the backup workload between available proxy servers. This can improve the backup performance and efficiency, as well as reduce the impact on the production environment.

•Reducing the time for backup to complete can also help you to meet your backup window and recovery point objective (RPO) requirements, as well as to free up more resources for other tasks or jobs.

To design a disaster recovery solution that meets the requirement of having the replicated virtual workloads data not more than one hour old, you need to consider some of the potential risks and challenges that may affect the service level agreement (SLA) for the offsite disaster recovery aspect of this requirement. This will help you to ensure the availability and reliability of the replication and failover processes, as well as the recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) of the organization.

According to the Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practice Guide, one of the potential risks to the SLA for the offsite disaster recovery aspect of this requirement is B. Data change rate.

This risk means that:

•The data change rate is the amount of data that is modified, added, or deleted in a given time period. It is usually measured in percentage or megabytes per hour.

•The data change rate affects the replication performance and efficiency, as it determines how much data needs to be transferred and processed between the source and target sites.

•The data change rate also affects the replication frequency and consistency, as it determines how often and how accurately the replicas are updated and synchronized with the source workloads.

•The data change rate may vary depending on the type and activity of the workloads, such as database, file server, web server, etc. Some workloads may have a high data change rate, while others may have a low data change rate.

•The data change rate may exceed the available bandwidth or storage capacity between the source and target sites, which may result in replication failures, delays, or errors. This may compromise the SLA for the offsite disaster recovery aspect of this requirement, as it may cause the replicated virtual workloads data to be more than one hour old.

This risk has some implications for designing a solution with Veeam products and features, such as:

•The customer or a third-party vendor must monitor and measure the data change rate of the workloads that need to be replicated, as well as the available bandwidth and storage capacity between the source and target sites. This will help to plan and optimize the replication infrastructure, such as the proxy servers, repository servers, WAN accelerators, and failover plans, based on the data change rate.

•The customer or a third-party vendor must configure and adjust the replication settings and policies, such as the replication method, schedule, frequency, retention, compression, deduplication, etc., based on the data change rate. This will help to improve the replication performance and efficiency, as well as to meet the SLA for the offsite disaster recovery aspect of this requirement.

Option A follows the 3-2-1 rule by having three copies of data (the original production data, the backup at the primary site, and the backup copy at the secondary site), two different media types (local disk and object storage), and one copy off-site (the backup copy at the secondary site). This option also reduces the amount of traffic sent over the network by using existing backups as seeds for backup copies, and reduces the storage costs by using cloud tier to move older backups to cheaper and unlimited cloud storage1

The gateway is a component that acts as a data mover between the backup proxy and the backup repository. If the gateway does not have enough CPU, RAM and task slots assigned, it may not be able to handle the incoming data from the backup proxy efficiently, and cause a bottleneck at the target. By increasing the resources and task slots for the gateway, you can improve its performance and throughput, and reduce the load on the target2

To design a solution that meets the needs and requirements of Veeam University Hospital, you need to collect some critical information during the discovery phase. This information will help you to understand the current state of the environment, the goals and expectations of the stakeholders, and the constraints and challenges of the project.

According to the case study, some of the critical information that was missing from discovery are:

•Size of current data sets. This information is critical because it helps you to estimate the backup storage requirements, as well as the backup performance and efficiency, based on the size and type of data. You need to know how much data is stored on each workload, such as virtual machines, physical servers, NAS systems, etc., as well as how much data is changed or added on a daily or weekly basis.

•Backup retention policy. This information is critical because it helps you to define the backup retention settings and policies, such as the number and frequency of backup copies, the backup storage tiers, the backup deletion rules, etc. You need to know how long the backup data should be kept for compliance or historical purposes, as well as how much backup storage capacity is available or needed.

To design a solution that meets the backup and replication requirements for Veeam University Hospital, you need to consider some of the components that are needed for the on-premises design. This will help you to ensure the performance and reliability of the backup and replication operations, as well as the scalability and manageability of the backup infrastructure.

According to the Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practice Guide1, some of the components that are needed for the on-premises design are:

•Backup server. This is the core component of Veeam Backup & Replication that controls and coordinates backups, replication, recovery verification, and restore tasks. It also manages backup infrastructure components, such as proxy servers, repository servers, WAN accelerators, etc. You need to have a backup server at each site, as recommended by the best practice guide2.

•Backup proxy. This is a component that retrieves data from the source host, processes it and transfers to the backup repository. It also performs data compression, deduplication, encryption, etc. You need to have at least one backup proxy at each site, as recommended by the best practice guide3.

•Backup repository. This is a server where Veeam Backup & Replication keeps backup files, backup copies and metadata of replicated VMs. It can be a Windows or Linux server, a NAS device, a deduplication appliance, etc. You need to have at least one backup repository at each site, as recommended by the best practice guide4.

•Mount server. This is a component that mounts backup files from the backup repository to the backup proxy during restore operations. It also performs data decompression, deduplication, decryption, etc. You need to have a mount server at each site where you plan to perform restores, as recommended by the best practice guide5.

•Gateway server. This is a component that acts as a data mover between the backup proxy and the backup repository when they are located in different sites or networks. It also performs data encryption and decryption for secure data transfer. You need to have a gateway server at each site where you have a backup repository that is accessed by a remote backup proxy, as recommended by the best practice guide.

Therefore, based on these components, the answer that describes which components are needed for the on-premises design is D. Backup server, backup proxy, backup repository, mount server, gateway server.

•Use Hardened Repositories as the primary target, which are Linux-based repositories that support immutability and prevent ransomware from accessing or deleting backup files12.

•Use backup copy jobs to create a second copy of the backups to a different site, which will provide additional protection and redundancy in case of a disaster or data loss34.

•Use Veeam Backup & Replication servers at one location, which will simplify the management and monitoring of the backup infrastructure and reduce the operational costs.

The other configurations are not as effective or secure, as they either do not use immutability, do not create a second copy of the backups, or do not leverage the benefits of Veeam Backup & Replication servers.

References: 1: Protect against Ransomware with Immutable Backups - Veeam 2: Hardened Repository - User Guide for VMware vSphere 3: Backup Copy Modes - User Guide for VMware vSphere 4: Backup copy jobs - Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practice Guide : Veeam Backup & Replication Architecture Overview

To design a solution that meets the requirements for off-site immutable backups for Veeam University Hospital, you need to consider some of the options and features that Veeam products and features offer. This will help you to ensure the security and integrity of your backup data, as well as the compatibility and supportability of the cloud provider that does not currently support immutability.

According to the Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practice Guide, immutability is a feature that prevents backup files from being deleted or modified by anyone until the specified retention period expires. Immutability can be achieved by using S3 Object Lock or Hardened Repository, which are two different solutions that Veeam Backup & Replication supports.

Based on this definition, the best option to still satisfy the requirements for off-site immutable backups is A. Backup copy to a hardened repository.

This option means that:

•The backup copy is a type of job that allows you to create and maintain copies of your backup data on a secondary backup repository. You can use backup copy jobs to send your backup data off-site, as well as to apply different retention settings and policies.

•The hardened repository is a solution that allows you to add a hardened repository based on a Linux server to your backup infrastructure. You can use hardened repository with Veeam Backup & Replication to make your backups immutable on-premises or off-site.

•The backup copy to a hardened repository can be configured and managed by Veeam Backup & Replication, regardless of the cloud provider that does not currently support immutability. You only need to deploy and connect a Linux server with a hardened repository in the cloud environment, and then use it as a target for your backup copy jobs.

•Virtual machine backup jobs with log shipping enabled allow you to create image-level backups of SQL Server databases and also back up the transaction logs periodically12.

•Scale-out Backup Repository is a logical entity that groups several backup repositories into a single pool of storage, allowing for better backup performance, scalability, and management3.

•Scale-out Backup Repository capacity tier is a feature that allows you to offload older backup files to a public cloud object storage, such as Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage .

The other options are not as effective or efficient, as they either do not use Veeam features, do not offload to object storage, or do not create image-level backups.

References: 1: Transaction Log Shipping - User Guide for VMware vSphere 2: How to Back Up SQL Server Transaction Logs - Veeam 3: Scale-Out Backup Repository - Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practice Guide : Capacity Tier - User Guide for VMware vSphere : How to Use Capacity Tier in Veeam - Veeam

According to the Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practice Guide1, the proxy and repository servers are the components that should be sized correctly to ensure that synthetic operations and backup copy jobs can be completed in the desired window. This is because:

•The proxy server is responsible for retrieving data from the source and sending it to the target. The proxy server performance depends on the CPU, memory, network, and storage resources available. The proxy server should have enough CPU cores and memory to handle concurrent tasks, as well as sufficient network bandwidth and storage throughput to transfer data efficiently.

•The repository server is responsible for storing backup files on the target storage. The repository server performance depends on the CPU, memory, network, and storage resources available. The repository server should have enough CPU cores and memory to handle concurrent tasks, as well as sufficient network bandwidth and storage throughput to write data efficiently. The repository server should also support the backup format and retention policy chosen for the backup copy job.

References: 1: Backup copy jobs - Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practice Guide

The requirement C will act as a constraint on the decision of whether to use a local repository or not for the remote sites. Data locality and privacy laws may vary by country or region, and may impose restrictions on where the backup data can be stored or transferred. For example, some countries may prohibit the export of personal data outside their borders, or require encryption or anonymization of sensitive data. Therefore, the Veeam solution must comply with these laws and regulations, and may need to use a local repository for each remote site, or use a cloud provider that has a local presence in each region. The other requirements are not constraints, as they can be met with either a local or a central repository, using the features and options of the Veeam solution. References: Veeam Certified Architect 2022 Exam Guide, page 11; Veeam Backup & Replication v11: Architecture and Design course, module 5.

The configuration that is unsupported by Veeam Plug-in for Oracle RMAN based on the technical requirements is physical windows server with Oracle. Veeam Plug-in for Oracle RMAN only supports Oracle databases running on Linux, Solaris, or AIX operating systems1. The other configurations are supported by either Veeam Plug-in for Oracle RMAN or Veeam Backup & Replication. References: Veeam Plug-in for Oracle RMAN, Oracle | Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practice Guide.

Snapshot stun is a phenomenon that occurs when a VMware snapshot is removed and the virtual machine (VM) experiences a temporary freeze or performance degradation1. This can affect the availability and consistency of mission critical applications running on the VM.

To avoid snapshot stun, Veeam Backup & Replication offers several options for backing up Linux VMs, such as backup from storage snapshots, direct SAN access, or hot-add2. However, based on the business requirements, the best option is to run pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts before backing up the workload.

Pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts are custom scripts that you can configure to run on the Linux VM before and after the snapshot is taken. The pre-freeze script can be used to quiesce the application and flush its data to disk, ensuring a consistent backup. The post-thaw script can be used to resume the application and perform any necessary cleanup actions3.

By using pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts, you can achieve application consistency and minimize the impact of snapshot stun on the Linux VM. You can use the Veeam Backup & Replication user interface or the Veeam PowerShell snap-in to configure the scripts for the backup job3.

You can find more information about pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts and how to use them in the following resources:

• Pre-Freeze and Post-Thaw Scripts
• Best Practice for Backing Up Linux VMs
• Snapshot Stun Issue

If you separated the large VMDKs into their own backup jobs, you would be creating more manual work for the backup administrator, who would have to configure and maintain multiple jobs for the same group of VMs. This would go against the requirement of reducing administrative overhead by using dynamic scoping.

Dynamic scoping is a feature of Veeam Backup & Replication that allows you to automatically include or exclude VMs from backup jobs based on tags, attributes, or policies1. For example, you can use VMware tags to assign a backup policy to a VM, and then use the tag as a filter in the backup job. This way, any VM with that tag will be automatically added to the backup job, and any VM without that tag will be automatically excluded. This simplifies the backup management and ensures that all VMs are protected according to their assigned policy.

For large VMDKs with high I/O, you can use alternative backup methods to avoid performance impact and stuns, such as storage snapshots, direct SAN access, or hot-add2. You can also use different storage optimization options to balance the deduplication ratio and the backup file size3. These options can be configured within the same backup job, without the need to separate the large VMDKs.

You can find more information about dynamic scoping and backup methods for large VMDKs in the following resources:

• How to Use Dynamic Scoping in Veeam Backup & Replication
• Backing up large vmdks (~12 TB)
• Backup strategies for a large VM

Backup from storage snapshot is a feature of Veeam Backup & Replication that leverages the native snapshot capabilities of the storage system to create a consistent point-in-time copy of the VM data. Veeam Backup & Replication then reads data directly from the storage snapshot, bypassing the ESXi host and reducing the impact on the production environment1. Backup from storage snapshot is supported for VSAN datastores on NetApp, Nimble, Dell EMC, HPE, and Pure Storage systems2.

Using backup from storage snapshot for the virtualized stock trading application servers can improve the backup performance and reduce the latency, as it minimizes the time that the VM is running on a snapshot and avoids the network overhead of other transport modes3.

The other options are not recommended because:

• B) Implementing Veeam Agent on the virtualized stock trading application servers is not necessary, as Veeam Backup & Replication can protect VMware VMs without agents. Veeam Agent is mainly used for physical servers, workstations, or cloud instances4.
• C) Using Veeam Replication to create replicas of the virtualized stock trading application servers at the remote site, then back up the replicas is not optimal, as it adds more complexity and cost to the backup process. Veeam Replication is mainly used for disaster recovery purposes, not for backup5.
• D) Turning off application-aware processing for the virtualized stock trading application servers is not advisable, as it may compromise the consistency and recoverability of the application data. Application-aware processing is a feature of Veeam Backup & Replication that ensures that the application data is in a consistent state before the backup or replication job starts.

You can find more information about backup from storage snapshot and other backup options for VSAN in the following resources:

• Backup from Storage Snapshots
• Storage Systems Supported for Backup from Storage Snapshots
• Optimizing Veeam Backup & Replication Configuration for VMware VSAN
• Veeam Agent Management
• Veeam Replication
• [Application-Aware Processing]

The information related to the virtual infrastructure that is missing and must be collected during the discovery are the total number of virtual machines and the size of the source data set. These are essential metrics for sizing the backup components, such as proxies, repositories, and transporters, as well as estimating the backup storage requirements and bandwidth consumption. The other options are either already provided in the scenario (recovery time objective, backup window) or not relevant for the Veeam solution (speed of Fibre Channel fabric). References: Veeam Certified Architect 2022 Exam Guide, page 10; Veeam Backup & Replication v11: Architecture and Design course, module 3.

The additional condition of the offsite backup that is presumed by the immutability requirement is that a copy of backup data must reside in a public cloud local to each region. Immutability means that the backup data cannot be modified, deleted, or overwritten by anyone, including the backup administrator, the cloud provider, or malicious actors1. Veeam Backup & Replication v11 supports immutability for backups stored in Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, using the Object Lock feature2. Therefore, the offsite backup must use one of these cloud providers, and must be located in the same region as the source data, to comply with the data locality and privacy laws. The other options are not related to the immutability requirement, as they are either already stated in the business requirements (option A), technical requirements (option B), or not relevant for the Veeam solution (option C). References: Immutability, Object StorageImmutability.

The Veeam backup method that should be used for the virtualized stock trading application is to separate the virtual machine into its own job and enable application aware processing. This method allows Veeam Backup & Replication to create transactionally consistent backups of the application, by quiescing the application and creating a snapshot of its data1. This ensures that the application can be restored to a working state, without data loss or corruption. The other options are either not suitable for the application (option A, as Veeam agent is designed for physical machines or cloud instances2), not sufficient for the application (option C, as pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts do not guarantee transactional consistency3), or not related to the backup method (option D, as replication is a different process from backup). References: Application-Aware Processing, Veeam Agent Management, Pre-Freeze and Post-Thaw Scripts, [Replication].

Network traffic rules are settings that allow you to control the network traffic transferred between backup infrastructure components, such as backup proxies, repositories, and WAN accelerators. You can use network traffic rules to throttle or encrypt the network traffic, or to specify preferred networks for data transfer1.

By configuring network traffic rules, you can reduce the bandwidth consumption for the offloading of data to public cloud storage, and avoid affecting the performance of business applications on the branch sites. You can set limits for the network traffic speed, or schedule the offloading tasks to run during off-peak hours2. You can also select the optimal network routes for the offloading tasks, and avoid congested or slow networks3.

You can find more information about network traffic rules and how to configure them in the following resources:

• Configuring Network Traffic Rules
• Enabling Traffic Throttling
• Specifying Preferred Networks

The retention requirement for this project is 12 weekly backups, six monthly backups and seven yearly backups. This is stated in the business requirements section of the scenario, where it says “To meet regulatory requirements, backups must be retained for four years.” This implies that the backup data must be archived for long-term retention, and the Veeam solution supports the 3-2-1 rule, which means having three copies of data, on two different types of media, with one copy off-site1. The other options are not retention requirements, but rather technical requirements or design choices, such as having on-premises backups on hardened repositories, having at least one copy of data on-premises, or having 14 daily backups on-site. References: Veeam Certified Architect 2022 Exam Guide, page 9; Veeam Backup & Replication v11: Architecture and Design course, module 4.

Reducing the recovery point objective (RPO) for silver tier workloads means that the backup frequency will increase, resulting in more backup data being generated and transferred. This will affect the sizing requirements of the Veeam components that are responsible for storing and processing the backup data, namely the Veeam repository and proxy roles1.

The Veeam repository is a storage location where the backup files are stored. The repository size depends on the amount of data to be backed up, the backup method, the retention policy, and the compression and deduplication settings2. Reducing the RPO will increase the amount of data to be backed up, and may require more frequent synthetic full backups or active full backups to maintain the retention policy. This will increase the repository size and the disk space consumption.

The Veeam proxy is a data mover that performs backup, replication, and restore tasks. The proxy size depends on the number of concurrent tasks, the transport mode, the backup method, and the compression and deduplication settings3. Reducing the RPO will increase the number of concurrent tasks and the amount of data to be processed by the proxy. This will increase the proxy size and the CPU and memory consumption.

You can find more information about the sizing requirements and best practices for the Veeam repository and proxy roles in the following resources:

• Veeam Backup & Replication Best Practices
• Veeam Backup Repository Sizing Calculator
• Veeam Proxy Sizing Calculator

The recommended step that Veeam Life and Indemnity can take to improve the latency encountered during backup of the virtualized MSSQL Server database running on vSAN is to implement Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows on the virtualized MSSQL Server database servers. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows is a data protection solution that allows you to back up physical or virtual Windows machines at the guest OS level. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows can provide application-aware processing and transaction log backup for MSSQL servers, as well as support for vSAN storage snapshots. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows can also reduce the latency by performing backups without using VMware snapshots, which can cause stun issues on vSAN.

The configuration that would verify the SLA compliance during audits and protection against exposure to personally identifiable information in the event of exposure is to create a virtual lab environment and periodically perform staged restores with custom scripts. A virtual lab is an isolated environment where you can run your backups or replicas without affecting the production environment. A staged restore is a process that allows you to run custom scripts on the restored data before publishing it to the production environment. By using these features, you can demonstrate that your backups are recoverable and compliant with legal regulations, as well as remove or mask any sensitive data before restoring it.

The method that can be used to validate that the design meets target SLAs and does not exceed repository growth projections is to ensure job throughput matches extensions and cross-compare with available network throughput, disk speed and initial sizing calculations. Job throughput is the measure of how much data is processed and transferred by a backup job per unit of time. Job throughput can be affected by various factors such as network bandwidth, disk performance, compression, deduplication, encryption, etc. By ensuring job throughput matches extensions, you can verify that your backup jobs are running as expected and meeting the SLAs. By cross-comparing job throughput with available network throughput, disk speed and initial sizing calculations, you can identify any bottlenecks or discrepancies that might affect your backup performance or storage consumption.

If the repositories are able to accomplish much higher throughput, a new issue that might come up is that the bandwidth between sites might not be sufficient to support the backup copy jobs that need to run daily between Fresno and Carson City. This could cause the backup copy jobs to fail, take longer than expected, or consume too much network resources. Therefore, it is important to measure the available bandwidth between the sites and compare it with the backup copy data size and window. If the bandwidth is not sufficient, some possible solutions are to use compression, deduplication, or WAN acceleration to reduce the backup copy traffic.

A possible cause of failures to meet the requirement to test gold tier backups is that you cannot firewall traffic between vLANs in the SureBackup job configuration. This could prevent the gold tier virtual machines from communicating with each other or with other required services in the isolated virtual lab. For example, if a gold tier virtual machine needs to access a database server or a domain controller in another vLAN, it might fail to start or function properly in the SureBackup job. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all necessary vLANs and network settings are configured correctly in the SureBackup job.

The recommended method to replicate VMware virtual machines with a less than five-minute RPO is Veeam Continuous Data Protection (CDP). CDP is a feature that allows near-continuous replication of VMware virtual machines to a secondary site or cluster with minimal data loss and downtime. CDP uses VMware vSphere APIs for I/O Filtering (VAIO) to capture every write operation from the source VMs and send them to the target VMs in near real-time. CDP can achieve RPOs as low as seconds and enable fast failover and failback in case of a disaster.

The areas that would benefit from additional analysis on areas mentioned in the case study are MSSQL, NAS, and PostgreSQL. These areas have specific backup and restore requirements that need to be considered and addressed in the design and sizing of the Veeam backup infrastructure. For example, MSSQL requires transaction log backup and application-aware processing to ensure consistent backups and point-in-time recovery. NAS requires file-level backup and storage integration to optimize backup performance and storage efficiency. PostgreSQL requires pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts to quiesce the database before backup and resume it after backup.

References: [MSSQL Server Backup], [NAS Backup], [PostgreSQL Backup]

The backup repository design that would meet the security, throughput, and retention requirements is to use backup jobs to Hardened Linux XFS-based repositories at the same site as the source data and use Backup copy jobs to Hardened Linux XFS-based repositories at the secondary site. A Hardened Linux repository is a type of backup repository that provides immutability and ransomware protection for backup files by using XFS file system features and Linux access control mechanisms. A Backup copy job is a type of backup job that copies backups from one repository to another, either on-site or off-site, with different retention settings. By using these features, you can ensure that your backups are secure, efficient, and compliant with regulatory and business needs.