I have been using Synolgoy Nas’es for several years now. Currently, there are two in the home lab a DS1621+ and a DS923+. Both are used for various tasks, like regular file shares, iSCSI for VMware, Podman, and so on. In this post I’m focusing on the DS923+ and how to back up data to an external backup that is only on when needed.
Thanks again to Synology, who have provided me with both systems!
The idea is simple; if the system gets affected, an untouched backup medium is needed to restore the data. If it is live replicated, there is a chance the secondary system will get infected as well. See the 3-2-1 rule.
It’s been a few weeks since I returned from the most excellent Veeam 100 summit, this time in Berlin! I’m lucky enough to have been a Veeam Vanguard since 2021, and this was the first time the summit happened in Berlin. The last time I was in Berlin was at least 15 years ago.
In this post I am not going to sum up the summit directly; There are some blog post from fellow Veeam Vanguards and Legends I link at the end of the post. Instead, I want to focus on the new version of Veeam Hardened Repository (VHR), that was introduced during the summit.
It’s been almost 2 weeks since VeeamON ended and I thought it was time to reflect on some of the (big) changes that are coming. First off, thanks again to Veeam for sponsoring the conference and hotel. The Diplomat in Fort Lauderdale was amazing; the conference was at the hotel and one did not have to walk a mile to go between sessions, vendors and hotel room. Much appreciated!
A little while back I was honored to be part of the first, inaugural class by Object First, called Aces. I first learned a about Object First during a VeeamON conference and was intrigued by the concept of having object storage in the Datacenter vs cloud.
Geoff from Object First reached out to me and offered to “test-drive” a box in my home-lab. Of course I wouldn’t say no , I mean who would? So this will be the first of a blog series talking Object First and Veeam. Many thanks again for letting me “play” with the box.
It this time of the year again for VeeamON, and I’m happy to say I’m once again attending this year. Many thanks to Veeam for sponsoring the pass and hotel as part of being a member of the #Veeam100. Speaking of hotel, last year’s FountainBleau Hotel in Miami is hard to beat; but I think this years’ Diplomat in Ft. Lauderdale is up for the challenge. I’m very much looking forward to this stay.
For those who are unfamiliar with VeeamON, it is Veeam’s prime annual conference. This will be my 3rd time attending. It is a great conference to learn, get certified, win prized and meet vendors. To give you an overview, below is the agenda for this year:
For anyone looking to get VMCE certified, there are still some seats open to book the prep session on Sunday. This might run out soon, so better hurry. If you are interested in attending please use this link and use the code COMMUNITY10 to receive get 10% off.
This will be my fourth! year as a Vanguard and I was extremely happy when I received the email last week. Special thanks to Rick Vanover, Nikola Pejková, Madalina Cristil, Safiya Mohamed who are working very hard on the Vanguard and the entire Veeam 100 program.
Some of the highlights:
Access to test/beta version of software to run in the home-lab. I get to play with features that are yet to be released to the public, like version 12.1 before it came out.
NFR licenses for all Veeam products, like Veeam B&R, VeeamONE.
Friday Vanguard calls, where a bunch of us join a meeting and talk about whatever comes to mind. Might be work, current news, weather, Internet in West Virginia, or family.
Veeam Summit; I was able to attend two summits in Prague and it was one of the best experiences! There is a good combination of top notch sessions and fun activities as well. Go Karts anyone?
I was also able to attend VeeamON in Miami in 2023 and did some Tech Talks there. Again, very good session, with lots of input from people who are actually running Veeam in their environments and are able to give first hand experiences.
Not gonna’ lie, the swag is top notch!
Slack channel for Vanguards, which is a great resource for laughter and to tip into the “Hive Mind”
If you are curious about the current list of Vanguards, it can be found here.
If you are interested in Veeam Legends Program, which is part of the Veeam 100, please check it out here.
Veeam released an early Christmas present yesterday (12/5), the very much anticipated version 12.1!
12.1 was much talked about during the most excellent Veeam 100 summit in Prague a little while ago. It is a non-breaking release, packed with enhancements and features. I’m quite surprised this is only a X.1 release, it would easily qualify for a major release.
Here are “some” of the features in 12.1:
I’m particular existed about Yara rules and improvements to SureBackup. SureBackup can now randomly test VMs, which is great for auditing purposed to document that your backups are working. In addition, SureBackup does not depend on a virtual lab anymore, which should make initial setup a lot easier.
Oh boy was it hot in Florida…but what a great conference it was. After being back for a few weeks I decided to write down my impressions about VeeamOn
This was my second VeeamOn to attend. I’m forever grateful being a Veeam Vanguard member and being invite by Veeam to attend. What a great opportunity! If you are curious about Veeam Vanguard and the Veeam 100 program, please follow this link to learn more.
This year’s VeeamOn took place at the beautifully Fontainebleau hotel in Miami from May 22nd to May 25th. I hadn’t been in Miami for more than 20 years, and I had never stayed at such a hotel. A fun fact about this hotel, many popular movies took place there, like Goldfinger, Scarface, or War Dogs. The even have a special website where all the movies are listed.
During the last Veeam Vanguard/Veeam 100 summit in Prague, Czech Republic part of the summit was “Fun field facts” where attendees presented various topics they found useful for sharing. I presented on how to integrate Veeam Agent into Windows. This will be a short follow-up post on how to incorporate the Veeam Agent Recovery Media into Windows Boot Manager.
As part of the Veeam Vanguard program I was invited to participate in the community event in Prague, Czech Republic. This was the first time for me, and I’m forever grateful to be part of this group. This was also the first time of a combined event between Veeam MVPs, Veeam Legends and Veeam Vanguards.
