How Does Veeam® Cloud Connect Work?

It’s widely known that Veeam® is the leader in modern, cloud-hosted data protection, offering world-class backup and disaster recovery products. And if you’re exploring options for how to get data from your site to the Cloud in a safe and easy way, it helps to understand how Veeam Cloud Connect works. As a Platinum-status Veeam Cloud Service Provider, we happen to know a thing or two about that and are here to help you learn more about it.

As we walk through how Veeam Cloud Connect works, we’ll cover what it takes to get started with this convenient feature. If you would like to know a little more about what Veeam Cloud Connect is and why your business can benefit from this service, we also touch on that for you.

How Veeam Cloud Connect Works

Virtual Systems is a Veeam Cloud Service Provider, or VCSP, and this means we can use their Backup & Replication software to offer both cloud repository and disaster recovery as services to our customers (tenants).

Basically, that’s a technical way to say that we can both protect and recover your business’s essential data through this platform. And this is possible because the Backup & Replication allows us to set up the cloud infrastructure necessary to store tenant data that has been sent to the cloud in an easy and secure way.

Veeam relies on VCSPs to provide computing, storage, and network resources, because their Backup & Replication doesn’t offer its own cloud for holding tenant data. Virtual Systems uses our resources and efforts to configure Veeam Cloud Connect Backup and Veeam Cloud Connect Replication infrastructure components. These components are:

• Cloud repositories. These cloud-based storage locations store backups of your virtual machines (VMs). A cloud repository can help you meet the 3-2-1-1-0 backup best practice by being utilized as both a primary and secondary storage location.
• Replication resources. These are the dedicated computing, storage, and network resources in our virtualization environment. We configure hardware plans and then subscribe you to one or several of the plans. On your end, these plans will appear as cloud hosts. You can then create VM replicas on them and fail over to your cloud-hosted replicas if a disaster occurs on your site.

If you want to store your data in the cloud, you can connect through Virtual Systems and replicate your VMs to cloud hosts and/or write your backups to cloud repositories.

Veeam Cloud Connect Infrastructure

To open cloud resources to you, as a tenant, Virtual Systems must configure the infrastructure. Essentially, Veeam Cloud Connect infrastructure entails:

• VCSP components, which are our Veeam backup server, one or several cloud gateways, one or several cloud repositories, and (optionally) one or several target WAN (wide area network) accelerators.
• Tenant components, which are your Veeam backup server and (optionally) a source WAN accelerator.

How to Get Started in Veeam Cloud Connect

Now let’s walk through the process of what it takes to set up your cloud storage. There are four main steps you need to take so you can get the most out of your Veeam Cloud Connect:

1. Choose your service provider. Since the VCSP will ultimately be responsible for ensuring that your data can travel safely to the cloud hosting, this is a big decision for your company. If you want expertise and support, we are happy to answer questions and provide guidance for you. In doing so, you are then able to make the best possible informed decision.
2. Configure and implement the system. Often, this necessary process is time consuming, especially if you don’t have experience in this area. Our team is well versed in configuring and implanting these systems, and we can walk you through how to do it right the first time.
3. Integrate the Veeam platform with your current IT system. As with configuration and implementation, this can be a tricky process if you’re trying to do it for the first time. Partnering with an experienced VCSP can help you to get through it more quickly.
4. Maintain and upgrade the system (after integrating Veeam into your IT infrastructure). When everything is set up and in place, you may still want to have a team available to help you monitor and manage your cloud backup operation. Plus, an experienced VCSP can play a vital role in keeping the system up and running, and alert you to any operational issues or detected security concerns.

If you would like help with any of this, you can rely on a trusted VCSP like Virtual Systems to help you through every step of the process and fill in any gaps along the way.

We have services that span the entire lifecycle of Veeam Cloud Connect. No matter if you’re starting from scratch or looking to expand the capacity of an existing platform, we offer everything you need to have the best available data backup and disaster recovery.

Why Veeam Cloud Connect Is a Smart Choice in the First Place

To get a full understanding of what Veeam Cloud Connect is and why this platform is an outstanding option, it helps to step back and look at the bigger picture.

Your team wants access to business data in a convenient and secure cloud. For that to happen, your company needs a streamlined, integrated data storage and backup platform.
And this is where Veeam Cloud Connect enters the picture. Utilizing this platform provides the following benefits:

• Portable cloud storage. With this platform, you can move your data easily between different clouds. More than that, you can move it between both on- and off-premises environments, without frustrating restrictions or barriers.
  Consummate security. Having convenience is only part of the equation. When you move data, you want to know that it is secure and not falling into the wrong hands. With Veeam, you can have peace of mind knowing that you are using a global leader in modern data protection.
• Instant, global access to data. In the contemporary work environment, it is becoming increasingly common for anyone in a company to need access to data at almost any time and in any place. This is where the cloud can shine, as it enables this crucial feature for optimal remote-working practices.
• Consummate security. Having convenience is only part of the equation. When you move data, you want to know that it is secure and not falling into the wrong hands. With Veeam, you can have peace of mind knowing that you are using a global leader in modern data protection.
• Efficiency above all. As is often the case with older technologies, hard drives and tape-based media are inefficient tools compared to cloud infrastructure. And once your cloud backup is configured, it’s an automatic process that gives you the ability to focus on your core business activities.
• No fail zone. IT-related disasters happen more often than people realize, but it doesn’t even take a disaster for issues to arise. Drive failure happens even from hard drives simply deteriorating over time. No matter if the root cause is a disaster or time, drive failure leads to a painstaking process of needing to replace your equipment and likely transferring all your data to the new drive. There is a lot of room in there for at least some data loss, if you aren’t also backing up to the cloud.

All the above features combine to form a powerful, cloud-based platform for securing your valuable data and providing exceptional monitoring and analytics capability.

Through Veeam Cloud Connect, you harness the power of intelligent automation, cloud portability, and reliability for all your backup and disaster recovery needs. And that means you can always ensure that your data copies are recoverable and safe. Additionally, you have immutable backup copies—which allows you to be confident that your original data is never compromised—and data reliability assurance, a key foundation of compliance and regulatory requirements.

Give Veeam a Try Through Virtual Systems– For Free!

Now that you know how Veeam Cloud Connect works, you know how important it is for your business. If you are ready to take advantage of this powerful backup and disaster recovery solution, simply get in touch. Our team will do the heavy lifting and you will walk away with peace of mind knowing that your most sensitive data is safe and secure.

Of course, we understand if you aren’t sure that Veeam Cloud Connect is right for you. After all, it’s one thing to have someone explain why it might be, and another to experience it for yourself. That’s why we offer a completely free 30-day, 5TB Veeam trial. You receive guided setup and assistance during the trial period, along with warm standby resources and 24-hour recovery time. Even better, you don’t have to use a credit card to take advantage of this offer.