This will be my third blog post in the last few days, and finally, I have some time to publish several blog posts I have in draft. In this blog post, Veeam Data Platform 23H2 A Deep Dive into the Latest Features, I will discuss the new Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1 version launched last December. Still, I will also touch on the v12.0 features I discussed in the previous posts about Veeam.
Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1 is the up-to-date version of this technology for data protection. It focuses on ensuring the security of your information, offering improved measures to safeguard it effectively. Additionally, this updates efficiency by optimizing resource usage, resulting in more efficient backup and recovery processes. But that’s not all; Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 introduces features that make data protection and recovery more convenient and powerful.
Noteworthy functionalities include Instant Recovery for restoration of VMware machines, support for long-term data retention in AWS S3 Glacier and Azure Blob Archive storage, a simplified licensing process with the Veeam Universal License, and enhanced NAS backup capabilities. Moreover, the Continuous Data Protection (CDP) feature ensures data loss during disasters, making Veeam 12.1 an encompassing solution for robust data protection.
Veeam Data Platform 23H2 includes Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager, Veeam Backup & Replication, and Veeam ONE.
In summary, Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 builds upon the strengths of its predecessor (version 12.0) to offer a solution that addresses data protection, security measures, and efficiency enhancements. With its features and enhanced capabilities, Veeam 12.1 is an asset for organizations aiming to safeguard their data integrity while minimizing downtime and ensuring uninterrupted business operations.
Veeam Backup & Replication has consistently been at the forefront of data protection technology. With its latest update, version 12.1, it continues to enhance its capabilities, offering robust security features, improved efficiency, and an array of innovative functions. This blog post delves into the key features of Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 and also revisits the significant updates that came with version 12.0.
What is new in Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1
Before we dive into the lineup of features in Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1, let’s take a moment to highlight the significant improvements that this latest version offers. These enhancements cover a range of areas, including security and compliance monitoring, streamlined operations, and continuous data protection advancements. Furthermore, Veeam 12.1 introduces the Veeam AI Assistant for AI. Automation capabilities while also prioritizing security and performance upgrades, with TLS 1.3 readiness and stronger encryption. Now, let’s delve deeper into these features to fully understand their value in your data protection strategy.
Bullet points from the new update.
- Early Threat Detection
- Proactive Threat Hunting
- Get a Second Opinion
- Avoid Reinfection
- Automate Clean Recovery
- Recover With Precision
- Guarantee Survival
- Verify Security and Compliance
- Put the Spotlight on Malware
The Veeam Data Platform 23H2 Update promises radical resilience against cyberattacks, prioritizing data security, recovery, and freedom. It introduces features like proactive threat hunting with SIEM integration, YARA-powered scans, and compliance with NIST cybersecurity practices. It offers a built-in AI for malware detection during backups and a Veeam Threat Center for early threat detection. Additionally, the platform includes features to prevent reinfection and ensure clean recovery with tools like the I/O Anomaly Visualizer and immutable backups.
The Veeam Data Platform 23H2 Update introduces new features and enhancements to provide radical resilience and secure data protection in the face of cyber threats. For more information and a deep dive into all the new features, please visit the official Veeam website.
Enhanced Security and Compliance
The new update brings advanced data security measures, including a built-in Malware Detection Engine that detects real-time ransomware and malicious file management activity during backups. This AI-powered feature offers inline entropy and file system analysis to identify threats immediately.
- Security and Compliance Monitoring: This feature ensures the integrity of your backup infrastructure, scanning periodically for any deviations from set security standards.
This new addition to Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1 is extremely valuable for organizations that prioritize the security of their backup infrastructure. It functions like a protector, regularly examining your environment to detect irregularities or deviations from established security protocols. Doing this guarantees the reliability of your data and infrastructure, assisting you in maintaining a defense against potential security breaches and vulnerabilities in your data.
- Veeam Threat Center: Integrated directly into the backup console, this dashboard assesses and highlights security threats, providing a comprehensive overview of your data protection health.
The Veeam Threat Center seamlessly integrates with the console as a hub to monitor and evaluate security threats. It does more than detect threats; it provides a picture of the health of your data protection. This dashboard offers real-time insights into security risks, empowering you to take steps to safeguard your data and infrastructure. With the Veeam Threat Center readily available, you can avoid security challenges. Make informed decisions to protect your organization’s valuable information.
- Proactive Threat Hunting: Integrating with SIEM platforms and utilizing YARA rules for ransomware pattern detection, the platform allows IT teams to shift from reactive to proactive threat hunting. This proactive stance is further supported by the Veeam Incident API, which enables security platforms to mark recovery points as clean, infected, or suspicious
Proactivity is key in cyber defense. The 23H2 Update integrates with SIEM platforms and utilizes YARA rules for ransomware pattern detection. This allows IT teams to shift from reactive to proactive threat hunting, significantly enhancing the overall security posture.
- Advanced Recovery and Backup Protection: The update includes enhanced backup protection to prevent accidental or malicious deletion of backups, employing the four-eyes principle for deletion approval. There’s also the I/O Anomaly Visualizer, which detects unusual disk activity and aids in rolling back to the exact point before infection.
The update enhances backup protection, preventing accidental or malicious data loss. The introduction of the I/O Anomaly Visualizer detects unusual disk activity, enabling precise rollbacks to pre-infection states and ensuring clean and reliable data recovery.
Streamlined Operations
- Veeam App for ServiceNow: This integration simplifies backup management by connecting ServiceNow workflows with Veeam backup capabilities.
In Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1, the addition of the Veeam App for ServiceNow brings a change for those looking to streamline their backup management operations. This integration bridges the gap between Veeam backup capabilities and the workflow automation abilities of ServiceNow. It. Centralizes management by allowing ServiceNow workflows to interact seamlessly with Veeam backup processes. This means that you can easily initiate and keep track of tasks within the familiar ServiceNow environment, making it simpler than ever to align your backup operations with your broader IT service management processes. The focus is on enhancing efficiency and convenience, enabling you to save time and resources while ensuring that your backup strategy remains seamlessly integrated into your organization’s operations.
- Backup of Object Storage: Enhanced to protect data in both on-premises and cloud environments, offering flexible recovery options.
Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 also introduces improvements to backing up data stored in object storage, addressing the evolving requirements of organizations operating in both on-premises and cloud environments. This update guarantees the protection of your data stored in object storage, whether in your data center or the cloud. It does not enhance data security. It also provides flexible recovery options, giving you peace of mind by ensuring your critical information is safeguarded and easily recoverable. This feature demonstrates Veeam dedication to adapting to the changing landscape of data storage, ensuring that your data protection strategy remains efficient and dependable in today’s IT environments.
Continuous Data Protection Improvements
- Veeam CDP Enhancements: Version 12.1 significantly boosts the performance and reliability of the Continuous Data Protection engine, expanding its scope and effectiveness.
Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1 leaps forward with its improvements to Continuous Data Protection (CDP) in the changing realm of data protection. Version 12.1 enhances the performance and reliability of the CDP engine, solidifying its role as an element in safeguarding your data resilience strategy. These enhancements ensure a more efficient CDP process, minimizing the risk of data loss during incidents. As a result, your organization can operate with no Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs), significantly reducing the impact of data loss.
Furthermore, these upgrades expand the versatility and effectiveness of Veeam CDP, making it more adaptable to meet the requirements of modern businesses. Whether managing environments, physical servers, or a combination of both, Veeam v12.1 CDP enhancements assure you that your critical data remains continuously protected and is readily recoverable regardless of circumstances. This showcases Veeam dedication to being at the forefront of data protection technology, enabling your organization to thrive in today’s data-driven world.
Other improvements
- TLS 1.3 Readiness and Stronger Encryption: Ensuring future-proof security protocols and enhanced data protection
- Improved Compliance and Cloud Security: The 23H2 Update emphasizes compliance with the Security & Compliance Analyzer, which continuously verifies backup configurations against best practices to mitigate ransomware risks. Cloud backup security is also enhanced, ensuring the least privileged access and immutable backups for cloud databases.
- Data Freedom and Recovery Orchestration: Veeam’s commitment to data freedom is highlighted by the new features that allow more granular control over data recovery processes. This is supported by the enhanced Recovery Orchestrator, which provides streamlined recovery workflows across diverse environments.
- AI Assistance and Automation: The Veeam AI assistant leverages generative AI to provide in-product assistance, helping users with immediate insights and guidance on optimizing the use of Veeam products. This smart feature aids in decision-making and simplifies complex backup and recovery operations.
- Ransomware Backup & Recovery: The platform reinforces its ransomware backup and recovery capabilities by including more robust immutability features and multi-admin authorization requirements, which form part of the ‘four-eyes principle’ to prevent accidental or malicious data loss.
These updates collectively enhance the resilience of organizations against ransomware and other cyberattacks, ensuring businesses can maintain operations and recover quickly from incidents. Veeam continues to innovate in data protection, providing solutions that address the evolving needs of modern enterprises.
Highlighting Veeam Backup & Replication 12.0 Features
Let’s take a step back and delve into the advancements and capabilities of Veeam Backup & Replication 12.0, the predecessor to Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1. This earlier version established the groundwork for the innovation and improvements Veeam consistently introduces in data protection.
Direct Data Storage and Management
Veeam Backup & Replication 12.0 caused quite a stir in the data storage and management world with its approach. One of the highlights was the introduction of object storage, which revolutionized how organizations store their backup data. This not only enhanced data accessibility but also resulted in cost savings by utilizing scalable and budget-friendly object storage solutions. Additionally, VeeaMover emerged as a tool that simplified the process of moving data, proving especially beneficial during large-scale data migrations to object storage. It made the transition smoother and more efficient for organizations.
- Direct-to-Object Storage: A revolutionary change allowing direct backup data storage on object storage systems.
- VeeaMover: A tool for efficiently moving backup data, especially useful in migrations to object storage.
Enhanced Security Framework
Veeam understood the importance of securing data, and in their 12.0 version, they made significant improvements to their security framework. One notable enhancement was the implementation of measures to protect against attacks. In response to the evolving cyber threats, Veeam proactively implemented safeguards to ensure that backup data remains secure. They introduced factor authentication (MFA), which acts as an extra layer of protection when accessing the backup console. MFA became a component, allowing authorized individuals to initiate and manage backup operations. Additionally, automated session logoffs were introduced to minimize the risk of access alignment with industry practices for maintaining security.
In light of the concerning rise in attacks, which we can check in the following statistics, Veeam is taking decisive measures. Considering that 85% of organizations have been affected by ransomware in 2023 and an alarming 93% of these incidents have specifically targeted backups, with 75% being at least partially successful, it is evident that there is a pressing need to enhance security. Veeam latest backup tools, particularly Veeam Backup & Replication, have been specifically developed to offer cutting-edge security layers and innovative features ensuring protection for customer environments against the threat posed by ransomware.
Veeam Backup & Replication 12.1 has been strengthened to address these dangers with security measures to counter ransomware attacks targeting backup data. Veeam acknowledges the role of backups in defending against and recovering from incidents. Given the increasing number of attacks compromising data integrity, the latest version is designed to defend and prevent successful ransomware intrusions proactively. These enhancements play a role in safeguarding the integrity of backup infrastructure, ensuring the resilience and uninterrupted continuity of business operations amidst these cyber threats.
- Ransomware Protection: Strengthened defenses against ransomware attacks.
- Multi-factor Authentication: Added security layer for accessing the backup console.
- Automated Session Logoffs: To prevent unauthorized access.
Recovery and Backup Features
Veeam 12.0 made some improvements in the area of recovery and backup features. One standout feature was Multi VM Instant Recovery, which allowed organizations to recover machines quickly at the same time. This helped minimize downtime and ensured that critical services could be restored promptly. Veeam also enhanced NAS backup performance, showing its commitment to meeting data storage needs. Additionally, they introduced file share recovery, giving users access to restored data. This feature was especially valuable when quick data access was crucial for business continuity.
- Multi-VM Instant Recovery: For quicker and more efficient data restoration.
- NAS Backup Performance: Improved capabilities for Network Attached Storage backups.
- Instant File Share Recovery: Providing immediate access to restored data.
Integration and Optimization
Veeam acknowledges the significance of integration and optimization in safeguarding data. Integrating with Wasabis storage solutions and introducing the Smart Object Storage API, Veeam demonstrates its commitment to staying at the forefront of storage technology. These additions improve compatibility and performance with Wasabis cloud storage, allowing Veeam users to utilize this cost storage solution while maintaining performance seamlessly.
- Wasabi Integration and Smart Object Storage API: Enhanced compatibility and performance with Wasabi storage solutions.
Looking back, Veeam Backup & Replication 12.0 has laid the groundwork for developing Veeam data protection solutions. Its emphasis on innovation, security, and performance optimization has paved the way for features and improvements in version 12.1 and beyond. This serves as evidence of Veeam dedication to meeting the evolving requirements of organizations in our data-centric world.
How to upgrade to Veeam Data Platform 23H2
We discussed this in a previous blog post, but let’s add some quick steps on how to upgrade your Veeam Backup & Replication server to the new version.
First, you need to login to your Veeam account and download your ISO.
Then, launch the setup and upgrade Veeam Backup & Replication by section.
- First Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager
There is no need to go through all the steps here; the process is straightforward: follow the steps and finish the upgrade.
- Second Veeam Backup & Replication Console
Note: If you have Veeam ONE, upgrade it with the Veeam Data Platform ISO(including all three tools).
Some extra information about Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1:
Conclusion
The Veeam Data Platform 23H2 Update marks a significant step in data protection and cyber resilience. Veeam continues to demonstrate its leadership in the data protection market by blending cutting-edge technology with practical, user-friendly features. Whether you’re battling ransomware, managing complex hybrid-cloud environments, or aiming to simplify your data protection strategy, this update provides the tools and capabilities necessary to ensure your data remains secure, accessible, and recoverable. With Veeam’s latest innovations, businesses can confidently face the challenges of today’s digital landscape, secure in the knowledge that their data is protected by the very best in the industry.
In this Veeam Data Platform 23H2 A Deep Dive into the Latest Features blog post, we discuss the new features and improvements. Once again, we notice that every time a new version of Veeam Backup & Replication is released, it highlights Veeam commitment to backing up your environment and ensuring its comprehensive security. This unwavering dedication to protecting data shows that Veeam takes this issue seriously. By employing strategies to safeguard data, Veeam has established itself as the choice in the market for holistic data protection. Through innovation and a deep understanding of the importance of recovery and security, Veeam proves that it is more than a tool and reassures you that your data is secured at every level.
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