Free Practice Questions for Veeam VMCA2022 Exam

The transport modes that could be used during the redesign for gold tier virtual machines with a one-hour RPO are Virtual Appliance (HotAdd) and Backup from Storage Snapshots. A transport mode is a method of retrieving VM data from the source storage during backup or replication. Virtual Appliance (HotAdd) is a transport mode that allows a proxy server running on a VM to attach disks of another VM to itself via hot-add SCSI commands and read data directly from these disks. Backup from Storage Snapshots is a transport mode that allows a proxy server to retrieve data from storage snapshots created by supported storage systems without affecting the production VMs or hosts. Both transport modes can improve backup performance, reduce backup window, and minimize impact on the production environment.

The action that Veeam Life and Indemnity should take to improve the likelihood that a ransomware attack on the Veeam infrastructure will not be successful is to protect the Veeam components on the production Active Directory Forest with multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security mechanism that requires users to provide two or more pieces of evidence to prove their identity before accessing a system or resource. MFA can prevent unauthorized access to the Veeam components even if the user credentials are compromised by ransomware or other means.

The things that can be done to validate that the design meets target SLAs and reduces the headcount required to manage the solution are:

Use tagging and scripts to auto-generate backup jobs, set the start time and windows, letting the backup server manage resource allocation. This option allows to automate the backup job creation and configuration, based on the tags assigned to the source objects, such as VMs, hosts, or clusters1. This reduces the manual effort and human error involved in managing the backup jobs, and ensures that the backup server allocates the optimal resources for each job, based on the load balancing and performance settings2.

Explain how to detect configuration changes, reporting and using backup job templates to maintain consistency. Document self-service restore the streamline service desk engagement. This option allows to monitor the backup infrastructure and detect any changes that may affect the backup performance or reliability, such as adding or removing VMs, hosts, or clusters3. It also allows to use backup job templates to create consistent and standardized backup policies, and apply them to multiple backup jobs4. Additionally, it allows to document the self-service restore process, which enables end-users to perform file-level restores from their own backups, without involving the backup administrator or the service desk5.

Review the design so that the slowest part of the infrastructure is fast enough to meet backup window requirements. This option allows to identify and optimize the bottleneck in the backup infrastructure, which is the component that limits the backup speed and throughput. By reviewing the design and ensuring that the slowest part of the infrastructure can meet the backup window requirements, the backup SLAs can be achieved and the backup performance can be improved.

The other options are either not relevant for validating the design (option A and E, as exporting the configuration, scheduling a review, and reviewing the design for bottlenecks are part of the design process, not the validation process) or not effective for meeting the SLAs and reducing the headcount (option C, as using inventory information, backup chaining, and fine tuning are manual and complex tasks that may not guarantee the backup window compliance or resource efficiency). References: Tagging, Load Balancing and Performance, Configuration Change Tracking, Backup Job Templates, Self-Service File Restore, [Bottleneck Statistics]

Changing the backup window from 12 hours to 14 hours means that the backup jobs will have more time to complete, and therefore less concurrency will be required. This will reduce the load on the proxies, which are the data movers that perform backup, replication, and restore tasks1. The proxies will need fewer resources, such as CPU and memory, to handle the same amount of data.

The other options are incorrect because:

A) Proxies will not require more resources, as explained above.

B) Mount servers will not require fewer resources, as they are not affected by the backup window. Mount servers are used to mount backup files and restore data from them2. Their resource consumption depends on the restore frequency and performance, not the backup window.

D) Repositories will not require more storage space, as the backup window does not affect the backup size. Repositories are storage locations where the backup files are stored3. Their storage space consumption depends on the amount of data to be backed up, the backup method, the retention policy, and the compression and deduplication settings, not the backup window.

You can find more information about the backup window and the Veeam components in the following resources:

Backup Window

Mount Server

Backup Repository

Backup from Storage Snapshots and Direct NFS are the preferred processing modes for NFS datastores, as they offer the best performance and reliability for backup and restore operations12.

Backup from Storage Snapshots 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 environment3. Backup from Storage Snapshots is supported for NFS datastores on NetApp, Nimble, Dell EMC, HPE, and Pure Storage systems4.

Direct NFS is a proprietary transport mode of Veeam Backup & Replication that uses a native NFS client deployed on the backup proxy to read and write data directly from and to the NFS datastore. Veeam Backup & Replication also bypasses the ESXi host and reduces the load on the production environment. Direct NFS is supported for NFS datastores on any storage system that supports NFS version 3 or 4.1.

The other options are not preferred because:

B) Network (NBD) mode is a transport mode that uses the VMware VDDK to communicate with the ESXi host over the network. This mode produces additional load on the ESXi host and the network, and may result in slower backup and restore performance.

C) Virtual Appliance (HotAdd) mode is a transport mode that uses the VMware VDDK to attach the disks of the processed VM to the backup proxy VM. This mode also produces additional load on the ESXi host and the network, and may cause issues with disk alignment or SCSI controller limitations.

D) Network mode with Encryption (NBDSSL) mode is a transport mode that uses the VMware VDDK to communicate with the ESXi host over the network with SSL encryption. This mode provides an extra layer of security, but also adds more overhead and reduces the backup and restore performance.

You can find more information about the processing modes and how to choose the best one for your environment in the following resources:

Transport Modes

Selecting a Transport Mode

Backup from Storage Snapshots

Storage Systems Supported for Backup from Storage Snapshots

[Direct NFS Access]

[Network Mode]

[Virtual Appliance Mode]

[Network Mode with Encryption]

Immutable repositories are backup storage locations that prevent unauthorized modifications or deletions of backup data, ensuring its integrity and recoverability. Immutable repositories are essential for protecting backups against ransomware attacks, accidental deletions, or malicious insiders1.

Veeam Backup & Replication supports several types of immutable repositories, such as hardened repositories, immutable object storage repositories, and immutable deduplicating storage appliances2. Among these options, the best configuration for ensuring SLA compliance and providing protection against ransomware is to leverage hardened repositories at both primary and secondary sites, and offload to object storage in a public cloud with immutability enabled.

Hardened repositories are Linux-based repositories that use XFS file system with immutability flag to protect backup files from changes or removals. Hardened repositories can be used as primary or secondary backup targets, and can be combined with Veeam Scale-out Backup Repository to simplify backup management and optimize storage utilization3.

Object storage repositories are cloud-based repositories that use object storage services, such as Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, or Google Cloud Storage, to store backup data. Object storage repositories can be used as secondary backup targets, and can leverage the immutability feature of the cloud provider to prevent backup data from being overwritten or deleted.

By using hardened repositories at both primary and secondary sites, you can achieve high availability and redundancy for your backup data, as well as fast and reliable restores. By offloading to object storage in a public cloud with immutability enabled, you can achieve long-term retention and compliance, aswell as cost savings and scalability. This configuration also follows the 3-2-1-1 backup rule, which recommends having three copies of data, on two different types of media, with one copy off-site and one copy immutable.

You can find more information about immutable repositories and how to configure them in the following resources:

Immutable Backup Solutions: Linux Hardened Repository

Unstructured Data Backups in Immutable Repositories

Hardened Repository

[Immutability for Object Storage Repositories]

[3-2-1-1 Backup Rule]

The additional information that is necessary for sizing the backup solution and must be gathered during further discovery are the amount of virtual machines to be protected and the total amount of production storage provisioned space. These metrics are used to calculate the backup storage requirements, the backup proxy and transporter resources, and the backup job configuration. The other options are either not relevant for sizing the backup solution (repository storage file system, replication schedule) or already provided in the scenario (the available bandwidth per site). References: Veeam Certified Architect 2022 Exam Guide, page 10; Veeam Backup & Replication v11: Architecture and Designcourse, module 3.

The Veeam feature that can be used to help achieve compliance with privacy regulations is location tags on repositories. Location tags are labels that can be assigned to backup repositories to indicate their physical or logical location, such as country, region, or data center1. Location tags can help ensure that backup data is stored and processed in compliance with data residency and privacy laws, such as GDPR or CCPA, by allowing backup administrators to create backup policies based on the location of the source and target data2. The other options are not related to privacy compliance, as they are either used for network optimization (preferred networks), server identification (location tags on Veeam Backup & Replication servers), or backup scope (location tags on subnets). References: Location Tags, Using Location Tags.

The best way to deploy the proxies for the remote office is to deploy eight virtual proxies with eight CPUs and 16 GB of RAM each. This option allows to leverage the Virtual appliance (Hot-Add) mode, which is the recommended transport mode for VSAN storage1. Virtual appliance mode enables LAN-free data transfer between the source datastore and the proxy, as well as load balancing and fault tolerance across multiple proxies2. The other options are either not optimal (option A and B, as physical proxies require LAN or SAN connection to access the source data, which may impact the networkperformance and backup SLAs3) or not supported (option C, as virtual proxies with more than eight CPUs are not compatible with Virtual appliance mode). References: Transport Modes, Virtual Appliance Mode, Direct Storage Access Mode, [Requirements and Limitations for VMware Backup Proxies].

The repositories should be configured as Scale-out Backup Repositories consisting of hardened repositories to easily allow for additional capacity to be added and to meet the immutability requirement. Scale-out Backup Repository is a logical entity that groups several backup repositories into a single pool of storage, and allows to add or remove backup repositories as needed1. Hardened repository is a Linux-based backup repository with immutability enabled, which prevents backup files from being modified or deleted until the specified retention period expires2. The other options are either not immutable (option A and C, as NTFS and XFS do not support immutability) or not scalable (option B, as ReFS does not support adding or removing extents in a Scale-out Backup Repository3). References: Scale-out Backup Repository, Hardened Repository, ReFS Limitations.