VMCE Veeam Backup & Replication Architecture 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a Veeam Backup & Replication deployment, which component is responsible for cataloging VM guest OS file system metadata to enable file-level restore?
- Veeam Guest Catalog Service (Correct answer)
- Veeam Mount Service
- Veeam vPower NFS Service
- Veeam Indexing Service
Correct answer: Veeam Guest Catalog Service
The Veeam Guest Catalog Service indexes guest OS file metadata stored in the backup catalog, enabling granular file-level restore from backup files.
Question 2: What is the role of the Veeam vPower NFS Service in the architecture?
- It provides an NFS datastore that allows ESXi hosts to mount VMs directly from backup files (Correct answer)
- It replicates backup data over NFS to remote repositories
- It exports backup files to a network share for archival
- It provides NFS access to the Veeam configuration database
Correct answer: It provides an NFS datastore that allows ESXi hosts to mount VMs directly from backup files
The vPower NFS Service presents backup files as a virtual NFS datastore so ESXi can mount and instantly power on VMs without restoring data first.
Question 3: When Veeam performs a backup using the Network transport mode, how is VM data transferred?
- Via the VMware VDDK over the LAN using the ESXi management network (Correct answer)
- Via Fibre Channel directly from the storage array
- Via a dedicated iSCSI initiator on the backup proxy
- Via VADP HotAdd through a locally attached VMDK
Correct answer: Via the VMware VDDK over the LAN using the ESXi management network
Network (NBD) mode uses the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) API over the ESXi management network to read VM disk data across the LAN.
Question 4: Which Veeam component stores job configurations, restore points metadata, and session history?
- Veeam Backup Server (Microsoft SQL database) (Correct answer)
- Veeam Backup Repository
- Veeam Enterprise Manager database
- Veeam ONE database
Correct answer: Veeam Backup Server (Microsoft SQL database)
The Veeam Backup Server uses a Microsoft SQL (or SQL Express) database to store all configuration data including job definitions, session logs, and restore point metadata.
Question 5: In Scale-out Backup Repository (SOBR), what is the function of the 'Performance Tier'?
- It holds recent backups on fast storage for quick restores and active backup chains (Correct answer)
- It archives old backups to object storage for long-term retention
- It indexes backup data for fast searching
- It provides encrypted storage for sensitive backup data
Correct answer: It holds recent backups on fast storage for quick restores and active backup chains
The Performance Tier of a SOBR consists of fast extents that store active backup chains, ensuring recent restore points are quickly accessible.
Question 6: How does Veeam's Changed Block Tracking (CBT) improve incremental backup performance?
- It tracks which disk blocks changed since the last snapshot, so only changed blocks are read (Correct answer)
- It compresses unchanged blocks to reduce network bandwidth
- It pre-stages changed blocks in host RAM before backup begins
- It deduplicates blocks across all VMs on the same host before transfer
Correct answer: It tracks which disk blocks changed since the last snapshot, so only changed blocks are read
CBT (via VMware's VADP) identifies and reads only the blocks that changed since the previous backup, dramatically reducing backup window and data transferred.
Question 7: What defines a 'backup chain' in Veeam Backup & Replication?
- A full backup file plus all subsequent incremental or reverse-incremental backup files needed to reconstruct a restore point (Correct answer)
- A sequence of replicas linked across multiple remote sites
- A series of backup jobs configured to run sequentially
- A group of backup repositories linked together in SOBR
Correct answer: A full backup file plus all subsequent incremental or reverse-incremental backup files needed to reconstruct a restore point
A backup chain is the full backup plus all dependent incremental files required to synthesize any specific restore point in that chain.
VMCE Veeam Backup & Replication Architecture 2
In a Veeam Backup & Replication deployment, which component is responsible for cataloging VM guest OS file system metadata to enable file-level restore?