Ever attended a hands-on lab at a tech conference and felt genuinely excited about backups? That happened when I dove into the “Getting Started with Veeam Data Cloud” lab at VeeamON. As an IT pro and Veeam enthusiast, I expected to learn a thing or two about the new Cloud Vault service – but I didn’t expect it to be this much fun. The lab was casual, engaging, and packed with awesome tech goodness. I walked away with a big grin, a head full of ideas, and a newfound appreciation for Veeam’s latest innovations (especially Instant Recovery, which stole the show for me!).
We covered a ton of ground in this 2.5-hour session. Here’s a quick rundown of what we tackled in the lab:
- Adding a Veeam Data Cloud Vault repository—Even though our lab environment only had a few client VMs, we easily set up a Cloud Vault off-site repository.
- Backing up directly to Object Storage – no intermediate storage needed; we sent backups straight to the cloud (Azure Blob under the hood) like it was no big deal.
- Restoring directly from Object Storage – proving we could pull data straight from the cloud repository when needed, without breaking a sweat.
- Creating a secondary backup copy—because one backup is never enough! We made an extra copy of our data for that extra layer of safety (a belt-and-suspenders approach).
- Simulating a failure and a ransomware attack—yes, we actually pretended things went horribly wrong (a server crash and a ransomware scenario) to test our resiliency.
- Recovering from disaster—Then we turned around and recovered from those simulated failures using our backups, like true disaster-recovery ninjas.
- Instant Recovery of a VM from Veeam Data Cloud—the grand finale: We booted up a VM directly from the Cloud Vault backup (using a cache) and failed it back to production storage once the crisis was over. Mind blown.
Does that sound like a lot? It was, but the lab was so well guided that it felt totally manageable. Let me break down these experiences and why they were so cool.
Adding a Cloud Vault (Small Lab? No Problem!)
First, we set up a Veeam Data Cloud Vault repository in our backup console. If you’re unfamiliar, Cloud Vault is Veeam’s new fully managed, secure cloud storage solution for backups. Think of it as an air-gapped off-site vault in Azure where you can park backup copies safely away from your production environment (with built-in immutability and encryption for ransomware protection). The best part? Adding it to Veeam Backup & Replication was dead simple – essentially just using the “Add Repository” wizard and choosing Cloud Vault as the object storage target. No extra hardware, no complex setup. In plain English, Cloud Vault lets you get backups off-site to a secure cloud location without building or managing any infrastructure yourself. Music to my ears!
Despite our lab having only a handful of VMS (just a few clients to back up), this demonstrated that Cloud Vault isn’t just for massive environments. Even if you’re a small shop with a few servers, you can leverage this service without breaking the bank or your brain. Veeam’s flexible per-terabyte pricing and fully-managed approach mean you can start small and scale up as needed, with no surprise costs. I appreciated seeing that in action – it drives home that anyone can bolster their off-site backup strategy, not just the big enterprises. As a bonus, the lab mentors shared some tips on best practices (like using a Scale-out Backup Repository with a Capacity Tier) to integrate Cloud Vault smoothly. It’s a relatively new feature (introduced in Veeam Data Platform v12.3), and seeing it work firsthand was awesome.
Backing Up Directly to Object Storage – Easy Peasy
Next up: we created a backup job and pointed it directly at the Cloud Vault (object storage). No intermediate disk repository at all – this was a pure cloud-first backup. In earlier days, you’d typically back up to a local repository and then copy out to the cloud. But here we just let it rip straight to object storage. And guess what? It felt no different than a regular backup job. The wizard didn’t throw any curveballs; we selected our VMS, chose the Cloud Vault as the target, set our schedule, and off it went. The backups streamed out to Azure Blob storage in the background. Success!
Seeing a backup go directly to object storage was eye-opening because it simplifies the infrastructure. In the lab scenario, we imagined that maybe we’re a small remote office with no local backup storage, but it still worked flawlessly. We had our first backup restore point safely sitting in the cloud a few minutes later. Because Cloud Vault storage is immutable and isolated by design, I knew even then that those backups were locked against ransomware tampering (immense peace of mind). We also discussed how everything is encrypted in transit and at rest, so data security boxes are thoroughly checked. It’s hard not to geek out when things work seamlessly like this!
Restoring Straight from the Cloud
After sending our data to the cloud, restoring from that cloud backup was the next logical step. Could we pull data back down efficiently? The answer: absolutely yes. First, we practiced a file-level restore, grabbing a specific file from the backed-up VM directly out of the object storage repository. Veeam’s console made it easy: we browsed the backup (it felt just like browsing a local backup), found our test file, and hit restore. In the background, Veeam fetched the needed blocks from the Cloud Vault, and voila, the file was back.
If I hadn’t known the backups were stored remotely, I might not have noticed any difference. The restore was quick and straightforward. This showcased the power of the Veeam Data Cloud approach–you can back up to the cloud and use those backups on-demand when needed without cumbersome processes. The lab attendees (myself included) were nodding in approval. It’s reassuring to see that you could retrieve critical data directly from an off-site location in a worst-case scenario with minimal delay. Whether it was a single file or an entire VM, we saw that restoration from the object store works like a charm.
Secondary Backup Copies: Belt and Suspenders
Of course, one copy of your data is never enough in IT. The lab also had us configure a secondary backup copy job. The idea is to follow the 3-2-1 rule (3 copies of data, two different media, one off-site). We already had our off-site copy in Cloud Vault; for the lab exercise, we simulated having a primary backup on a local repository and then used a Backup Copy job to send a second copy to the Cloud Vault. This way, even if our primary backup files were lost or corrupted, the secondary copy in the vault would be a lifeline.
Setting up the backup copy job was straightforward. We pointed it at an existing backup and set the Cloud Vault as the target. We also experimented with immutability settings – essentially making the copied restore points in the cloud locked for a certain number of days (meaning no one, not even an admin, can delete or modify them until that period expires). This is a critical defence against ransomware, since attackers often try to wipe out backups. With immutability, those cloud copies are tamper-proof for the duration you set. Seeing that in action was reassuring. We joked that the Cloud Vault is like putting your backups in a bank vault that ransomware “bank robbers” can’t crack.
I loved the flexibility: Cloud Vault can be used as a primary backup target (as we did in the direct-to-cloud backup) or as a copy target for secondary backups. It fits whatever strategy makes sense for you. In both cases, you get that off-site, managed storage goodness. For a paranoid backup admin like me, having multiple copies in different places (with one copy immutable in the cloud) is a chef’s kiss. It’s the kind of thing that helps you sleep better at night.
Disaster Strikes! (Simulating Failure and Ransomware)
Now for the fun (and slightly scary) part: the instructors had us simulate a disaster scenario to test our setup. We did two back-to-back scenarios: a plain old system failure (think a server crash or hardware failure taking out a VM), and a ransomware attack wreaking havoc on our environment. The lab environment made it easy to simulate these without real damage. We basically “broke” a VM on purpose and mimicked what it would be like if an attacker encrypted our server or wiped out our primary backups.
In the first scenario, we pretended the primary VM went down hard and was completely unusable. In the second, we went a step further and assumed our local backups were compromised (either deleted or encrypted by malware). This is the nightmare situation every admin dreads: production is down, and your backups are gone.
Recovering Like a Pro from Disaster
Enter our hero: Veeam Data Cloud Vault (cue triumphant music ). Because that secondary, immutable backup was sitting safe and sound in Cloud Vault (isolated from our production systems), all was not lost. We switched into recovery mode and went step by step to recover from the simulated failures. This was satisfying: it turned a scary what-if scenario into a confidence-building exercise.
We fired up the restore wizard for the crashed VM, pointed to the backup in the Cloud Vault, and performed a full VM restore into our virtual environment. The VM was back online on our host in minutes and restored from the cloud copy. If this had been a real outage, that means minimal downtime. Not bad, right?
For the ransomware scenario, the process was similar: since we assumed the local backups were toast, we treated the Cloud Vault backup as our last good copy. Because those cloud backups are immutable and air-gapped from the attack, the malware couldn’t touch them. We went ahead and launched a restore from the vault. Seeing a supposedly “ransomware-proof” backup do its job felt pretty heroic. Our infected machine was replaced within a short time with a clean, restored version from the cloud. Crisis averted! The lab proved that even if your whole site gets hit by ransomware, an off-site immutable backup means you can recover your data and get back online.
The Magic of Instant VM Recovery (Favourite Feature Alert!)
I’ve saved the best for last: Instant VM Recovery from our Cloud Vault backup. I’ve been a fan of Veeam’s Instant Recovery technology for a while, but doing it directly from an object storage backup was next-level cool. It works like wizardry: you can boot a VM directly from its backup file, even if that backup resides in the cloud—no waiting to copy the whole backup back on-prem first. We powered on a VM from the Cloud Vault in seconds, straight out of the backup repository.
Here’s what happened under the hood: when we kicked off Instant Recovery, Veeam mounted the backup from object storage and presented it to our vSphere host as a temporary datastore. The backup server began streaming tiny blocks of the VM data from the cloud on demand to serve the VM. Any writes or changes we made to the VM while it ran were diverted to a local cache. In practical terms, this meant the VM booted up quickly – in our case, around half a minute to get the VM running! – despite the bulk of its virtual disk residing in the cloud. Wow. We were all grinning, watching the VM come alive as if nothing had happened, knowing it was being streamed from Azure Blob storage behind the scenes.
Using the VM while it was in this state was surprisingly smooth. For a lab test, we even tried accessing some files on that VM, and they opened just fine, with Veeam quietly pulling data blocks over as needed. Performance was usable for a recovery scenario. This is a game-changer for disaster recovery scenarios – you can get critical systems online fast, without waiting hours to download large backup files.
Finally, we did a failback to production (or a migration). Once our primary storage was available, we migrated the running VM from the Cloud Vault backup back to our production datastore. Veeam handled the heavy lifting: copying the VM’s data from the cloud backup to the production storage in the background, while the VM was still running. The lab guide jokingly threw in a “#mindblown” as we watched this happen, and I couldn’t agree more. This Instant Recovery + migration process meant we went from disaster to fully restored and running on primary storage with minimal downtime. No wonder Instant Recovery is my favourite feature – it saved the day in our lab story, and it’s easy to imagine it doing the same in a real crisis.
Final Thoughts and Shoutouts
By the end of the lab, I was practically buzzing with excitement. Getting hands-on experience with Veeam Data Cloud Vault and these recovery techniques was informative and fun. The casual, enthusiastic vibe of the session made complex concepts feel approachable. I walked away feeling confident I could implement these strategies in my environment – and eager to do so! The experience highlighted how Veeam’s ecosystem is evolving to make cloud backups and fast recoveries simpler than ever.
I have to give a massive shout-out to our lab instructors: Karinne Bessette (Global Technologist, Microsoft MVP), Julia Furst Morgado (Global Technologist), and Tim Jeffcoat (Manager, Technical Sales). These folks were fantastic – super knowledgeable and always ready with a helpful tip or a joke to keep things light. Their passion for the tech was infectious (you could tell they live and breathe this stuff), and they ensured everyone was keeping up and having a good time. Not every day you get to learn directly from Veeam experts of this calibre, and they did not disappoint.
Also, special thanks to ilandcloud for powering the lab environment so smoothly. The entire lab infrastructure ran without a hitch, a testament to having a solid cloud platform behind the scenes. When spinning up and tearing down VMS in a live lab, you appreciate a stable environment, and iland delivers.
In conclusion, the “Getting Started with Veeam Data Cloud” lab at VeeamON was an absolute blast. I learned a ton about Cloud Vault and saw features like Object Storage backups and Instant Recovery in action – all while having fun and connecting with fellow Veeam enthusiasts. If you ever can attend a VeeamON lab or session like this, do it! There’s nothing like that hands-on experience to turn abstract concepts into “I can totally do this” moments. I’m already looking forward to playing more with these features back at the office (and maybe showing off a bit to my teammates ). Until next time, happy backing up – and may your restores be instant!
Dave Kawula – Veeam Vanguard / Microsoft MVP
