When Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 Update 4 went Generally Available a couple of weeks ago I posted a What’s in it for Service Providers blog. In that post I briefly outlined all the new features and enhancements in Update 4 as it related to our Veeam Cloud and Service Providers. As mentioned each new major feature deserves it’s own seperate post. I’ve covered off Tape as a Service and RBAC Self Service, and today i’m focusing on a much requested feature…Cloud Connect Gateway Pools

As a reminder here are the top new features and enhancements in Update 4 for VCSPs.

Gateway Pools for Cloud Connect

Cloud Connect has become the central mechanism for connectivity and communication between multiple Veeam services. When first launched with Cloud Connect Backup in v8 of Backup & Replication, the Cloud Connect Gateways where used for all secure communications between tenant backup server instances and the Veeam Cloud and Service Provider (VCSP) Cloud Connect backup infrastructure. This expanded to support Cloud Connect Replication in v9 and from there we have added multiple products that rely on communications brokered by Cloud Connect Gateways.

As of today Cloud Connect Gateways facilitate:

  • Cloud Connect Backup
  • Cloud Connect Replication
  • Full and Partial Failovers for Cloud Connect Replication
  • Remote Console Access
  • Veeam Availability Console Tenant and Agent Management
  • Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 Self Service

With regards to acting as the broker for Cloud Connect Backup or Replication, prior to Update 4 the only way in which a VCSP could design and deploy the Gateways was in an all or nothing approach when it came to configuring the IP address and DNS for the service endpoint. When considering VCSPs that also provide connectivity such as MPLS for their customers it meant that to leverage direct connections that might be private the options where to either use the public address or setup a whole new Cloud Connect environment for the customer.

Now with Update 4 and Gateway Pools a VCSP can configure one or many Gateway Pools and allocate one or more Cloud Connect Gateways to those pools. From there, tenants can be assigned to Gateway Pools.

Cloud Gateways in a Gateway Pool operate no differently to regular Cloud Gateways. As with previous Cloud Gateways, If the primary gateway is unavailable, the logic built into Veeam Backup & Replication will failover to another Cloud Gateway in the same pool.

If tenants are not assigned a Cloud Gateway Pool they can use only gateways that are not a part of any cloud gateway pool. That situation is warned in the UI when configuring the gateways.

Wrap Up:

The introduction of Cloud Connect Gateway Pools un Update 4 was undertaken due to direct feedback from our VCSPs who wanted more flexibility in the way in which the Cloud Gateways where deployed and configured for customers. Not only can they be used to seperate tenants connecting from public and private networks, but they can also be used for Quality of Service by assigning a Gateway Pool to specific tenants. They can also be used to control access into a VCSPs Cloud Connect infrastructure if located in different geographic locations.

For a great overview and design considerations of Cloud Connect Gateway Pools and Gateways themselves, check out Luca’s Cloud Connect Book here.

References:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/cloud/cloud_gateway_pool.html?ver=95u4