I’d like to first thank Rick Vanover, Madalina Cristil, Nikola Pejková, Aubrey Galen, and everyone at Veeam for their efforts and support leading into the Veeam 100 Summit. It’s a HUGE undertaking that requires many levels of coordination and I owe everyone a BIG THANK YOU for providing such an incredible and engaging experience. This was my second time attending the event in-person, the last being in 2019. I was floored by the kindness and generosity provided by Veeam back then and never imagined that experience could be topped but I was wrong and for good reasons. Each member of the Veeam team including the travel agency worked tirelessly to ensure everything was done correctly, and they did not let anyone down! As for the host city of Prague, it never fails.
Day 1 included a Welcome Reception (h\t to Ben Young for the video) and it provided everyone attending in-person to get to know one another in a casual environment, catch up on old times, and meet first time attendees over some drinks and food. The reception was sponsored by Wasabi and each attendee was provided a Wasabi account which includes 1TB of storage that can be used for testing Veeam Backups.
A big thanks to Jim Jones and 11:11 Systems for sponsoring our Go Kart event earlier in the day! It’s safe to assume everyone thoroughly enjoyed this experience!
Day 2 was the official kickoff for the Veeam 100 Summit. Rick, Madalina, and Hannes Kasparick started the day with a presentation in which we learned more about the various Community groups managed by each. I speak on behalf of all the attendees, each of us is very fortunate to be a part of this wonderful community, and hats off to Rick, Madalina, Nikola, and Hannes for making everything possible! If you’re not familiar with each community, I have provided a link and\or description for each below:
- Veeam Vanguard – The Veeam Vanguard Program is Veeam’s top-level influencer community. This group shares points of view, provides feedback and is committed to mutual success. Experts in the Vanguard program are a combination of many different disciplines, contribution types and advocacy mechanisms yet are each the best in space regarding technical thought leadership for the technical communities in which Veeam exist. These individuals have been nominated as Veeam Vanguards. A Veeam Vanguard represents our brand to the highest level in many of the different technology communities in which we engage. These individuals are chosen for their acumen, engagement and style in their activities on and offline.
- Veeam Legend – Veeam Legends are Veeam users and data protection industry experts who are passionate about technology, innovation and eager to further develop their career, while sharing their experiences with the community. As avid Veeam users, they participate in various community projects, drive local Veeam User Groups and can also influence development of Veeam products and solutions — they have real impact within the community! Apart from that, Veeam Legends are always eager to help their peers and get connected with other community members.
- Veeam MVP – this group includes top Veeam employees with a customer-facing technical role who are sharing and engaging when it is not part of their job. This program is ONLY available to Veeam employees.
The following Day 2 presentations included Wasabi and as I mentioned earlier, each Veeam 100 Summit member received a free Wasabi account and 1TB of storage for Veeam Backups.
Next was Rick Vanover and Edwin Weijdema from Veeam and their presentation circled around Ransomware. As we know, this subject matter is relevant and is always in the news (mostly for the wrong reasons). I’ve included a few of the slides that were shared with us during the Summit, and you can find them below:
Risks to consider when trying to protect your data, and are you prepared for a disaster?
Recovery considerations should include How (the method), Where (the location), and Time (how long should it take to recover from a disaster.
The next session evolved around Veeam Backup & Replication v12, and it was presented by Hannes Kasparick and Anton Gostev and below is a list of a few of the updates\highlights:
- Simplified Hardened Repository
- SSH credentials are no longer needed\required
- Improved compatibility with security standards (DISA STIG,NIST, etc.)
- Perl is no longer required for hardened repository
- “Permissions Only” restore for Windows
- Manage Linux without SSH and SUDO
- Single-Use credentials
- Credentials of backup servers are not stored anymore
Networking\Enhanced Traffic Management:
- Multiple locations w\ different internet bandwidth, use the “Internet” rule
- Always restore w\ full speed
- The ability to “unthrottle” without disabling
Why RHV (Red Hat Virtualization) backup?
- Customers have requested it
- Native change block tracking
- Expand
- Veeam KVM footprint
Jorge de la Cruz, Roman Kuksov, and Kirsten Stoner discussed What’s New in Veeam ONE v12 but I’m afraid this product is not GA and the content from this session can not be shared at this time. More to come in the near future.
Next up is Alec King from to discuss Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestra v6 and below is a list of a few of the updates\highlights:
- Dynamic Documentation
- Compliance
- Zero-Impact Testing
- One-Click Recovery at Scale
- Supported platforms includes Azure and VMware vSphere.
- Agents for Windows and Linux.
- Apps: Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint
- Storage: Netapp, HPE, and Lenovo
- Custom Scripting
The final session for Day 1 was provided by Matt Crape but unfortunately it was labeled as Red and cannot be discussed outside of the Summit at this time.
Did I mention CFPs for VeeamON 2023 are currently being accepted? Click on the QR code found in the image below to learn more!
Interested in learning more about the Veeam Hardened Repository (VHR), please scan the QR code below for a walk-through video:
Please check out additional Veeam 100 Summit posts from fellow attendees, which includes:
- Veeam Community Recap #94 (at the Veeam 100 Summit) w\ Rick, Madalina, Geoff, and Maurice Kevenaar.
- Eugene Elizarov (Veeam V12: continuation of the banquet)
- Additional video content can be found on Twitter using the hashtag #Veeam100Summit (videos)
Additional highlights throughout the week included reconnecting with good friends Max Mortillaro , Andrea Mauro, Luciano Patrão, Nikola Pejková (and the little guy), Adam Fisher, Chris Childerhose, Geoff Burke, Ben Young, Andre Atkinson, and so many more. I also had the pleasure to finally meet Madalina, Federica Saba, Jorge, Wolfgang Taitl, and many more for the first time. With each encounter, the conversations were fantastic and will forever remain memorable.
And I’d also like to give special thanks to Paul Stringfellow and Adam for coming through for me on some requests prior to and during the Summit.
Interested in learning more about the Veeam Vanguard and Veeam Legends program? Click on the links provided and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Interested in pursuing a Veeam Certification? More information about the training can be found here.
By the way, a little birdie shared a secret with me (This bird has all the privileges). Ready?? VeeamON 2023 is back in Miami and I hope to see you there!
Thank you to everyone at Veeam, the Veaam Vanguard Program and the #vCommunity for your support! You know how much I appreciate it and none of this is possible without you.
And with this, my Day 1 and Day 2 recap is complete. I plan to update this post as soon as possible to include my experiences for Day 3 and 4.
If I have missed anything or if you have any suggestions, please let me know. If you’re interested in anything related to Veeam on my blog, please click on this link.
Thanks for your time!
Al Rasheed - A personal Blog about IT related subjects. 