Virtual backup software Veeam is licensed per socket, which is a very simple way of doing things when it comes to licensing. However, it can get a bit more complicated when it comes to deciding which Veeam licensing edition is right for you. Here’s a quick overview of what you get with each edition:
Standard
This is the lowest tier, and it includes the basic Veeam backup and recovery tools. This is the no-frills edition – it comes with all the basic features, like limited Veeam Explorer functionality for Active Directory, Exchange, SQL and SharePoint.
Enterprise
If you know you need more octane than Standard, you’ll have to make some specific decisions on which advanced features you need.
This is our most commonly purchased one out of the three. It includes all of the item-level recovery Veeam Explorers — Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint, SQL and Oracle — and it includes Enterprise Manager, which allows you to have self-service portals and reporting. This license also offers the dedup storage integration, so if you’re using DataDomain, ExaGrid or StoreOnce, this is the minimum level you need.
If you want to easily verify your backups, the Enterprise license comes with SureBackup and SureReplica, which provide automation for backup verification.
Regarding the new features in v9, the scale-out backup repository feature only comes with three extents. So, if you have more than that, you might want to consider moving to Enterprise Plus.
Enterprise Plus
As the name suggests, this license comes with everything in Enterprise… plus additional features. You get unlimited extents for the scale-out backup repository (compared to aforementioned three of Enterprise). It allows you to do backup I/O control, backup from storage snapshots (EMC, HP and NetApp only), and built-in WAN acceleration.
Veeam Availability Suite
These are package deals where you add on Veeam ONE to your Veeam Backup & Replication license. Veeam ONE is a monitoring, alerting and reporting tool for your backup and virtual environments. This is a pretty good deal when you buy it with your Veeam licenses.
For small businesses, the Veeam Availability Suite can be purchased as Veeam Backup Essentials, which covers six CPU sockets or less.
Here are all the details on what you get with each Veeam licensing edition.
Veeam has a great suite of products that can fit business of nearly any size and need. It’s important to understand what features come with which license so that you get the right virtual backup environment. It’s also very easy to upgrade from one license to the next, depending on what support package you invested in.