How Veeam Availability Console Uses Subtenants for Cloud Connect Backup

As cloud computing becomes more prevalent in the IT industry, data backup and disaster recovery have become increasingly important. Veeam Availability Console (VAC) provides a powerful solution for backing up and replicating data to the cloud, leveraging Cloud Connect technology. One aspect of VAC that has gone under the radar is its use of subtenants for managing backup agents in Cloud Connect Backup. In this post, we’ll dive deeper into how subtenants work and their significance in the context of Cloud Connect Backup.

Subtenants in Cloud Connect Backup

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In a previous post, we discussed how subtenants work in the context of Cloud Connect Backup. Subtenants can be configured by either the VCSP (Value-Added Cloud Provider) or by the tenant consuming a Cloud Connect Backup service. Subtenants are used to carve up and assign a subset of the parent tenant storage quota. This allows individual agents to authenticate against the Cloud Connect service with a unique login, enabling backups to Cloud Repositories that can be managed and monitored from the Backup & Replication console.

How VAC Creates Subtenants

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When a backup policy is configured to use a cloud repository as a backup target, Veeam Availability Console automatically creates subtenant accounts on the Cloud Connect Server for each backup agent. The name of each subtenant account is created according to the following naming convention: companyname_computername.

The process of creating subtenants can be broken down into the following steps:

1. Assign a backup policy that uses a cloud repository as a backup target to an agent.

2. VAC creates a subtenant account on the Cloud Connect Server for each backup agent.

3. The backup agents use these subtenant accounts to connect and send data to a Cloud Connect endpoint that is backed by a cloud repository.

Managing Subtenants

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From the Veeam Backup & Replication console, under the Cloud Connect Menu, clicking on Manage Subtenants will show you the corresponding list of subtenant accounts. The view above is the same as that seen at the tenant end. A tenant can modify the quota details from the Veeam Backup & Replication console, which will result in a Custom Policy status, as shown below. The original policy can be reapplied from VAC to bring it back into line.

Subtenants and Cloud Repositories

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The folder structure on the Cloud Repository maps what’s seen above. As you can also see, if you have Backup Protection enabled, you will also have _RecycleBin objects there.

NOTE: When a new policy is applied to an agent, the old subtenant account and data are retained on the Cloud Connect repository. The new policy gets applied, and a subtenant account with an _n gets created. Service Providers will need to purge old data manually.

Subtenants in Agent for Windows

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Finally, if we look at the endpoint where the agent is installed and managed by VAC, we will see the subtenant account configured. The backup agents use these subtenant accounts to connect and send data to a Cloud Connect endpoint that is backed by a cloud repository.

Conclusion

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In conclusion, subtenants play a crucial role in how Service Provider customers consume Cloud Connect Backup services. Veeam Availability Console uses subtenants to manage backup agents in Cloud Connect Backup, enabling individual agents to authenticate against the Cloud Connect service with a unique login. This allows for backups to Cloud Repositories that can be managed and monitored from the Backup & Replication console. Service Providers should understand how subtenants work and how they are created, managed, and used by the Agent for Windows.