SOLVED: How To Download & Install a Veeam Backup and Replication Upgrade

We really like Veeam and a number of our clients are using it for backups. However there are a couple of little quirks with the product upgrades including things like not being able to find the most current version. This short article will clarify the Veeam upgrade process:

1 – Where to Download Veeam Upgrades From

This is one of the confusing parts for three reasons

1. With most companies you simply log into their support portal, select the product and then download the version of the software you’re looking for. With Veeam, you download the trial version and it is smart enough to realize you actually want to do an upgrade when you start running it.
2. Veeam bundled Veeam Backup and Replication download into Veeam Data Platform
3. Veeam does not provide detailed version numbers on their downloads. In our case that meant we were trying to get Veeam 9.1. 2 but the page only displayed 9.1 with no date or other method to determine which version you are actually getting

Soooo, to source a Veeam Backup and Replication Upgrade:

1. Surf to Veeam.com/downloads
2. Scroll down to Veeam Data Platform and click the DOWNLOAD TRIAL button
3. Enter your contact information (any garbage will do)
4. Click the DOWNLOAD button

2 – Veeam Upgrade Prework

Note that you have the Veeam upgrade iso, you need to Protect yourself with a few quick steps:

PRE-STEP 1: BACKUP CONFIGURATION:
Click the 3 line hamburger icon in the top left hand corner to open the menu and select configuration backup. The select BACKUP CONFIGURATION and select both ENABLE CONFIGURATION BACKUP TO THE FOLLOWING RESPOSITORY and ENABLE CONFIGURATION BACKUP FILE ENCRYPTION, then click BACKUP NOW.

PRE-STEP 2: STOP AND DISABLE ALL VEEAM JOBS
If any veen jobs are running, stop them and also right click select all of the theme jobs, right click and select DISABLE

PRE-STEP 3: SCREENSHOTS
This step is definitely not necessary for products as stable as beam but any experienced administrator will tell you that having a few key screenshots sure is helpful if things go dark. Our staff would grab a screenshot of the backup jobs, disks and inventory screens.

3 – How To Upgrade Veeam Backup and Replication

Now that you have your Veeam upgrade downloaded and some nice configuration backups to help you if there are serious problems, you can begin the upgrade which is ALMOST a CLICK NEXT process.

CLICK TO EXPAND GRAPHICS

1. Double click on the ISO file to mount it automatically
2. Double click setup.exe
3. Select UPGRADE
4. Select UPGRADE VEEAM BACKUP & REPLICATION
5. Select UPGRADE VEEAM BACKUP & REPLICATION xx.x
   • It will grind on INITIALIZING SETUP WIZARD, PLEASE WAIT…
6. Click I ACCEPT on the LICENSE AGREEMENT screen
7. Click UPDATE REMOTE COMPONENTS AUTOMATICALLY and click NEXT
8. On the UPGRADE screen, be sure to add a check into the UPDATE REMOTE COMPONENTS AUTOMATICALLY check box, and click NEXT
9. Click NEXT on the LICENSE screen
10. Click NEXT on the SERVICE ACCOUNT screen
11. Click NEXT on the DATABASE screen
12. Click YES on the automatically upgrade database popup
13. Click UPDATE LICENSE AUTOMATICALLY and click the NEXT button
14. Click UPGRADE after the SYSTEM CONFIGURATION CHECK is completed without alerts

Our most recent Veeam 12 upgrade took about 30 minutes to complete the whole upgrade process. Steps 1 and 6 on the UPGRADING VEEEAM BACKUP & REPLICATION, took much longer than steps 2, 3, 4, or 5.