Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 Update 2 has full vSphere 6.5 Update 1 support, free NFR also available for Veeam Agent for Windows, Linux, and Backup for MS Office 365

Posted by Paul Braren on Aug 23 2017 in

Turns out the question of what backup solution to use to protect a home lab's VMs in a home lab comes up a lot here at TinkerTry, especially when a major new release of vSphere arrives on the scene. It's become such an important thing to consider for IT Pros working off the NFR code (non-time-bombed) code in their home labs, so much so that they might decide to hold off on upgrading until their backup solution is ready. The wait since the July 27 2017 release of 6.5 Update 1 was rather short! Turns out Anton Gostev recently clarified Veeam's support for ESXi 6.5U1, right in his August 20 2017 Veeam Community Forums Digest, referring to the tweet above, but also discussed in the forum here, with support for vSAN 6.6.1 is also confirmed here:

Re: vSphere 6.5 Update 1 support
Hi guys, does this also mean that Veeam 9.5 U2 now has official support for vSAN 6.6.1 (part of vSphere 6.5 U1)?
Thanks in advance!
EricB

Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2016 1:55 am
Full Name: Eric Bruntink
Veeam Logoby foggy » Fri Aug 18, 2017 7:18 am
Yes, vSAN 6.6.1 is also supported.

So this means it's time for an update to what I wrote back in November, the same month vSphere 6.5 arrived, Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 NFR license now available to certified IT Pros, vSphere 6.5 support coming soon.

It turns out that the NFR program has grown considerably since then! I discovered these NFR updates when I was recently giving Veeam Agent for Linux a go, wanting to try all the features when backing up a Dell XPS 15 running Ubuntu. As expected, even though it was my first time using this particular Veeam product, it was fast and worked well, including the bare-metal restore. I like to test the bleeding edge, and found that it even worked well with Ubuntu 17, despite it not being on the list of supported Linux distros quite yet. Testing the latest code, and reporting any issue I unearth, is kind of my thing, one of the perks of a speedy home lab.

NFR - Terms of Use

Here's Veeam's terms for the use of Veeam's NFR (Not For Resale) license keys:

Veeam® is happy to provide a FREE NFR server license to certified engineers, trainers and bloggers.*
*Only for vExpert, VCP, VCAP, VCI, VCDX, VMUG Leader, VTEC, VMCE, Microsoft MVP, MCSE, MCSA, MCT, Cisco Champion and other certified professionals.

Download

The simple registration questions seen above are required, but you'll quickly have access to the download, to install and use it right away:

Veeam Availability Suite
go.veeam.com/free-nfr-veeam-availability-suite

This license allows for non-production use of Veeam Availabilty Suite™ 9.5 in your home lab, without any feature limitations for one year, 2 sockets. The license works for both VMware and Hyper-V environments.
Product Datasheet and User Guide, Edition Feature Comparison Chart and Pricing.
Veeam Agent for Windows
go.veeam.com/free-nfr-veeam-agent-for-windows

This license allows for non‑production use of Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows. This license is valid for five (5) workstations and two (2) servers.
Product Datasheet and User Guide, Free/Workstation/Server Edition Feature Comparison Chart and Pricing.
Veeam Agent for Linux
go.veeam.com/free-nfr-veeam-agent-for-linux

This license allows for non-production use of Veeam Agent for Linux for five workstations and two servers.
Product Datasheet and User Guide, Free/Workstation/Server Edition Feature Comparison Chart and Pricing.
Veeam Backup for MS Office 365
go.veeam.com/free-nfr-veeam-backup-microsoft-office-365

This license allows for non‑production use of Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 in your home lab without any feature limitations for up to 10 users.
Product Overview, User Guide and Pricing.

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