Very nice email reporting! [shown on ioS] Certainly handy for PCs backed up remotely [over VPN].
Couldn't be much better timing, given the rough week we just had of yet more scares from the rise of Ransomware. We're talking The New York Times, BBC, MSN, and AOL:
Along comes Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE 1.5 today, a new release of mature backup software for Windows that's been around since betas in late 2014, and a rather popular option for IT folks looking to protect their family and friends from fiends:
Veeam Community Forums Digest February 22 - February 28, 2016
THE WORD FROM GOSTEV
We have crossed another milestone for Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE early last week - 500,000 unique downloads!
click to register on the forums and sign-up for these automated weekly newsletters that 37994 users alread receive.
If you're an IT guy like me who runs a vSphere home lab, or just any recent Windows version running as a server, you could go with configuring VEB to use a centralized repository (not a drive letter or network share) for daily backups that will also hold your VM backups, as mentioned in my recent Veeam Availability Suite v9 post.
CryptoLocker is fond of attacking any drives it finds, including .vbm Veeam backup files. So it makes plenty of sense that locally attached media like USB hard drives are vulnerable. Veeam's Mike Resseler explains:
With Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE 1.5 you have an option to automatically eject your USB device after backup has completed. I blogged previously about CryptoLocker and Veeam Endpoint Backup.
Of course, that one new feature could make all the difference for your family member. Advise your PC user to attach a drive, and backup automatically begins a few seconds later. When it's done, the drive letter goes away in Windows, automatically. To backup again, merely unplug the USB cable (or power off the enclosure), then plug it back in (or power it back on).
Mike's article below goes on to explain the many other enhancements, including the user requested email notification feature in his detailed technical article:
Gmail's SMTP gateway will work from anywhere, ISP's SMTP gateway may not
Best practices, use secure connection. Be aware, not all ISP's SMTP gateways work from anywhere a laptop may go, so something like Gmail might be a better choice. To test, try temporarily tethering to mobile hotspot, then use the "Test Message button" again.
If you use something like boxcar.io for push notifications, forwarding off a copy of your filtered Gmail rule works nicely.
For example, using the email address you're sending all alerts "To" from various VEB PCs, and paste this sentence into the "Has the words" field: "Endpoint Backup job:" OR "sent by Veeam Endpoint Backup."
to be sure only test messages and actual backup results notifications are filtered.
Step 1 - Setting up a Gmail filter.Step 2 - Page 2 of the filter. Instead of cluttering my Inbox, these alerts get moved off to an IMAP folder, and a copy goes to my boxcar.io account to push an alert to my phone, automatically quieted when the phone is in night mode.Here's how an email notification looks in your gmail inbox.
Baar, Switzerland: March 22, 2016: Veeam® Software, the innovative provider of solutions that deliver Availability for the Always-On Enterprise™, today announces Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure, available for preview as a FREE, pre-configured Azure appliance in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace that delivers cloud restore for Veeam Backup & Replication™ and Veeam Endpoint Backup™. Available now this new solution enables users to take on-premises workloads and restore or migrate them to the cloud using an automated physical-to-virtual or virtual-to-virtual conversion process.
...
This new feature is designed for customers to restore Veeam backups created by Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam Endpoint Backup™ FREE, and Veeam Backup™ Free Edition to Azure (IaaS). Available now, this new feature will also be integrated into future versions of Veeam Backup & Replication.
Veeam backup email notifications do work with GMail, with a bit of convincing. You'll need to manually configure, using the following SMTP server setting: smtp.gmail.com 587
with "Use secure connection" checkbox on. If you have Google 2-Step Verification turned on, you'll also need to create an App password.
Note also that Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows will be going GA very soon, available as VeeamAgentWindows_2.0.0.700.RTM.zip at:
TinkerTry takes extreme care to protect visitors by using only one ad network, BuySellAds, which has never had a security issue to date, and are very commonly used in the virtualization community. Their CEO seems to get what's going on with ad blockers, evident in his recent post. I regularly receive lucrative offers from various companies looking to have me inject javascript trackers into TinkerTry, which I of course turn down.
Veeam has been an advertiser on many virtualization sites for years now, and Veeam is currently running a BuySellAds-purchased advertisement along the top of TinkerTry as well. All TinkerTry advertisement goes through third party BuySellAds. None of my articles are sponsored posts, and note that there are currently no affiliate links for Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE, or any of their other products. TinkerTry.com, LLC is not a Veeam Pro Partner, but I am a Veeam Vanguard Program member who receives no goods or services, only briefings and occasional early access. There are no commissions for any Veeam products folks buy after reading one of my articles.
I reserve and exercise the right to freely write about topics that I choose, whenever I choose to, an essential part of what makes blogging about home virtualization labs, storage, and backup so much fun for me. I tend to feature stuff I actually use, not just write about.
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here. IT Professional offering part-time consulting.
These systems still work great for many even 9+ years later, mine included, even with (unsupported) vSphere 8 and Windows 11 Version 21H2. But unless you added the optional TPM module, it may be the end of the line as far as repurposing them for running the latest Windows 11 Version 24H2 and beyond.
After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop SuperServer bundles in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. Bare bones system sales continued for years longer.
What's next in 2025? I don't yet have my answer for my home lab, especially now that VCF certification is required to keep non-production home lab licenses going, even as a vExpert and VMUG Advantage EVALExperience customer.
As for a SuperServer follow-on, the Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh slightly better in 2024, and hopefully Xeon 6 (Granite Rapids-D) much better in 2025 featuring PCIe Gen5, MCRDIMMs, and 100GbE networking, wow! Feb. 27 2025 update update looks promising, but pricey. Infortunately, it's become clear to me that Supermicro is less focuses on the mini-tower form factor these days.
As for the CPU industry, it's unfortunate that Pat Gelsinger was apparently ousted from Intel's helm in these challenging times, but I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when he was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.