Veeam: What’s new in Veeam ONE v12.1

Greetings everyone. As the holiday season brightens, Veeam has marked as General Availabile Veeam ONE v12.1 as well, a cornerstone of the Veeam Data Platform. This version, packed with new features and enhancements, is a true technological feast. Here’s a look at what’s new in Veeam ONE v12.1.

Major New Features

Veeam Threat Center

Veeam ONE v12.1 release introduces the cutting-edge Veeam Threat Center, a dynamic and user-friendly landing page. It’s designed to give organizations a complete and comprehensive view of their data protection landscape, covering all aspects from on-premises and cloud environments to physical workloads and enterprise applications. This wide-ranging perspective is key to maintaining the highest standards of data integrity and security across the globe. Do you remember the old days of landing into Veeam ONE, and looking for “that” Report, or “that” Dashboard with all the neccesary information? Those days are gone now.

• Data Platform Scores: This feature offers a comprehensive score based on vital metrics. It encapsulates essential aspects like platform security compliance, the ratio of restore points with anomalies versus those without, adherence of protected workloads to the business’s Recovery Point Objectives (RPO), and the immutability status of critical workloads.
• Malware Detections: A global map within the Threat Center allows users to easily locate potential threats. This is an invaluable tool for security teams, enabling them to quickly identify and address any anomalies in restore points across their repositories.
• RPO Anomalies: The importance of aligning restore points with specified policies cannot be overstated. The Threat Center provides a table overview highlighting workloads that are set up for protection but have not been processed as per the policy, ensuring that such discrepancies are promptly addressed.
• SLA Compliance Overview: This visual feature extends over a broad timeline, categorizing data based on the daily SLA success rate for each protected workload. It provides a rapid and thorough evaluation of compliance levels, allowing for immediate action where needed.

Unified Analytics-Driven Approach

The integration of Veeam Data Platform reaches new heights with the “Analytics” section in the Veeam Backup & Replication console, offering tailored insights for each server’s operational scope. This experience will give the Backup Admin a new way of checking the status of the Data Protection across different workload types, jobs, policies, etc. Without the need to login to Veeam ONE.

• Integrated Dashboards: These include a focused Threat Center, an Overview of backup infrastructure components, a Backup Heatmap, and a Jobs Calendar, enhancing operational visibility.

Alarm Lifecycle

ServiceNow Integration

In its latest update, Veeam ONE v12.1, Veeam demonstrates a significant leap in IT service management by integrating with ServiceNow, tailored specifically for enterprise-grade requirements. This integration elevates the alarm lifecycle management to new heights, enhancing the overall incident management process for businesses.

ServiceNow Incident Management Integration – Key Features:

1. Robust Alarm Integration: Embrace the power of over 200 Veeam ONE alarms. This feature automatically generates incidents in ServiceNow in response to any triggered alarm in Veeam ONE. It’s designed to ensure that no critical issue slips through the cracks, enhancing the responsiveness and vigilance of IT operations.
2. Bidirectional Communication: The integration between Veeam ONE and ServiceNow is not a one-way street. It supports bidirectional communication, allowing for updates and resolution of incidents directly from ServiceNow. These updates are reflected in Veeam ONE, and vice-versa, creating a seamless flow of information and a cohesive operational experience.
3. Vital for NOC Teams: This integration isn’t just an add-on; it becomes the pulse of Network Operations Center (NOC) teams. It offers an in-depth look into the health and status of the Veeam Data Platform and virtual infrastructure, along with immediate alerts on potential malware activities. This ensures that the data platform is not only robust but also adheres to compliance standards.

Syslog SIEM Integration

Another great integration that comes with Veeam ONE v12.1, introducing Syslog support, a well-established standard in the realm of operations and Network Operations Center (NOC) teams.

Key Aspects of the Syslog SIEM Integration:

1. Advanced Alarm Integration with Syslog: This feature empowers enhanced observability across virtual infrastructures and data protection realms. With over 200+ Veeam ONE alarms at its core, it ensures that no significant event goes unnoticed, providing a comprehensive view and swift response to critical situations.
2. Universal Compatibility: The integration is designed for wide-ranging adaptability, making Veeam ONE compatible with major monitoring platforms like Grafana, Splunk, and others that support the Syslog standard. This universality facilitates deeper insights and proactive actions, significantly benefiting enterprise monitoring strategies.
3. Operational Game-Changer: Veeam ONE v12.1, with this integration, becomes an essential tool for operational and NOC teams. It offers an in-depth analysis of the Veeam Data Platform’s health, virtual infrastructure metrics, and immediate alerts on potential malware threats. This ensures a vigilant and resilient data protection ecosystem.
4. Veeam ONE Audit Integration: Tailored for environments with stringent compliance requirements, this feature meticulously records access to data, changes in reports, alarms, infrastructure, and logs privileged activities and login sessions. With Syslog support, these critical security logs can be exported and monitored seamlessly, adding an extra layer of security and oversight.

Elevating Data Platform Security

Veeam ONE v12.1 introduces a significant enhancement in Backup Security and Compliance, providing a streamlined and insightful experience for managing large-scale infrastructures.

1. Effortless Navigation and Insight Generation: The tool is expertly designed for quick and easy navigation across complex infrastructures, delivering crucial insights almost instantly. This enhances the agility of operational teams in overseeing data protection strategies.
2. Comprehensive Reporting: A specially developed report in Veeam ONE v12.1 assesses all backup server configurations, ensuring they are in line with established security best practices. This feature is instrumental for businesses aiming to maintain a strong backup infrastructure, thereby bolstering confidence in their overall data protection strategy.
3. Proactive Alerting System: The system keeps users constantly informed with dedicated alarms for each Veeam Backup & Replication server, according to best practices. This proactive approach ensures that users are always aware of their infrastructure’s compliance with these practices, reducing the risk of unforeseen issues.
4. Intuitive Dashboards: The software includes both a central Threat Center and customizable dashboards, providing immediate insights into the security and compliance status of backup servers. This feature makes the task of monitoring and managing data protection both efficient and straightforward.

Malware Detection

Veeam ONE v12.1 brings a powerful and essential feature to the forefront – Malware Detection. This functionality, in tandem with Veeam Backup & Replication, forms a robust defense against malware threats.

Highlights of Malware Detection in Veeam ONE v12.1:

1. In-depth Reporting: The malware detection report in Veeam ONE v12.1 offers a comprehensive overview of malware anomalies detected across the infrastructure. It meticulously logs all incidents across various workloads and restore points, as reported by Veeam Backup & Replication. This enables users to quickly differentiate between compromised and clean data, ensuring that restores are secure and to points in time that are not compromised.
2. Proactive Alerting: The system is designed to send immediate alerts if backup restore points or live workloads show signs of suspicious or infected behavior. This proactive stance plays a crucial role in keeping potential threats in check and preserving the operational integrity of your data.
3. Automated Remediation Actions: For VMware vSphere VMs identified with suspicious activities, Veeam ONE v12.1 includes automated remediation actions. These actions can either isolate the network of the affected VM or disable its virtual network adapters, thereby containing any potential threat.
4. Interactive Dashboard: The Threat Center dashboard is visually engaging, featuring a world map with points indicating locations where malware has been detected. This global perspective allows users to quickly assess the impact and facilitates swift, informed decision-making to address any identified threats.

Other Enhancements

Additionally, there are so much enhancements, a quick list can be found here, whilst I would totally recommend to reading the full What’s New.

• Enhanced Support for Object Storage Backup: Includes monitoring, new alarms, reporting, widgets, and REST API support for custom views and reports.
• Enhanced SureBackup Jobs Support: Adds support in client UI, alarm integration, and enhanced reporting.
• Expanded S3-compatible Object Storage Support: Offers capacity planning and enhanced reporting for S3-compatible storage.
• Reports: Multiple report enhancements including workload protection history, recovery verification, backup objects change tracking, and more.
• REST API Enhancements: Includes new capabilities for public cloud reporting, protected data endpoints, and backup job endpoints.

Veeam ONE v12.1 is a comprehensive update, enhancing Veeam’s already robust data protection and management capabilities, ensuring businesses stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity.

YouTube video with Upgrade process and quick overview