I'm looking for some feedback on my small environment setup. Basically, I've got a single ESXi host supporting four users, each with their own Windows 11 VM. I'm also planning to have one VM as a file server with SMB shares, as well as another Windows Server VM for a specific application. I'm considering installing Veeam Backup & Replication on the same VM as the file server, which would handle backups for the four VMs and itself, along with the application server VM. My questions are: 1) Is it generally acceptable to run Veeam on the same VM as the file server in such a small deployment? 2) When do you prefer using Remote Desktop Services (RDS) versus 1:1 desktops in setups with a limited number of users? I'm especially curious about the decision factors like app compatibility, user experience, and operational overhead. Thanks!
4 Answers
For a four-user environment, running Veeam on your file server is manageable, but be prepared for potential troubleshooting issues at odd hours. If you're just looking for simplicity, a Remote Desktop Gateway to a single server would likely be easier to maintain than a full VDI setup.
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend having your backup server on the same machine as the file server. It's a risky setup since if something goes wrong, you might lose both your data and backups at the same time.
I think your setup looks good as long as you keep Veeam on a separate VM from the file server. That way, if the file server has issues, it won't affect your backup process.
Good point! Keeping backup solutions separated definitely sounds like a smarter choice.
Honestly, I think going cloud might be a better option for such a small setup. You could consider using Azure or AWS services instead of managing everything on-premises. It offers better redundancy and support, which is crucial since the environment is small and could be at risk.
I get that concern. To clarify, the backup target would actually be on separate storage, just sharing the VM. But I see how it's still a single point of failure.