Unattended installation of Veeam using Boxstarter – Part 3 – VBR

In the previous posts I described how to setup your test environment and how to install Veeam Backup for Office 365 (VBO). In this blog post I will continue with the automated installation of Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR).

The scripts explained

Just like Veeam Backup for Office 365, the Repository also contains a folder for Veeam Backup & Replication, called “vbr_scripts”.

common_packages.ps1

We are going to include this script in all other scripts. It creates a local cache folder for Chocolatey. Creating this folder prevents a known issue. Under the hood BoxStarter uses an older version of Chocolatey. When using BoxStarter and Chocolatey together sometimes the cache folder contains an endless loop of chocolatey folders.

This script will also install DotNet4.7.2, Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Management Objects, Veeam Backup & Replication ISO and the Chocolatey ISO Mount extension for you. The ISO is used for all the scripts except the SQL Express server.

vbr_server.ps1

This script will allow you to install all required parts of your VBR Server. It kicks off with the “common_packages.ps1” script and after that, it starts installing some software. To start, the latest version of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2019 will be installed. As well as Microsoft Report Viewer 2015. After that the Catalog server and VBR Server will get installed. You might need to change some settings inside the “settings.ps1” file. (see below).

vbr_management.ps1

This script could be used on your VBR server or your VBR Management station. Again this starts with the “common_packages.ps1” file. After that, it starts with the installation of the VBR Console, then it installs the Explorer for Active Directory, Exchange SharePoint, SQL Server and Oracle.

vbr_sql_express.ps1

By executing this script, a basic SQL Server Express will be installed on your machine. To install it, a special installation was required as described in my blog post. SQL Express has a limit to the data file of 10 GB, therefore this is not recommend in a production setting.

This can be changed by changing the package to, for example, sql-server-2019 and provide your own ISO and “ConfigurationFile.ini” file. By doing so a SQL Server 2019 Standard or Enterprise edition could be installed. Also a SQL Server 2017 package is available.

vbr_all.ps1

As this script includes the “vbr_sql_express.ps1” script, it could be used to install a full Proof of Concept setup. It also includes the “vbr_server.ps1” file and the “vbr_management.ps1” scripts to install it all on your server.

settings.ps1

This file is not a script that installs anything. As the name suggests, it contains settings. These settings, or variables allow you to configure your VBR installation to your liking. Above each setting an explanation is added what the variable does.

Preparing

Parts of these steps are the same for Veeam Backup for Office 365. The initial release contains scripts for both VBO and VBR. If you are using Vagrant, there is no need to download the release again.

If you haven’t done the VBO part, download the latest release. Extract it into a folder. For example “C:\veeam-boxstarter”. Open an Elevated Command Prompt, PowerShell or Windows Terminal. Change your working directory into that folder. Depending on how you want to continue, choose Vagrant or Local below.

Vagrant

If you have one, put your Veeam Backup & Replication license file in the “C:\veeam-boxstarter\packages\ folder. Once in the folder, the vagrant box can be started.

cd C:\veeam-boxstarter
vagrant up

The Windows Server 2016 box will be imported into VirtualBox. After that a linked clone will be created. This reduces the time required when you destroy and re-create your box. Once the Windows Server 2016 machine is started, Chocolatey and BoxStarter will automatically be installed. All the scripts will be available in the “C:\Temp” folder. If you have installed the Sahara plugin, this would be the best point to create an snapshot.

vagrant snapshot on

If you have followed the VBO steps and you haven’t destroyed your vagrant box, please execute the following statements.

cd C:\veeam-boxstarter
vagrant sandbox rollback
vagrant provision

We can now start installing Veeam Backup and Replication. Please continue with the Installation step below.

Local

Please make sure you have Chocolatey installed. You’ll need this to install BoxStarter. Installing BoxStarter is easy, you only need to execute this command:

choco install BoxStarter

Installation

Before we start with the installation, we’ll need to verify the contents of the “settings.ps1” file. If you are following along with Vagrant, please make the changes from the table below. These settings are the minimum required changes. To validate if you need to make any more changes, please read the “settings.ps1” file. Change the filename of your license file to your needs.

Depending on the function of the machine choose one of the scripts below.

Open the “Boxstarter Shell” from your desktop. We will now invoke BoxStarter to start installing VBR. In the example below, I’ll assume you’re on the VirtualBox environment and you’ll be installing all of the VBR packages. Please execute the following command:

boxstarter.bat c:\temp\vbr_scripts\vbr_all.ps1

Boxstarter will now ask for your password. Inside the VirtualBox environment this will be “vagrant”. Enter the password for the current logged in account. BoxStarter will now install VBR and all required dependencies on your machine. Depending on the function and installed patches on the machine, this might take multiple reboots before it’s completed. Boxstarter will let you know when it is finished when it asks you to type ENTER.

Sometimes installations can fail. Therefore logging has been enabled by default inside the Chocolatey packages. Veeam installation log files are located in the “C:\ProgramData\ChocoCache” folder. Boxstarter log files are located in “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Boxstarter”