Category Archives: General

Veeam Hidden Feature – Backup Validator

January 14, 2015General, VMwarebackup, CLI, Get-VBRjob, Powershell, Validation, Validator, Veeam, VMwareDean

So the other day I was using the Veeam Backup Extractor Tool, located in the installation folder, when I noticed another .exe file that I hadn’t paid attention to previously.

Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe

This a CLI based tool, and does exactly as the name suggests, validates backups.

You can access it by running command prompt;

CD “C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup”
Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe and your arguments(to see the full options, see at the bottom)

This is a handy little tool for validating the backup files, and can probably be scripted as well. However unlike the SureBackup feature, it will not guarantee that once the files have been restored, the Virtual Machine’s operating system is intact and in a working condition.

An example of its use

Continue reading Veeam Hidden Feature – Backup Validator →

Blog posts I’ve been reading and sharing recently

January 11, 2015GeneralCertifications, Free Training, Powershell, Python, VMware NSXDean

Since before the Christmas break, I’ve not had a great deal to write about, in terms of break fix, as I’ve been busy studying to pass my CCNP exams, and now I’m under way with taking on further exams.

At the same time, I’ve also found some of my posts appearing on a daily round-up of blog posts on Michael White’s site notesfrommwhite.net. So I’ve decided to do something similar, sharing links to some of the content I’ve found interesting and content I’ve been sharing at work recently.

This won’t be a regular thing they’ll I’ll be doing, but more ad-hoc, as I find that the tabs on my laptop and phone fill up quickly with a plethora blog posts which peak my interest, usually found on twitter, so this is what I’ll be sharing.

The Posts and Sites

First off, you need to check out Michael White’s website, found some great stuff through his newletters;

notesfrommwhite.net Continue reading Blog posts I’ve been reading and sharing recently →

How to produce good documentation – Part 4 – Diagraming a network

January 3, 2015General, NetworkingDocumenation, Firewall, How to, Primary Internet Connection, Switches, Visio DiagramDean

Part 1 – The foundation of any IT infrastructure
Part 2 – Rack and Server Diagrams
Part 3 – Network IP’s & Interfaces
Part 4 – Diagraming a network
Part 5 – Diagraming your (Veeam) Backups

So in my last post, I looked at how to record the logical information about your IP addresses and switchport locations, making it easier for troubleshooting in the future.

Now lets tackle the big one, how to produce good documentation when diagraming your network.

For this, I am going to use a real world example of a network I audited, and then made a visio diagram. Personally, I don’t believe this is one of the best visio diagram’s I have produced, however it includes a lot of various parts which I think are useful.

So below, you find the original hand drawn diagram as I was tracing cables and devices, and then the final product.

Note: Unfortunately I do not have the Visio file available for distribution used in this post.