As service providers scale their multi-tenant VMware environments, seamless backup integration becomes critical. Veeam, through its Cloud Director (vCD) Plugin, offers an elegant and powerful way to orchestrate backup and recovery workflows across multiple tenants, with full awareness of vCD-specific constructs.
This article explains how the architecture is built, and how Veeam interacts with VMware Cloud Director to protect workloads efficiently and securely.
🔌 1. Native Awareness of VCD Objects
Unlike traditional VM-based backups, Veeam’s plugin is natively aware of Cloud Director’s object model, including:
- vApps and their nested VMs
- Organization VDCs (Org VDCs)
- VM metadata, network mappings, and disk configs
This native awareness ensures backups are consistent with how tenants actually consume services.
🔍 2. Automated Discovery of Tenant Workloads
Once integrated, Veeam automatically:
- Detects all vApps and VMs across Org VDCs
- Reflects real-time changes such as new deployments or deletions
- Applies backup jobs dynamically without needing manual reconfiguration
This allows scalability, particularly in fast-changing tenant environments.
🛡️ 3. Backup Policies Mapped to Org VDCs
Service providers can define per-tenant backup policies, such as:
- Backup frequency (e.g., daily incremental, weekly full)
- Retention periods
- Repository destination
- Encryption and compression settings
These policies are mapped to Organization VDCs, making it easy to align with SLA requirements and isolate backups per customer.
🔄 4. Secure Restore Workflows via VCD Authentication
Veeam integrates directly with Cloud Director’s authentication layer, meaning:
- Only authorized users (e.g., tenant admins) can access their backup data
- Self-service restore portals can be exposed securely
- Logs and audit trails are preserved for compliance
Restores can be performed at vApp, VM, or file level, directly into the tenant’s Org VDC – ensuring minimal downtime and no cross-tenant risk.
⚙️ Core Components Overview
| Component | Function |
|---|---|
| Veeam Backup Server | Orchestrates backup and recovery jobs |
| vCD Plugin | Enables native object detection and job mapping |
| Backup Proxy | Handles data transport and processing |
| Backup Repository | Stores tenant backup data (can be isolated per Org) |
| Cloud Director API | Provides interface for discovery, backup, and restore |
🧠 Example Flow: How It All Connects
- Tenant deploys a new vApp in their Org VDC
- Veeam plugin detects the vApp via Cloud Director API
- A backup job (daily + 30-day retention) auto-applies
- Data is processed via a proxy and stored in an Org-specific repository
- If needed, tenant admin restores via portal using VCD authentication