Build & Configure

This section covers topics which are relevant when building the designed solution and configuring Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 infrastructure components, such as proxies and repositories.

For general information about these topics please check the Deployment and read about the specific components in the Backup Infrastructure section.

Antivirus Software Exceptions for Veeam Processes

Configure antivirus exceptions as described in Veeam KB3074 to avoid performance issues. This is true for all servers within a Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 deployment.

When experiencing resource bottlenecks a reason can be the installed antivirus software. Depending on the software it can compete on CPU time and add latency to I/O operations for scanning these. By putting the VB365 processes to the exclusion list of the anti-virus software, this effect can be mitigated. As this incurrs punching a hole in the systems security this should be handled with care.

We also found Windows Defender Antimalware Service Executable to take a lot of resources on VB365 proxies. This can be avoided by excluding the executable from Windows Defender itself. See this Emisoft Blogpost for details on how to configure this.

CPU Configuration

When being able to configure/choose a CPU multi-core/multi-socket layout, prefer using less sockets with multiple cores over more sockets with less cores.

As VB365 is optimized for modern multi-core CPUs you might see performance impacts when running a suboptimal configuration.

Resources

• Veeam KB3074 - Details on antivirus exclusions for VB365
• Emisoft Blogpost - How to fix ‘Antimalware Service Executable’ high CPU usage
• VBO-AddDefenderExclusions - PowerShell script to automatically configure exclusions in Windows Defender based on KB3074

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