A company’s infrastructure includes a Fibre Channel SAN where the VMware VMs are located. The administrator wants to create a backup that minimizes…

Direct Storage Access mode is the optimal choice for this scenario. It allows the Veeam backup proxy to connect directly to the Fibre Channel (FC) SAN and read VM data blocks from the storage LUNs. This process bypasses the production network and the VMware ESXi hosts, resulting in the fastest possible backup performance with the least impact on the production environment. To use this mode, the backup proxy must have a physical connection to the FC SAN fabric, typically via a Host Bus Adapter (HBA).

A. Network: This mode transfers data over the production LAN, which increases network congestion and CPU load on the ESXi hosts, directly conflicting with the requirement to minimize impact.

B. Guest interaction: This is a component responsible for application-aware processing and guest file system indexing, not a data transport mode for moving VM disk data.

D. Virtual appliance: Also known as Hot-Add, this mode is efficient but requires the proxy to be a virtual machine. Direct Storage Access is specifically designed for SAN connectivity and is generally preferred for offloading traffic from the virtualization layer.

1. Veeam Backup & Replication V12 User Guide for VMware vSphere: In the "Transport Modes" section

it states

"In the Direct Storage Access mode

Veeam Backup & Replication reads data directly from the storage system where VM data is located... This mode provides the fastest data transfer speed and produces the lowest impact on the production environment." It explicitly lists Fibre Channel (FC) as a supported connection type. (Reference: Veeam Help Center

User Guide for VMware vSphere

Section: "Transport Modes"

Subsection: "Direct Storage Access").

2. Veeam Backup & Replication V12 Best Practices Guide: The guide recommends Direct SAN Access for virtual infrastructures that use shared SAN storage. It highlights that "Direct SAN access provides the fastest data retrieval and has a near-zero impact on the vSphere environment." (Reference: Veeam Best Practices

Veeam Backup & Replication v12

Section: "Proxy Server"

Subsection: "Transport Mode Selection").