Back to Basics with Veeam: How to Create and Configure a Backup Proxy (3rd in Series)

In the third installment of our Back to Basics video series, Steven New, Director of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery at Dataprise (and a Veeam Vanguard + Technical Ambassador), walks us through an essential but often overlooked piece of any Veeam deployment: setting up a backup proxy.

If you’re getting started with Veeam Backup & Replication—or just want to optimize your environment—understanding how proxies work is a must.

What Is a Backup Proxy and Why Does It Matter?

A backup proxy is the component in Veeam responsible for moving data between source and target during backup and replication jobs. In simple terms, it does the heavy lifting. Without one, your backups won’t run.

By default, Veeam installs a proxy on the backup server itself, but in larger or more distributed environments, it’s best practice to deploy additional proxies on separate machines to balance workload and speed up processing.

Step-by-Step: How to Create a Backup Proxy

1. Launch Veeam Backup & Replication

Make sure Veeam is fully closed, then reopen it. Navigate to Backup Infrastructure > Backup Proxies.

Veeam automatically installs:

• A VMware backup proxy
• A Veeam Agent proxy for physical servers or workstations

But you can and should configure additional proxies based on your environment’s needs.

2. Choose a Proxy Server and Set Transport Mode

If you’re using an all-in-one Veeam server (like in this demo), the proxy will live on that machine. You can add more later if needed.

Now, choose a transport mode—this determines how data moves from storage to the proxy:

• Automatic (recommended): Veeam decides the best method.
• Direct Storage Access: Bypasses the hypervisor and pulls directly from shared storage. Fast but requires access to storage fabric.
• Virtual Appliance Mode (Hot Add): Ideal for proxies inside VMware. The VM disks are hot-added to the proxy for direct access.
• Network Mode (NBD): Most common. Sends data over your VMkernel network or iSCSI. Best for 10 GbE+ environments. Works on 1 GbE, but not recommended for performance reasons.

Failover Option: If your primary transport mode fails, Veeam can automatically fall back to Network Mode.

You can also enable proxy traffic encryption, but if your data is crossing subnets, Veeam encrypts it automatically—so this box is usually left unchecked.

3. Configure Data Store Access and Concurrent Tasks

By default, the proxy automatically detects accessible datastores every 4 hours. You can manually specify them if you prefer.

Next, adjust your Max Concurrent Tasks—this controls how many virtual disks the proxy can process at once. By default, it’s set to 2. If your environment can handle more (based on CPU cores and RAM), increase it to speed up backups.

Example:

• One VM with 2 disks = 2 tasks
• Three VMs with 2 disks each = 6 tasks

Keep an eye on system resources—especially RAM—when raising this limit. If the proxy has less than 8 GB of RAM, you may see warnings.

4. Add Additional Proxies (Optional)

You can always install more proxies on different Windows servers. This spreads the workload and improves backup performance across larger environments.

To add one:

• Click Add New
• Enter the server’s IP or DNS
• Let Veeam install the proxy role

Wrap-Up: Keep It Simple, Scale When Ready

For small environments, the default proxy on your Veeam server may be enough. But as your infrastructure grows, deploying additional proxies is key to maintaining performance and reducing backup windows.

Watch the Full Video Tutorial

Need help architecting a high-performance Veeam deployment?
Dataprise is a Veeam Certified Service Provider with deep experience in backup, recovery, and business continuity strategies. Let us help you build an environment that scales with your business.

Steven New is the Director of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery at Dataprise. As a Veeam Vanguard and Veeam Technical Ambassador for certified service providers, Steven brings deep expertise in data protection and disaster recovery strategy. He is passionate about helping organizations optimize their Veeam environments and build resilient IT infrastructures.