Veeam Agent — keeping physical machines backed up without the headaches
Veeam Agent is the bit of Veeam’s toolkit that looks after the stuff that isn’t running inside a hypervisor — plain old laptops, desktops, and bare-metal servers. It works on Windows and Linux, can grab anything from a single folder to an entire disk image, and isn’t fussy about where the backups go.
Local drive? Fine. NAS in the comms room? Works. An existing Veeam repository in the main office? Also fine. Once a job is set up, it just runs — either a full image for bare-metal recovery or a lighter incremental that moves only the changed blocks. And if the system dies completely, the bootable recovery media can get you back on your feet without reinstalling everything from scratch.
Capabilities
| Feature | Description |
| Cross-Platform | Same backup engine for Windows and Linux — no “lite” editions |
| Flexible Scope | Whole system, one volume, or just a few folders |
| Storage Targets | Local disk, network share, NAS, Veeam repo, some cloud options |
| Encryption | AES-256 on the client side before it leaves the machine |
| Scheduling | Regular intervals or triggered on events like logon/logoff |
| Incrementals | Changed block tracking so you’re not backing up gigabytes of unchanged data |
| Boot Media | USB or ISO to recover a dead OS fast |
| Integration | Can report into Veeam Backup & Replication for central control |
Deployment Notes
The free edition is fine for most endpoint jobs; the licensed one adds bells and whistles like application-aware processing for databases and mail servers. Space planning matters — image-based jobs will fill up a small NAS quickly if retention isn’t tuned. On Linux, check CIFS/NFS mount permissions before running the first job over the network. And don’t leave recovery media for “later” — it’s the first thing you’ll wish you had when a drive fails.
Quick Start (Windows)
1. Grab the installer from Veeam’s site.
2. Run setup, pick Free mode unless you’ve got a license key handy.
3. Create a job: full system, single volume, or file-level.
4. Choose where it’ll live — local path, NAS, network share, or Veeam repo.
5. Decide on schedule and encryption.
6. Make the bootable USB/ISO straight away.
Where it shines
– Office PCs that need reliable full-disk images but no heavy server-side setup.
– Staff laptops that travel and back up to portable or encrypted NAS drives.
– Physical Linux boxes in mixed environments that can’t be virtualized.
– Developer workstations before risky OS upgrades.
– Slotting into an existing Veeam setup for endpoints without changing the main backup plan.