As you remember, at the end of 2017, a new free solution for service providers, Veeam Availability Console, was released, which we told in our blog. With this console, service providers can remotely manage and monitor the security of virtual, physical and cloud user infrastructures where Veeam solutions run. The novelty quickly gained recognition, then the second version was released, but our engineers did not rest on their laurels and at the end of June prepared the first U2.0 update for Veeam Availability Console 1. My today's story will be about him, for which welcome under cat.

New scaling options

Thanks to them, the solution can now work with optimal performance, managing up to 10 Veeam Agents and up to 000 Veeam Backup & Replication servers (assuming that each server protects up to 600-150 machines).

New Access Control Features

Those who plan to delegate access to the Veeam Availability Console without giving the employee sufficiently broad rights (for example, local administrator), can now assign this employee the role of operator Operator Portal. This role allows you to manage and monitor infrastructures in the Veeam Availability Console, but does not provide access to the solution configuration. Learn more about role settings Operator Portal you can read here.

Integration with ConnectWise Manage

Now ConnectWise Manage users will have access to the management, monitoring and billing capabilities implemented in the Veeam Availability Console. The integration is provided by the ConnectWize Manage plugin, which can be seen in the Veeam Availability Console interface on the tab Plugins Library. The plugin allows you to transfer data between two products using the so-called integration features - you can characterize them as entry-exit points for certain types of data that you wish to synchronize. (Perhaps, I will call them that - features, especially since this name appears in the documentation.) About them a little later, but for now let's figure out how to enable integration with ConnectWise Manage.

Step 1: Generating an API Key

1. Launch the ConnectWise Manager desktop client.
   Note: The account under which you will log in must have the necessary rights, as indicated here.
2. Select top right My account.
3. On the Advanced tab API Keys press New Item.
4. Enter a description for the new key in the field Description, press Save.
5. New keys (public and private) will be displayed, they must be copied and saved in a secure place.

Step 2: Plugin connection setup

1. Launch Veeam Availability Console; The account under which you will log in must have the role Portal Manager.
2. Click on the top right Configuration.
3. In the panel on the left select Plugin Library and click on ConnectWise Management.
4. In the window that opens, enter the connection parameters:
   • ConnectWise site - enter the website address
   • ConnectWise company - indicate the name of the organization
   • public key, private key – enter the keys created in Step 1.

   
   

5. Click Connect.
6. In dialogue ConnectWise Management Integration make sure the status is displayed with an icon Healthy.

Step 3: Activate integration features

1. Launch Veeam Availability Console; The account under which you will log in must have the role Portal Manager.
2. Click on the top right Configuration.
3. Select from the menu on the left Plugin Library and click on ConnectWise Management.
4. In section Integration Settings move the necessary switches to the position On (you can use the option Enable All). More about them below.

Synchronizing data using features

Here are the integration features available in this version for working with the ConnectWise Manage Plugin:

• Companies (companies) - allows you to select among the service consumer companies whose data you want to synchronize between the Veeam Availability Console and ConnectWise Manage. After activating this feature, Veeam Availability Console receives a list of consumer companies from ConnectWise Manage, and you can then set up mapping to synchronize data for the desired companies. You can read more here (in English).

  
  

• Configurations (configurations) - Helps you create configuration files in ConnectWise Manage for machines managed by the Veeam Availability Console. These can be Veeam Backup & Replication servers, as well as virtual and physical machines on which the Veeam Availability Console agent is installed and which are included in the custom infrastructure of companies with configured mapping. After activating this feature, Veeam Availability Console creates a set of settings for each such machine, assigning it a configuration type Veeam Managed Computer.
• Ticketing (Create and Process Service Tickets) - Allows you to create tickets in ConnectWise Manage. Tickets are based on alerts (alarms) that are triggered under certain conditions in the Veeam Availability Console for a company with configured mapping. This could be, for example, a failed backup operation, exceeding the repository quota, etc. Each ticket contains the machine configuration associated with the triggered alert.

  After activating this feature, you can configure the parameters of a newly created ticket in the Veeam Availability Console.

  Blog: Once a ticket has been processed and closed in ConnectWise Manage, the corresponding issue alert in Veeam Availability Console will also be automatically set to the resolved status, meaning no additional manual action is required.

  
  

• Billing (Billing) - This integration allows the provider to include information about services provided on the basis of Veeam solutions in invoices generated in ConnectWise Manage. After activating this feature, Veeam Availability Console receives a list of products from the ConnectWise Manage catalog and the necessary data on contracts with consumer companies. Then you can set up the mapping of services and products, as well as specify the contract according to which accruals will take place.

The effectiveness of the integrated solution is confirmed by customers - for example, Matt Baldwin, president of Vertisys, said: “The integration has made our backup and DRaaS package more attractive. Among the advantages is a simple, user-friendly interface, as well as an optimal, from our point of view, set of features. We plan that the solution will help save 50-60 man-hours per year.”

If you want to learn more about the latest version of the free Veeam Availability Console for Service Providers, you can download it here.

Additional links

• Article on Habré about Veeam Availability Console
• Documentation (in English)
• Service Provider Solution Overview

Source: habr.com