A Personal Welcome to the VeeamON Community
Hey, Veeam community! Can you feel the excitement? We’re just days away from VeeamON 2025 in sunny San Diego (April 21–23), and I couldn’t be more thrilled. As a proud Veeam Vanguard and longtime VeeamON attendee, I know this conference isn’t just about technology – it’s a family reunion for us data protection geeks. This year’s event promises to “reignite your passion” for data protection and cyber resilience, with a packed agenda of innovative sessions, hands-on labs, and networking fun. And even more great news I’m going to be attending this is break news as of this morning. !! Register today at VeeamON 2025 | San Diego, April 21-23.
In this blog, I want to spotlight brand-new featured sessions and workshops that have me buzzing with anticipation. From community-led deep dives to interactive labs, these are the VeeamON highlights you won’t miss. So grab your calendar (and maybe your flip-flops – it is San Diego, after all!), and let’s dive into my must-see picks for VeeamON 2025.
Community-Powered Security Insights: Syslog & SIEM Session
One session I am incredibly excited about is “Gaining Security and System Health Intelligence Using Syslog and SIEM.” This breakout (scheduled for April 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM PT in San Diego Ballroom C) is led by two fellow Veeam Vanguards, Geoff Burke and Maurice Kevenaar. Community sessions are always a highlight – you get real-world insights from folks who live and breathe Veeam daily – and this one is no exception.
So why is this session a big deal? In our modern IT environments, backups aren’t just a “set it and forget it” thing; they’re a crucial part of the security puzzle. Geoff and Maurice will show us how to supercharge the Veeam Data Platform by integrating it with Syslog and SIEM tools to extract valuable security and health analytics. In other words, how can we turn all those Veeam logs and events into actionable intelligence? I love this because it bridges the gap between the backup admins and the security operations team – two worlds that should work hand-in-hand to protect data.
What to Expect:
- Setting up effective alerts for your Veeam backup environment
- A live demo of forwarding Veeam syslog messages through Logstash to Elasticsearch (SIEM integration in action)
- For tips for configuring alerts and building dashboards in Kibana to visualize system health and security try.objectfirst.com
Pretty cool, right? Essentially, Geoff and Maurice will demonstrate how to create a mini “SOC” (Security Operations Center) view for your backup infrastructure. Imagine being able to spot anomalies in backup activities or get immediate alerts on early warning signs of trouble (like repeated failed login attempts on your Veeam servers or a sudden spike in backup errors)—that’s the kind of insight we need in an era of ransomware.
This topic also ties into Veeam’s broader ecosystem. With the Veeam Data Platform at the core of our backup strategy and Object First providing immutable backup storage (Object First is the company behind the ultra-secure “Ootbi” backup appliance), monitoring becomes the glue that holds it all together. You’ll hear how to leverage Object First’s storage logs alongside Veeam’s logs to strengthen your security posture. It’s a perfect marriage of software and hardware: Veeam’s platform generates the data, and Object First’s appliance keeps it safe – now you can gain unified visibility into both. By the end of this session, you should have concrete skills to take home, like configuring Syslog forwarding on Veeam components, writing Logstash filters for Veeam events, and crafting Kibana dashboards that issue actionable alerts. In short, this Vanguard-led session will equip you to turn raw logs into real intelligence, helping you sleep a little easier at night, knowing your backup environment is under watchful eyes.
And let’s not forget the human factor: both Geoff and Maurice are not only Veeam Vanguards but also profoundly experienced in the field (Geoff works at Object First, and Maurice is an Object First ACE in addition to being a Vanguard). They’ve been in the trenches. I expect an enthusiastic delivery, fun anecdotes, and honest best-practice advice. Do not miss this session if you’ve ever wanted to integrate your Veeam backups with a SIEM or are curious about using the Elastic Stack for monitoring. I know I’ll be front row for this one!
Hands-On Workshop: Veeam Recovery Orchestrator
Another absolute must on my list is the Veeam Recovery Orchestrator Workshop. This special pre-conference hands-on lab, led by Veeam’s own Andrey Stadler, will take place on Monday, April 21 (2:00–4:30 PM PT in Marriott Grand Ballroom 3/4). If you’re coming to VeeamON early, these extended workshops are golden opportunities to roll up your sleeves and learn by doing.
The Orchestrator Workshop will walk you through setting up Veeam Recovery Orchestrator, which is the tool that helps automate and streamline recovery processes (think of it as the engine behind your disaster recovery plans). In a 2.5-hour session, you’ll get a product overview and dive into configuration: how to create and configure recovery plans step-by-step, add custom steps to tailor those plans to your business needs, and more. Because it’s hands-on, you’ll follow along on your laptop – by the end, you might just have a mini DR plan built and ready to show off! How often do you leave a conference session with practical experience already under your belt?
I’m a huge believer in the “test, test, test” mantra for disaster recovery, and Veeam Recovery Orchestrator is all about that – it automates testing your backups and replicas, documents the results, and can even prove compliance (think SLA reports that show you can meet your recovery objectives). If you’ve never used Orchestrator, this workshop is the perfect chance to get guided experience. Andrey Stadler is a fantastic instructor who knows this tech inside out, so I’m looking forward to picking up tips directly from the expert. Expect to come away with confidence in setting up orchestrated recovery plans – which means less panic if and when an actual disaster strikes.
Also worth noting: these Monday workshops are a new addition to VeeamON this year and are free with your conference pass (you just needed to pre-register because of limited seats). Veeam listened to the community members who wanted deeper technical content; boy, they delivered. I heard these sessions filled up quickly (no surprise!), but if you snagged a spot, consider yourself lucky. If not, don’t worry – plenty of breakout sessions will be on similar topics during the main conference. Still, I’ll say it: the Orchestrator workshop is the place to be on Monday afternoon for anyone serious about mastering Veeam’s recovery automation.
Hands-On Workshop: Veeam Data Cloud Vault
Running parallel to Orchestrator on Monday afternoon is another exciting workshop: Veeam Data Cloud Vault – Getting Started (April 21, 2:00–4:30 PM PT in Marriott Grand Ballroom 1/2), led by the awesome Karinne Bessette from Veeam. Deciding between this and the Orchestrator workshop was a dilemma (I wish I could clone myself!) because the Cloud Vault workshop is equally compelling for anyone looking to bolster their off-site backup strategy.
So, what is Veeam Data Cloud Vault? It’s essentially Veeam’s solution for a secure, air-gapped cloud repository for your backups – think of it as an off-site vault (as the name suggests) where you can park copies of your data to shield them from ransomware or other disasters. This workshop will show you how to get up and running with Cloud Vault from scratch. Karinne will cover the different ways to use Cloud Vault, from setting up a repository and connecting it to your Veeam Backup & Replication console to best practices for provisioning a Scale-out Backup Repository (SOBR) that includes a cloud tier. If terms like “Capacity Tier” or “Copy Mode” ring a bell, you’ll also see how those tie in with Cloud Vault.
In plain English, if you’ve been wondering how to effortlessly get backups off-site to a secure cloud location (without needing to build or manage the infrastructure yourself), this is the session for you. And just like the Orchestrator lab, this one is hands-on – so bring that laptop. By following along, you’ll configure a Cloud Vault repository and maybe even run a test backup or restore from it by the end. I’m excited about this because Veeam Data Cloud Vault is a relatively new capability – in fact, it became fully integrated with Veeam Data Platform in the recent v12.3 update. So this workshop is a prime chance to learn a cutting-edge feature directly from the experts who know it best.
Karinne is known for her clear teaching style and deep expertise (if you’ve seen her in previous VeeamON sessions or community webinars, you know she’s a rock star). I expect to walk out of that room with a solid understanding of how to incorporate Cloud Vault into my backup architecture, how to optimize costs and security for cloud copies, and how to restore from the vault in case the worst happens. Cloud backups and immutability go hand-in-hand, and Veeam Data Cloud Vault gives us another tool in the arsenal to achieve accurate data resilience. This workshop is going to demystify it and make it tangible. Don’t miss the opportunity to get that first-hand experience – it’s knowledge that could save your company someday.
See You in San Diego!
Whew – and that’s just a handful of the excellent content for VeeamON 2025! The full agenda is jam-packed with even more sessions on backup best practices, cloud-native data protection, ransomware defense, automation and beyond. I highly recommend browsing the official VeeamON 2025 agenda and picking out your must-see talks beforehand. There are usually multiple tracks and sometimes tough choices (as I discovered with those Monday workshops!), so a little planning goes a long way.
I am counting down the days to this conference. I want to soak in all this excellent knowledge and reconnect with all of you – the Veeam community. The hallway conversations, the spontaneous meet-ups at the Veeam Vanguard/Legend lounge, and the after-hours gatherings (don’t miss the Expo Hall happy hour, and I hear Object First has some fun in store, too) are where the real magic happens. If you see me around, please say hello! One of the best parts of VeeamON is how approachable everyone is, from Veeam’s top technologists to us Vanguards to your fellow attendees. We’re all there to learn and help each other.
To wrap up, VeeamON 2025 in San Diego is poised to be an unforgettable experience. With sessions like the above – a mix of deep technical know-how, hands-on skill-building, and forward-looking insights – you’ll return home inspired and armed with new tools to elevate your data protection strategy. Whether you’re flying in or tuning in online, get ready to learn, share, and have a blast. I’ll see you in San Diego, ready to geek out on everything, Veeam! Safe travels and #VeeamON, here we come!
See ya there,
Dave
