The wait is over! The long-awaited new Veeam Backup and Replication 13 is finally GA and available for download.
The number of new features and enhancements is impressive, further solidifying the solution's leadership position in the market for backup solutions.
What's new in Veeam Backup and Replication 13
With tons of new features available in version 13, the following are the most significant.
Pre-built appliance
The most interesting and cool feature is the JeOS-Linux-based (aka Just Enough OS) VSA. This is a base OS preconfigured according to DISA STIG guidelines that decouples Veeam Backup and Replication from the Windows platform, enhancing security since the entire VSA stack is fully maintained by Veeam. Base OS privileges are not granted to administrators to prevent configuration changes that could affect performance, security, and so on.
The VSA is available as an ISO installation media for physical, virtual, and cloud machines, with a simple and smooth installation procedure that requires only a few clicks. For the VMware vSphere platform, an OVA version of the VSA is also available for faster deployment.
Managing the VSA does not require any Linux expertise, as the necessary management tasks are performed using an intuitive, easy to use interface and web-based console.
Web UI
Veeam Backup and Replication 13 comes with a new web-based user interface, eliminating software and platform dependencies. In this first release, the functionality is limited and some tasks still require the traditional Veeam Console.
In addition to classic backup management as available in the classic Veeam console, the Web UI features a built-in monitoring dashboard to provide an overview of the most critical metrics.
Veeam ONE can also be integrated within the Web UI.
Enhanced RBAC
The new RBAC allows for the configuration of fine-grained access control for backup and restore operations across the environment.
Administrators can now delegate permissions with precision, ensuring users can only access specific workloads and perform operations relevant to their roles.
In this first version, the new RBAC capability is limited to host-based backups for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, agent-based backups, and unstructured data backups (file shares and object storage).
Sigle Sign On (SSO)
It is now possible to manage user accounts across different software solutions by leveraging external Identity Providers, such as Okta or Entra ID, that support SAML 2.0 with a shared OAuth authorization service for accessing the Web UI and the standard Veeam console.
High Availability
Version 13 can now be deployed in an active/passive backup server cluster where the second node remains in standby, ready to take over the main role if the primary node should fail for any reason. This ensures that backup and recovery functionalities remain available.
Failover and failback can be performed with a simple manual click if something goes wrong with the main node or simply for testing purposes. If Veeam ONE is deployed in the infrastructure, failovers take place automatically.
To benefit from HA capability, VSA 13.0.1 (to be released in Q4 2025) and VDP Premium edition are required.
Veeam Intelligence
Veeam Intelligence offered in version 13 gives more control over AI usage with three main options:
- Disabled - Veeam Intelligence is disabled.
- Basic - uses official documentation and other publicly available sources.
- Advanced Mode - powered by Veeam ONE, it further enhances the quality and depth of answers and provides Veeam Intelligence access to your backup infrastructure details and real-time monitoring data.
Licensing
VSA requires the Veeam Universal License (VUL) and is not available for socket-based licenses or Community Edition.
Enhancements
To see all the new enhancements provided by Veeam Backup and Replication 13, refer to the official Release Notes.
Veeam Backup and Replication 13 is available for download on Veeam website.
