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And Another Hypervisor Platform that will be supported by Veeam – HPE VM Essentials!

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I'm a bit late on this news as it was announced during HP Discover Las Vegas, June 24th 2025, but hey, this is quite exciting. As you might know, HP has its own virtualization platform called HPE Morpheus VM Essentials software, and this platform is based on KVM hypervisor. Veeam had already supported their agents based backups on this platform, but they announced that an agent-less backup is coming! This is something many virtualization admins were looking for after they seeing their bills for VMware Licensing going x8.

This is going to be just another choice of virtualization platform. However, don't get so excited. You'll need to renew your hardware.

Note: for now, you have to buy HP hardware to be able to run the HPE VM Essentials on it (in production), but this will most likely change soon.

Recently I have published several articles showing different possible VMware alternatives:

Check the news here:

https://www.veeam.com/company/press-release/hpe-and-veeam-deepen-strategic-partnership-to-deliver-superior-data-resiliency-and-recovery.html

Quote:

  • Veeam to deliver image-based backup for HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software: Veeam will deliver their industry-leading VM data resilience capabilities to VM Essentials with full fidelity Veeam Data Platform image-based backup support in the near term. Whether running HPE Private Cloud solutions or standalone servers with Veeam and VM Essentials, customers can take advantage of seamless, unified multi-hypervisor protection and VM mobility, as well as up to 90 percent reduction in VM license costs.
  • Comprehensive protection for containerized and cloud-native workloads: In addition to deep Veeam Data Platform integration with VM Essentials and HPE Morpheus Enterprise Software, Veeam Kasten provides leading backup and recovery for containerized and cloud-native workloads. Together, these solutions enable organizations to manage and protect bare metal, virtualized, and containerized workloads.

And on HP side here:

https://www.hpe.com/us/en/newsroom/press-release/2025/06/hpe-and-veeam-deepen-strategic-partnership-to-deliver-superior-data-resiliency-and-recovery.html

Want to try and do a POC with HP VM Essentials?

Quote from Veeam's forum thread:

Note there is a 60 day free trial of VME if anyone wants to play with it. Here's where you can download the trial and watch videos (step-by-step) of getting it running. I also just brought up an HPE VME community forum where technical questions get answered.

So yes, you can install the HPE Software as trial in the lab and test it as POC.

Veeam and HPE shall be cost effective

HPE VM Essentials offers a cost-effective alternative to VMware vSphere, with some users reporting up to 60% savings on licensing costs through its socket-based subscription model. Veeam’s image-level backups provide a robust, enterprise-grade data protection solution without the need for expensive proprietary hardware, making it a financially viable option for both SMBs and enterprises transitioning away from VMware’s pricier subscription-based licensing

Broadcom’s shift to bundled VMware offerings and the discontinuation of perpetual licenses have raised concerns about vendor lock-in and unpredictable cost increases. HPE VM Essentials, built on open-source KVM, combined with Veeam’s flexible Veeam Universal License (VUL), allows organizations to protect diverse workloads (virtual, physical, and cloud) without being tied to a single vendor. This flexibility is crucial for businesses seeking to future-proof their infrastructure.

HPE VM Essentials supports unified management of both KVM-based VME and VMware vSphere environments, allowing businesses to migrate workloads gradually without disrupting operations. Veeam’s image-level backup support (with agentless integration planned for EOY 2025) ensures consistent data protection during this transition, making it easier for organizations to move away from VMware without sacrificing reliability

My thoughts

Image-level backups for HPE VM Essentials, supported by Veeam, are critical for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprise customers looking to avoid VMware's escalating license costs, particularly following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware

Currently, there is no confirmed release date for Changed Block Tracking (CBT) support in HPE VM Essentials. According to available information, Veeam’s integration with HPE VM Essentials is still agent-based, with agentless backup support, which would include CBT, planned for Q2 2025. However, no specific timeline for CBT implementation has been detailed in the sources. Discussions on platforms like Reddit indicate that HPE and Veeam are working on agentless integration, with some speculation pointing to later in 2025, but no exact date is confirmed.

 

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About Vladan SEGET

This website is maintained by Vladan SEGET. Vladan is as an Independent consultant, professional blogger, vExpert x16, Veeam Vanguard x9, VCAP-DCA/DCD, ESX Virtualization site has started as a simple bookmarking site, but quickly found a large following of readers and subscribers.

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