In the midst of the ransomware incident surge and with many organizations discovering—too late—that their “recovery plan” wasn’t really a plan, OVHcloud has announced Backup Agent, a new managed backup solution available to all their Bare Metal customers and developed in collaboration with Veeam. The clear goal is to make it easier to implement a encrypted and immutable backup for those who still lack a solid protection scheme due to complexity, cost, or time constraints.
The company contextualizes the launch with a concerning statistic attributed to Gartner: a significant portion of organizations are poorly positioned in disaster recovery capabilities and also operate under a “illusion of overconfidence”. In other words: they believe they are protected… until an incident occurs.
What exactly is Backup Agent and what problem does it aim to solve?
In Bare Metal environments, the client typically has very fine control over the system—and also bears full responsibility for its protection. This often results in two common scenarios:
- Homegrown backups (scripts, rsync, snapshots) that work… until it’s time for a “real” restore.
- Powerful enterprise solutions, but with friction: licenses, architecture, daily operation, variable costs, and sometimes uncertainty about billing models when recovery is needed.
OVHcloud’s approach is to reduce that friction: a backup agent with free licensing based on Veeam technology, deployable from the control panel or API, with a configuration that the company estimates takes less than 10 minutes.
Security and architecture: encryption, immutability, and geographic separation
The announcement emphasizes two attributes already considered “non-negotiable” in 2026:
- Encryption: to ensure confidentiality both in transit and at rest, especially important if the backup becomes the last resource.
- Immutability: so that the copy cannot be encrypted, altered, or deleted even if an attacker manages to obtain elevated credentials.
Additionally, OVHcloud notes that data is stored in a geographically distant location from the physical Bare Metal server, a classic measure to reduce risks from localized incidents (infrastructure failure, disaster, human error, or lateral-impact attack).
On the backend, Backup Agent utilizes OVHcloud’s Object Storage with a SLA of 99.9% in 1-AZ mode.
Use cases: from “I accidentally deleted” to “production was ransomware-encrypted”
OVHcloud mentions practical examples covering most real incidents:
- Restoring files or systems accidentally deleted.
- Recovery after ransomware or malware.
The key point here is that immutability becomes a direct response to the most common attacker tactic: going after backups first before executing widespread encryption.
Pricing and predictability: the “no surprises” message (according to OVHcloud)
One of the most aggressive points in the announcement is the pricing. OVHcloud states that the service avoids costs that often blow up budgets in public cloud—such as:
- Egress fees (costs for data egress).
- Recovery or API call fees.
They set a monthly price aligned with their Object Storage Standard 1-AZ: €0.007 per GB (excluding VAT), also highlighting that no licensing costs are added for the agent. The company claims it can be up to 6 times cheaper than competing alternatives, although they don’t specify a comparable basket in the announcement.
Roadmap: “agentic” and MCP for automated consumption
A particularly notable detail is the reference to future “agentic” functionalities via MCP (Model Context Protocol), aimed at enabling AI agents to access billing and usage data. This hints at the future evolution of the control plane: not only managing backups but integrating them into automated operational and governance workflows.
Quick comparison table: how does Backup Agent fit against typical Bare Metal approaches?
| Approach | Main Advantage | Typical Risk | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backup Agent (OVHcloud + Veeam) | Quick deployment, encryption and immutability, geographic separation | Dependence on provider ecosystem (operation and policies) | Bare Metal environments needing frictionless resilience |
| DIY scripts/rsync | Full control and low cost | Slow restores, lack of immutability, human error failures | Home labs, small environments, or as a supplementary layer |
| System snapshots | Quick recovery short-term | They’re not substitutes for isolated backups; risk if host is compromised | Frequent changes, quick rollback, short windows |
| Public cloud archival backup | Scalability and retention | Variable costs (egress/recovery), latencies, complexity | Long-term retention, cold data, compliance |
Availability: now in Europe, expanding internationally soon
According to OVHcloud, Backup Agent is now available in all European data centers for Bare Metal clients. Expansion to APAC and Canada is planned for the first quarter of 2026.
FAQs
How does immutability in a backup compare to ransomware encryption?
It prevents an attacker with compromised credentials or systems from deleting or encrypting the copy, maintaining a reliable “last line” for restoration.
Does this type of backup replace a 3-2-1 scheme?
Not necessarily: it is often a valuable layer, but many organizations also keep additional copies (e.g., offline or in another jurisdiction) depending on criticality and compliance.
Which profiles benefit most from this in Bare Metal?
Especially teams managing critical infrastructure who want to improve disaster recovery without turning backup into a complex licensing, architecture, or operational project.
What does it mean that the agent’s license is free “based on Veeam”?
It implies the solution relies on Veeam technology for the agent component, but the service is managed and consumed via OVHcloud, as stated in the announcement.