Item with possible non-UTF8 characters detected

[rainerb]

Dear PM
I would like to back up a Netapp. To do this, I have integrated it as a storage object. When backing up a volume, I get a warning ‘Item with possible non-UTF8 characters detected’. I then opened a ticket and the support team explained how to deal with this behaviour. So far so good.
In addition, the support colleague pointed out to me that this topic is not yet on the development roadmap and asked me to contribute it this way.
So dear PM: I request the implementation of a correct handling of non-UTF8 characters. Thank you.
Rainer

[Dima P.]

Hello rainerb,

Thank you for your request, noted!

For all the newcomers, please refer to this registry key which can define the non-UTF8 encoding for your NAS jobs. It addresses the issue of FLR or NAS to tape jobs when non-UTF8 is present in the backup. Thank you!

Code: Select all

Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication\
Name: SourceFileSystemEncoding
Type: REG_SZ

Format: <sharename1>;<encodingname1>;<sharename2>;<encodingname2>;…;<sharenameN>;<encodingnameN>

Example: \\someserver;windows-1258;\\someotherserver\someshare;iso-8859-9;172.16.24.38:/nfsshare;hz-gb-2312;\\prg10556;windows-1251

The logic checks if the processed share (by FLR or NAS-to-Tape job) have a name starting with the given value. Adding \\myserver will match every share on the server like \\myserver\myshare and \\myserver\myothershare.
The list of valid encoding names can be found here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotne ... t-encoding

[rainerb]

Hello Dima,
Thank you for your message. I am not sure whether the information will help me and how I can use it. I do not back up shares but use the Netapp integration and then have connected volumes. How should I address that then? I have the Netapp as an object. With the share I then have a vServer. In the job I address NetappObject:/volume. Not as in the example \\vserver\share or vserver:/share
The Veeam server gets access to all volumes by adjusting the Netapp export policy, regardless of whether I have access with my backup user.
I have to set it up like that because, for historical reasons, many volumes run in mixed mode and I do not have consistent access via the share level.
Best
Rainer

[Dima P.]

Hello Rainer,

The key will work anyway. Under the NetappObject:/volume we track the information about the file shares, so you can define a custom encoding per-share via regkey which will be used further for restores / NAS to tape or other activities (which operate at a file share level). Thank you!

[JDTRIER]

Hey Dima,

I have a customer looking to implement this solution. We wonder if using just the vSERVER will work in this registry key to apply to all shares under it. IE: netappsvm1;iso-8859-1. Or does it require using a full share path? Or can we apply a single share path that applies to multiple shares? They have several paths, and I hope they can apply a broad approach.

Thanks,
JT

[Dima P.]

Hi Jason,

\\someserver;windows-1258 will apply encoding settings to \\someserver\somefileshare1, \\someserver\somefileshare2 and any other share that is starts with \\someserver\. Thank you!