Can replication overlap backup?

[pufferdude]

I'm currently backing up 16 VMs from SAN to local disk array with veeam backup, very successfully. Now I want to replicate a few of the most critical VMs to our ESX host at a remote site (across a 6Mb/sec link). When I set up replication for these VMs, do I need to ensure that the replication does NOT occur when the backups of these same VMs are happening, or does it not matter?

If I DO need to make sure the backup and replication jobs do not overlap, my concern is how to schedule them... right now some of the VMs back up every 4 hours, thus within a 24 hour period the schedule shifts by four hours every backup. How can I create a replication job for the same VM and guarantee that it doesn't occur during a backup (if I even need to be concerned with this)?

How does everyone else handle backup and replication of the same VMs? Advice appreciated!

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Jim,

Yes, the same VM can only be processed by one job at a time. To achieve what you want, you should either use PowerShell integration module to create scripts for your jobs to run one by one, or you can use a post-backup job script option to daisy chain your jobs. For more info on the second option please have a look at the corresponding thread: jobs in sequence

Thank you!

[pufferdude]

Ok, thanks for the info! My next question is: what happens IF two jobs try to fire at the same time? Let's say a backup is already in progress and a replication job tries to run... does it simply fail (and perhaps retry per the retry settings?), or does it "completely" fail and not try again, or... something else?

I guess I'm wondering if I can just leave my backup at every 4 hours, then create a replication job for, say, every 12 hours, and IF it happens to hit at the time a backup is occurring, will it just gracefully fail and try again, or ?

[Vitaliy S.]

Jim,

If you try to launch two jobs at the same time, one job will start and the second one will fail with the message that this object (VM) is being used by another job. Well.. yes, you can do that, I mean the trick with a retry option, that would work, however the easiest way will be to trigger a post backup job script like it is written in the thread above (jobs in sequence)