Design question for backup, tape and copy job

[GabesVirtualWorld]

Hi
Customer has physical Veeam Server connected to a vSphere 5.0 environment. The Veeam Server has 4 TB LUN from the same storage array as the vSphere environment, on this LUN all backups will be written for a short period of time. (Depending on size of the backups the retention time will be adjusted, we're aiming for 7 days if possible).

Then there is a CIFS NAS on a remote location of 8TB. To this NAS daily a copy will be written (Veeam Copy Job) of the backup job. Last there is a Tape Drive and the customer wants to do a WEEKLY backup to tape.

First I thought I'd best use incremental backups because that would make writing to tape easier, but that is better suited when you make daily tape backups with incrementals / differentials. Customer however would like to be able to use just one tape for any restore, so I thought I'd better use Synthetic Full backups for the daily backup to disk and then weekly write the job to tape or is it maybe better to write the contents of the backup directory to tape? Because the contents of the backup directory will the contain the complete backup of last night and differentials from previous days. Which gives me the one tape I need to restore. By playing with the retention time I can make sure that my daily job fits on one tape.

But when I use the Synthetic full I'm wondering how this would be for the copy jobs to the remote location. Will this then copy the complete backup every time which is way too much. What would be the most bandwidth friendly way to bring my backup to the remote location?

Gabrie

[veremin]

The Veeam Server has 4 TB LUN from the same storage array as the vSphere environment, on this LUN all backups will be written for a short period of time.

This should work, however, please, bear in mind that storing backup data on VMFS is not considered as best practice. The major reason is that if something happened with the underlying storage you would loose both production VMs and backups.

Then there is a CIFS NAS on a remote location of 8TB

In this case, be aware to specify proxying server closer to remote location; should give better performance rates.

First I thought I'd best use incremental backups because that would make writing to tape easier, but that is better suited when you make daily tape backups with incrementals / differentials.

As an additional option, you can switch to reversed incremental mode and put into use weekly backup to tape job. By default, .vrb files are automatically skipped from processing by backup to tape job. Therefore, the backup to tape job will copy only one full backup on weekly basis.

But when I use the Synthetic full I'm wondering how this would be for the copy jobs to the remote location. Will this then copy the complete backup every time which is way too much. What would be the most bandwidth friendly way to bring my backup to the remote location?

Actually, Veeam Backup Copy Job doesn’t copy backup files as the whole, instead, it synthetically creates required restore points in remote location from VM data in source backup repositories. So, it doesn't matter what backup mode is being used by source backup job. Also, after initial run, the backup copy job is forever incremental, so, not the newly-created full restore points will be transferred to the target location, but rather changed blocks.

Thanks.

[GabesVirtualWorld]

This should work, however, please, bear in mind that storing backup data on VMFS is not considered as best practice. The major reason is that if something happened with the underlying storage you would loose both production VMs and backups.

I wasn't clear on this. I'm writing to a LUN directly connected to the Windows Server formatted as NTFS

In this case, be aware to specify proxying server closer to remote location; should give better performance rates.

Unfortunately on the remote location the NAS is the only device at that location. From the Veeam Server (also proxy) there is no other hop to the NAS.

As an additional option, you can switch to reversed incremental mode and put into use weekly backup to tape job. By default, .vrb files are automatically skipped from processing by backup to tape job. Therefore, the backup to tape job will copy only one full backup on weekly basis.

Again bad wording on my side, I meant the reversed incremental. Wasn't at the location. I now see Synthetic full is an option of "Incremental".

Actually, Veeam Backup Copy Job doesn’t copy backup files as the whole, instead, it synthetically creates required restore points in remote location from VM data in source backup repositories. So, it doesn't matter what backup mode is being used by source backup job. Also, after initial run, the backup copy job is forever incremental, so, not the newly-created full restore points will be transferred to the target location, but rather changed blocks.

Thanks.

To sum it up:
- I set my daily job to "reversed incremental"
- The copy job will give me full restore points at the remote location, which is perfect
- The tape job also gives me a full everytime.

Thank you for your quick and clear reply!!!

[veremin]

I wasn't clear on this. I'm writing to a LUN directly connected to the Windows Server formatted as NTFS

But even in this case both backup and production data will be stored on the same array, right? And this might lead to the above-mentioned situation, when production storage failure results in lost of production, as well as, backup data. Anyway, this nothing but general issue you should be aware of.

Unfortunately on the remote location the NAS is the only device at that location. From the Veeam Server (also proxy) there is no other hop to the NAS.

So, you don't have any Windows based machine in this location? I'm asking, since in case of remote NAS device we recommend having remote proxying server, since it enables Veeam data mover on it and allows transform activity to be performed locally in the remote site.

Though, you can run several tests and see whether the performance rates meet your expectation.

To sum it up:
- I set my daily job to "reversed incremental"
- The copy job will give me full restore points at the remote location, which is perfect
- The tape job also gives me a full everytime.

I'm wondering where the tape device is located. In production or in remote side? With current product implementation, the tape device should be directly connected to VB&R management server.

Thanks.

[GabesVirtualWorld]

Hi
Yes, it is the same storage array on which live VMs and backup reside. But we're only using the backup on the storage array to store 7 days of backup for quick restores.

On the remote site I have no Windows Servers or even desktop at all. Just a switch and a NAS. If needed would it be sufficient to place a powerful desktop system just for CPU power to function as proxy?

The tape device is located in the Veeam physical server.

[dellock6]

Hi Gabe,
yes a Desktop PC is ok for the proxying server, I know the name "proxy" sometimes can be confused with our own proper proxy, the proxying server it's going to be in the same network of the nas and relay the request to/from the NAS itself. In this way our processes can be managed locally without excessive traffic flowing in the wan connection.

[veremin]

The tape device is located in the Veeam physical server.

Then, you're good to go with the described scenario. Thanks.

[GabesVirtualWorld]

Thank you all for the help !

[veremin]

You're welcome. Feel free to contact us, if any additional clarification is needed. Thanks.