Config Recommendations please

[kjc3303]

Hi Guys, hoping for a little help here on what I hope should be a fairly simple tape setup.

I am currently moving from an all virtual Veeam setup to a physical VBR server so I can shift from Backup Exec to Veeam tape support.
I am also moving from a reverse Inc for forward inc to make the tape backup window shorter on week days.

Backup Config

Saturday 00:00AM synthetic full with Transform
Tues 00:00am Inc
Wed 00:00am Inc
Thur 00:00am Inc
Fri 00:00am Inc

Restore point to keep on disk 25

Backup Copy Job to Remote site using GFS.
7 days
4 Weeks
12 Months

I also replicate teir 1 VMs to remote site

Now for the Tape Part

All I want to archeive with the tape solution is below, Tape is only for the extreme purpose that we lose both sites( there is not a huge geographical distance between them approx. 3 miles) Call me paranoid but we have the kit so may as well use it

I only have a single LTO6 tape drive
10 tapes
Backup to tape on the same days that the above backups run see below

Sat Copy new VBK and any new vrbs created by transform
Tues Copy new vib
Wed Copy new vib
Thur Copy new vib
Fri Copy new vib
Sat Copy new VBK and any new vrbs created by transform
Tues Copy new vib
Wed Copy new vib
Thur Copy new vib
Fri Copy new vib

What I also want to be able to do is on the first Saturday of the month is remove the Saturday tape for archive purposes and put a brand new tape in its place.
I only have a single LTO6 tape drive so scheduling an addition monthly job to run over a weekend proves difficult as no one is around to change tapes


Does the above sound feasible?

Thanks

Kev

[veremin]

Hi,

I am currently moving from an all virtual Veeam setup to a physical VBR server so I can shift from Backup Exec to Veeam tape support.

Be aware that with version 8 physical backup server is no longer required to make backup server work with tape devices. More information can be found here.

Sat Copy new VBK and any new vrbs created by transform

What type of tape job you're going to use? Backups to tape or files to tape one? In the former case, keep in mind that all .vrbs will be skipped automatically.

What I also want to be able to do is on the first Saturday of the month is remove the Saturday tape for archive purposes and put a brand new tape in its place. I only have a single LTO6 tape drive so scheduling an addition monthly job to run over a weekend proves difficult as no one is around to change tapes.

Since additional tape job doesn't work for you, you will have to orchestrate this process manually. So to say, you will have to take away required media manually and keep it offline as long as you want.

Thanks.

[kjc3303]

Thanks for the reply

What type of tape job you're going to use? Backups to tape or files to tape one? In the former case, keep in mind that all .vrbs will be skipped automatically.

I am going to use Backup to tape so just to confirm I understand correctly below is what will be sent to tape? If so this is exactly how I would like it to work

at Copy new VBK (vrbs Skipped)
Tues Copy new vib
Wed Copy new vib
Thur Copy new vib
Fri Copy new vib
Sat Copy new VBK (vrbs Skipped)
Tues Copy new vib
Wed Copy new vib
Thur Copy new vib
Fri Copy new vib

Since additional tape job doesn't work for you, you will have to orchestrate this process manually. So to say, you will have to take away required media manually and keep it offline as long as you want.

Re above Can you confirm that the below is what you mean?

On the first Saturday of the month
I remove the full VBK Tape from the media pool (Lets call it Sat-W02) And store it somewhwere
To restore from above I would just need to import and Catalogue?
Add a brand new Tape and Call it Sat-W02 to take it's place in my 2 weekly rotation.

Regarding setting's I just want the previous data on tape to get overwritten with the new data are the below settings correct?

Create new media Set for everybackup
Do not protect data

Thanks for your help

Kev

[veremin]

I am going to use Backup to tape so just to confirm I understand correctly below is what will be sent to tape?

Yep, your understanding is correct. BTW, how many tapes do you have and what retention does a source backup job have?

Can you confirm that the below is what you mean?

Correct.

Regarding setting's I just want the previous data on tape to get overwritten with the new data are the below settings correct?

With those settings the inserted media should be automatically re-written during next job cycle, indeed.

Thanks.

[kjc3303]

Yep, your understanding is correct. BTW, how many tapes do you have and what retention does a source backup job have?

10 tapes so 2 weeks and will purchase a new one each month to replace tape taken for archive
Backup has a retention of 25 Restore points so 5 weeks

Thanks

Kev

[veremin]

Then, you will face a situation when restore points that are still present on disk will be cleaned from tape media. That will make backup to tape job copy those restore points once again. Thus, it's always recommended to have longer retention on tapes, rather than on disk. Thanks.

[kjc3303]

Thanks Vladimir as I will be using synthetic full with transform I assume you mean it will copy previous VBK's as vrbs will be ignored?

[veremin]

Yep, it will copy previous .vbks that had been once present on tape mediums and, then, were removed due to tape rewrite. Thanks.

[kjc3303]

Sorry to be a pain on this. Hopefully last question. I will probaly buy 25 tapes and reduce backups to 20 restore points but would like to get this clear in my mind.

Yep, it will copy previous .vbks that had been once present on tape mediums and, then, were removed due tape rewrite. Thanks.

If I am using Sythetic full with transform I will only ever have one vbk created on the Sat so do you mean if I have scheduled an active full?

Next question I guess is how often should I shedule an active full with synthetic full with transform? With Rev inc I did it every three months

Kev

[veremin]

If I am using Sythetic full with transform I will only ever have one vbk created on the Sat so do you mean if I have scheduled an active full?

With 20 point retention and weekly synthetic full, you will have from one to three .vbks on disks. These visual aids should be helpful.

Next question I guess is how often should I shedule an active full with synthetic full with transform? With Rev inc I did it every three months.

Once a month or so.

Thanks.

[kjc3303]

But with transform I should only have one VBK?

From the manual

Instead of two full backups — the regular full backup and the synthetic full backup — you will have only one synthetic full backup on disk

[veremin]

Have you seen the referenced diagrams? The previous active full out of which the synthetic one is created will be preserved, until the retention reaches it. With your settings, it means there will be from 1 to 3 .vbks on disk. Thanks.

[kjc3303]

Hi I have watched the Diagrams but they do not refer to the transform process.

Just to confirm how I plan to setup

Incremental
Synthetic Fulls on Sat
Transform Previous full backup chain into roll back Enabled (Allows only to keep only one full backup file on disk)
20 or 25 day restore points


The bit in bold is where I am confused?

[veremin]

Yep, I must have missed the fact that you're transforming the previous chain into rollbacks. You're right, indeed - with those settings, once transformation is done, there will be just one full backup. Thanks.

[kjc3303]

Thanks for your help Vladimir

[veremin]

Should other help be needed, feel free to ask. Thanks.

[kjc3303]

Hi Vladimir, i've been doing some testing after our conversation and all looks good.

One question I do have is when I change tapes (single Tape drive) which I have inventoried and given an identification (Mon-W1 & Tues-W2) should it show the new tape as online automatically?
The only way I can get it to show the correct status is to run a tape drive inventory.

Kev

[veremin]

If there is a tape job, it will be communicating with a drive periodically, updating media status. Otherwise (no tape jobs), you should perform inventory manually. Thanks.

[kjc3303]

Thanks and good work with v8 looks like theres a lot of good new features.