Replication creates thin disks

[GabesVirtualWorld]

Hi
Just found out by accident that a replica target is always thin and the documentation also explains this. Why is this? And is there a setting to do this by default since the procedure from the documentation is too time consuming. We're using Replication to migrate a customer into our datacenter with over 100 VMs.

Gabrie

[GabesVirtualWorld]

Seems there is a difference in KB and documentation.

"By default, Veeam Backup & Replication saves disks of a replicated VM in a thin format. If necessary, you can configure the job to change the disk format. For example, if the original VM uses thick disks, you can change the format of replica disks to thin provisioned, and thus, save on disk space required to store replica data. To change replica disk format, add the VM to the Files location list, select it and click Disk type at the bottom of the window. In the Disk Type Settings section, choose the format that will be used to restore replica disk files: same as the source disk, thin or thick. Please note that disk format change is available only for VMs using virtual hardware version 7 or later.

veeam_backup_7_userguide_vmware.pdf"

Though KB 1522 http://www.veeam.com/kb1522 says:
"By default, Veeam Backup & Replication preserves the format of replicated VM disks. If necessary, you can configure the job to change the disk format. For example, if an original VM uses thick disks, you can change the format of replica disks to thin provisioned, and thus, save on disk space required to store replica data. To change replica disk format, add a VM to the Files location list, select it and click Disk type at the bottom of the window. In the Disk Type Settings section, choose the format that will be used to restore replica disk files – same as the source disk, thin or thick. Please note that disk format change is available only for VMs using virtual hardware version 7 or later."

[Shestakov]

Hello Gabrie,
Thanks for mentioning, indeed there is a contradiction right now.
I`ve contacted our developers to find out the root of it. What version of VBR are you using?

Just found out by accident that a replica target is always thin and the documentation also explains this. Why is this?

It was made so to preserve space on DR site.

And is there a setting to do this by default since the procedure from the documentation is too time consuming.

Thanks.

[GabesVirtualWorld]

I can't check right now, but as far as my colleague tels me it is the latest version 7.

[alanbolte]

The KB you're looking at was from 6.0, at which time it was true that we created replicas to be same as source by default. I believe we changed the default to be thin for 6.5 or 7.0. I don't recall why we even had KBs for creating jobs back in the 6.0 days, since the user guide should be sufficient.

While sometimes KBs created for older versions of the software are still applicable, I recommend contacting Support for clarification before assuming any such KB applies to more recent versions than stated, since if they are still applicable we need to update the article to say so.

[Shestakov]

Gabrie,

I`ve talked to the developers and found out that by design for current versions (v7 and v8) the logic is to create thin disks by default. Just like it`s written in the User guide.
As Alan mentioned, the KB was made for v6 which had a different logic. Unfortunately, the KB has not been changed on time. I`ve already asked our support team to correct it.
There is no need to contact our support team clarifying the logic.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for noticing!