Change Repository Without Copying Files

[brupnick]

Good morning-

Is it possible to change the target storage repository of a VBR job without copying the files to the new repository? I know that at first this might seem like a very silly question, but I'll add the following details: I run full backups on the first Friday of the month. Since this Friday is the first one of February, my fulls are scheduled to run. I'd like to change the repository on Friday morning, after the last incremental run of my chain, but before the full so that the new chain starts on the new repository.

I opened ticket 00176508 with support, but their solution was to remove the files from backups and then change the repository in the job settings and map to the old files. Unfortunately, the GUI only allows me to map to files that are on the new repository, which would mean I'll need to copy the files over and import them. I could have sworn that there was a registry key that disabled this check, but I could be wrong.

Thank you,
Brian

[brupnick]

Well, this turned out to be significantly easier than I expected. If you do a "Remove from backups" for the job in question, you can change the repository and it doesn't bother to check. My guess is that if it doesn't find any files on the next run, it will default to a full, which is what I want. But just in case this isn't the behavior that someone with a similar situation wants, maybe someone can elaborate on this.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Brian,

I could have sworn that there was a registry key that disabled this check, but I could be wrong.

Yes, there is a registry key that disables this check, and I believe it still should work perfectly fine with v6.5.

Well, this turned out to be significantly easier than I expected. If you do a "Remove from backups" for the job in question, you can change the repository and it doesn't bother to check.

Yes, that is how it is supposed to work if you choose to remove backup files from the backup console.

Thanks!

[marius roma]

I added a new NAS to my infrastructure.
I want to *temporarely* move my backup to the new NAS.
When I attempt to change the backup destination of my jobs I get a message saying that I must "Move all backup files to the new backup repository first".
I don't want to move my old backup files because:
1) I want to keep all the NAS as possible destinations and switch backup jobs
2) Moving al the old backup files requires a lot of time and network traffic
The only solution I see is creating new backup jobs, but it requires a lot of time as well...
Is there a way to change the backup destination without moving the backup files?
As an alternate solution, can I copy the existing jobs and just change the destination in the new ones without entering all the informations?
Regards
marius

[veremin]

Hi,Mario.

Please check posts provided above for possible solution.

As, for the copying of VB&R job, you can utilize the following PS script, which will create a full copy of your existing job:

Code: Select all

Add-PSSnapin VeeamPSSnapin
$Job = Get-VbRjob -name "Name of your job"
Copy-VBRJob -job $Job 

After having done it, you'll be able to manually change repository in the setting of newly-created job.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[ashman70]

I have a situation where backups are currently being done to an external USB 2 drive, some of the full backup files are 100GB + I would like to use a NAS as the repository however migration is going to take a very long time due to the slowness of USB 2 copy. Is there a way to start fresh with the new repository without migrating? I realize I may lose the ability to restore using the old backups, but can it be done? If so what are the steps?

Environment is ESXi 4.0, Veeam Backup 6.5 running on a windows Server 2008R2 box to a local USB 2.0 external drive.


Thanks

AM

[foggy]

You've been merged into existing discussion answering similar question, please review. Should any additional questions arise, feel free to ask here. Thanks.

[veremin]

Is there a way to start fresh with the new repository without migrating?

As mentioned, you can copy existing job using either PS or Enterprise Manager and change target repository afterwards. Both of the methods won’t require copying of backup data. Thanks.

[pinkerton]

Dear Forums,

due to capacity limitations we need to move the destination of our Backup Files to a larger volume. I have read KB 1729 about moving backup files but due to the size of our backup I actually don't want to move the backup files. Instead we only want to create a new backup repository so that on the next run, the backup is created from scratch in the new destination. It is fine for us when the next run is a full backup and takes longer.

Is it possible to use an existing backup Job and start from scratch in a new backup repository? What would be the procedure we need to perform in this case?

Thanks
Michael

[foggy]

Michael, the simplest way seems to be to copy the job and specify a new backup repository in the new job.

[ChrisVH1982]

Hello,

My Veeam server is a virtual machine which is not ideal when it comes to disaster recovery. I am going to set up a physical server and install Veeam. Installation and restore of settings should not cause me any issues. Because backups are currently stored on an old SAN I would like to retire, backups from new server should be put onto a new SAN. So I do not want to copy my current backups from old to new SAN as this would be taking ages to complete.

I know from experience that a backup job fails to run if the backup directory with its config files(?) does not exist anymore. Is there any way around? I would like to set up new and empty storage locations

Your feedback is much appreciated!

[foggy]

Christian, if you remove old backup files from backups in Veeam B&R console and then update the jobs with the new repository, you should be fine. Thanks.

[cstaubli]

Hi all

I have to replace our current backup repository servers with new hardware, storage with all images will be connected from current to new server. To have a smooth process, my plan would be the follow:

- stop all veeam services
- setup new server with same os, name, drive layout, directories, ip, users and password as old one
- start veeam again, let veeam check server and install required software

My question is, will that work? Because I've got TBs of backup data I cannot move data from old to new server. My timeframe is about 12 hours, then it must run again. Setup of the new server could be done before, so just move old one out and new one in is critical.

Any thoughts, or points to obey?

Thanks, Christian

[foggy]

Christian, this should work, however you would need to specify the registry key mentioned above.

[electricd7]

Hello,

I am adding a new repository today which I would like to repoint all of our Veeam jobs to. I would like to start with new full backup chains of all the jobs instead of copying what I have from the old repository and then repointing the job. Is there a way to do this easily? If I try to just edit a job and change its repository, it errors with a message that I must first copy the backup files before repointing it.

ED7

[foggy]

Chad, please review the discussion above, should help in achieving what you're after. Thanks.

[leduke]

Hello.

If I want to change my NAS, used by veeam as a network share to store my backups, must I reconfigure my jobs ?
The older NAS is no longer available (RAID out of order, all datas lost), is the first backup will perform a new Full backup ?

Thank you.

[foggy]

Alex, please review the thread above for instructions on how to change the repository in your case. Feel free to ask any additional questions, if required.

[Lyle]

We had a simple install of B&R V7 on vSphere 4.1, with server, proxy, & repository all in one. It never had enough storage to cover all of our VM's though.

Recently we had to migrate the B&R VM to a new vSphere 5.5 cluster, and the new cluster was not connected to the old repository storage. So I disconnected the storage from the B&R VM, shut it down, and moved it to the new cluster, but left it powered-off.

Since we were never really covering our whole environment, I don't mind starting off with a new, empty repository....hopefully soon though, as now I have *no* coverage.

Will I face any issues when starting back up? Or just connect the new repository, and let backup schedules run as normal?

Thanks....Lyle

[Gostev]

You will need to re-create your jobs and point them to the new storage. That is unless you can move your existing backups there, in which case you can just update your existing jobs, and map them into backups sitting on the new repository.

If you need any assistance, feel free to open a support case, and our engineers will guide you through a webex session.

Thanks!

[foggy]

There are a couple of options to continue without copying files and re-creating the job, please review the thread above. Thanks.

[rsmith.rdi]

If you find yourself in the situation I did today - where the person who set up Veeam accidentally pointed to the wrong repository -- you can simply delete the files from the wrong destination, rescan the repository, and then edit the job directly without any fancy job copying.

This also works if Veeam is still connected to the old repository. Just delete the files, rescan the old repository, and then voila! You can edit the job destination successfully.

Now, if the old repository doesn't exist or is inaccessible, then you'll have no option but to clone the job as mentioned previously and then re-point. Cloning does require Enterprise edition, though.

[Alexandre L]

Hello,

I'm trying to change a job repository without copying the file previously nor deleting them.

I tried using the following reg key but it's not working.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VeeaM\Veeam Backup and Replication]
"ForceCreateMissingVBK"=dword:00000001

Any other possibility to do that?

[veremin]

Have you tried to clone the job and change target repository setting in the cloned job afterwards?

[Alexandre L]

"Remove from backup" did it well

Backup & Replication > Backups > Disk > right click on the job then "Remove from backup"

It will remove the backup from Veeam configuration but not from the disk.

[veremin]

Yep, it's also a workable solution. Removing backups from configuration makes VB&R forget about them, thus, the repository can be easily changed in the job settings. Thanks.

[marius roma]

We need sometimes to change the target reposotory for an existing job in order to make maintenance on a NAS, add a new NAS, and so on.
The options we currently use are:
- manually moving the files to the new repository (NAS) and changing the existing job
- create a new job from scratch pointing to the new reposotory, wait for the requested number of recovery points to be created, deleting the old job
Both options require a lot of time and effort.
Is there any smarter way to move an existing job, considering we use the standard edition?
Regards
Marius

[Shestakov]

Hello Mario,
You can change the backup repository without copying files as described in the topic.
How would you like VBR to deal with your backups ideally?
Thanks!

[dellock6]

Another solution can be to group the two repositories into a single Scale-Out Backup Repository and evacuate the old one. Backup files will be automatically moved to the new NAS and jobs will not need any reconfiguration.

[marius roma]

Is the Scale-Out Backup Repository available in standard version? I don't see it at all...
Should I enable it?
Regards
marius