VBK to tape?!

[rm4g00]

Hello all,

I am using Veeam 9 non enterprise product in a large company,

I need some help- I am wondering can I just simply backup .vbk fulls to tape - the latest vbk files minus the incrementals as this takes up more space - surely the latest full would be better than an old full and incrementals?

Any help would be appreciated,

RM

[veremin]

By non-enterprise you mean standard edition, right? Thanks.

[rm4g00]

Yes sorry

[veremin]

What mode does a source job leverage? Forward forever incremental, forward incremental with periodic full, reversed incremental?

In general, you can create files to tape job and use .vbk as a file mask in order to make it copy only full backups.

Thanks.

[rm4g00]

Standard incrementals with active fulls,

I was looking to just move active fulls vbk to tape to save space as we are struggling right now for this.

[veremin]

Lower retention for a source backup job, create a file to tape job with the said file mask, set a retention for it (that is longer than the one you have for backup job) and you're good to go. Thanks.

[rm4g00]

So a full end of month VBK of a Vsphere VM to tape only should be fine to restore ? it wont cause any corruptions etc with veeam db etc - the above is fine and thank you for that- I get what your meaning in scheduling & chain -I just wanted to double check if others do this- ie backup a full end of the month (the last one) to tape.

[veremin]

How often do you run active full backup? Once a month? In that case, a files to tape job executed in the end of the month will copy only the latest full backup, unless 1 month old full backup (copied during previous month) has not been removed from tapes.

Otherwise, if full backup happens more frequently, the monthly files to tape job will archive the latest full backup along with full backups that have been created throughout a month.

Thanks.

[rm4g00]

We are awaiting delivery of a larger tapeloader- right now we only have a one drive tapeloader - meaning the number of vm's we are backing up normally exceeds the tape media size - so as of now we basically do an active full every SUN - Incremental Mon-Thurs - witha retention of 10 days

at the end of the month I'll move the last active full to tape for each of the vm's we are backing up - which in total is 18 at roughly 2.2 TB - this will be my first time doing this- I havent automated the tape / archive procedure so right now I'm manually creating a media pool adding the .vbk's in to the job creation.

[rm4g00]

Sorry an Incremental MON-SAT

[veremin]

We are awaiting delivery of a larger tapeloader- right now we only have a one drive tapeloader - meaning the number of vm's we are backing up normally exceeds the tape media size - so as of now we basically do an active full every SUN - Incremental Mon-Thurs - witha retention of 10 days

In this case, at each moment of time there will be between 1 and 3 full backups and monthly files to tape job will archive all of them.

So, in order to copy only latest full backup, you will probably need to write a script that finds the latest full backup and sets it as a source for files to tape job.

Thanks.

[kevin@wei.com]

Do you have any pointers to a script that would work?

I have a similar problem. A customer of mine is looking to backup a VBK from the first of the month to tape. I want to skip the incrementals as they are not needed. I will need to ensure that a Full is run that day. The issue is that they are using a dedupe appliance that does not allow file browsing (HP StoreOnce using catalyst). I am unable to use a filter to screen out the unwanted incrementals. I'm using forware incrementals with a weekly synthetic full and a monthly active full.

Or would this be better asked in the powershell section?

Thanks,

Kevin

[veremin]

The issue is that they are using a dedupe appliance that does not allow file browsing (HP StoreOnce using catalyst).

As far as I remember, we do allow browsing such storage. At least it should be possible to select files residing on it as a source for file copy jobs.

Or you're saying that is not true for files to tape jobs? I cannot confirm that at the moment, as I don't have the said device at hand.

Thanks.

[rreed]

How often do you run active full backup? Once a month? In that case, a files to tape job executed in the end of the month will copy only the latest full backup, unless 1 month old full backup (copied during previous month) has not been removed from tapes.

Otherwise, if full backup happens more frequently, the monthly files to tape job will archive the latest full backup along with full backups that have been created throughout a month.

Thanks.

This is currently what we do. I'd love to have the script that backs up to tape 'only' the month end full, in case my manager says we need to stop getting 'every' full backup to tape please.

[veremin]

I've created a rough example, kindly, test it (and/or modify) prior to sticking to it:

Code: Select all

asnp VeeamPSSnapin
$TapeJob = Get-VBRTapeJob -Name "Name of File to Tape Job"
$LatestVBK = (gci "Name of backup job directory" -Filter "*.vbk" | sort "LastWriteTime" -Descending)[0] #For instance, "D:\Backup Repository 2\Backup Job 2"
$NewObject = New-VBRFileToTapeObject -Path $LatestVBK.FullName
Set-VBRFileToTapeJob -Job $TapeJob -Object $NewObject

Thanks.

[kevin@wei.com]

Should this be run outside of Veeam or can it be run as part of the pre-job script?

[veremin]

I believe you should be fine with running it as a part of the job (pre-job activity), but I haven't tested it personally. Thanks.

[WangDang]

Using Veeam B&R 9.5 Standard
Trying to set up a Disk-to-Disk-to-Tape job
Backup frequency : Daily incremental and weekly fulls.
Requirement is for the month end fulls to be written to tapes and sent off-site

Since Veeam Standard doesn't offer Backups to Tape option and instead only does Files to Tape, was wondering if there's a workaround?
Was thinking of performing an incremental Files to Tape job on the backup repository on a weekly basis and only ship out the month end incremental tapes off-site. If so, how will the restore process work?

Thank you.

[PTide]

Hi,

The restore process will require you to restore a backup chain from the tape first, and import it to VBR afterwards.

You can also setup File-to-tape job to use masks so that the job copies only vbk files at the end of the month. To prevent the job from copying all vbks you can leverage pre/post job scripts functionality - write a script that changes extensions of vbks or/and vibs that you don't want to be copied to tape and use it as a pre-job script. Use another script that changes the extensions back to normal once the job has finished.

Thanks.

[veremin]

Alternatively, you can leverage the script provided on the first page to set the latest full backup as a source for tape job.

[lpezda]

Hi,

just want to ask if any new solution appeared since last post from 2017?

My setup is B&R 9.5 Standard (daily forward incremental with active full backup on weekend backups to NAS).
I want to copy latest .vbk from repository to the tape. Is the best way to use the script by v.eremin on page 1? Any easier way?

Thanks

[Dima P.]

Hello lpezda,

Please make sure that Process latest full backup chain only option is checked in the job settings. Thanks!

[lpezda]

I can't as I haven't got Enterprise Edition so no Backup to tape option for me. I've file to tape only.

[Dima P.]

lpezda,

In case of file to tape jobs you can write backup files to tape as a regular files. Source backup chain must be forward incremental with periodic full backup, otherwise you will be writing entire backup chain to tape every time due to to backup files being modified during merge operations. Cheers!

[lpezda]

We are not talking about the same thing.

In B&R 9.5 Standard Edition (as OP explained on first page) You've only "File to tape" job. I can select a directory with backup chain in repository in job and add file mask eventually.

The problem with it is if I've more than ONE full active backup in directory, so if I've three .vbk files and bunch of .vib in directory - I can include only .vbk. But I cannot choose only the last .vbk file to be backup to tape.

That's why OP and I where searching a way to specify only the last .vbk file to tape and as in Standard Edition we haven't got this option - scripts are the solution apparently.

[veremin]

Correct, standard edition provides only file to tape jobs that work with files, not backups, thus, there is no option to make it copy only the latest backup. So, scripts are the only option left for you. Thanks!