VAW 2.0 Monthly backups

[JimmyO]

I have just installed VAW 2.0 on one of my servers and noticed the there is no functionality to create Synthetic Monthly backups in the client interface.

So - I assume that I must create a Backup Copy job in VBR console? If so - I want to make sure that I can benefit from ReFS and make sure that the monthly backups are space efficient.
Since I have approx. 150TB of data to back up, there is no way I will be able to store 12 monthly backups on disk ((1+12)x150TB).

I plan to store the Backup copy files in the same repository as the original backup. Is this possible without creating separate repositories pointing to the same disk?
Even if I create 2 repositories pointing to the same disk, will I benefit from ReFS space efficiency?

Or - am I missing something here? Is there another way to do monthly backups? For my vm:s I use 2 separate schedules, but that option seems to be missing in VAW.

[Dima P.]

Hi JimmyO,

Have you installed beta/rtm license? Synthetic full option comes in paid versions i.e. you have to switch agent to workstation or server edition (Control Panel > About page).

[JimmyO]

Hi Dima,

Yes - I´m running RTM with Server license. There is an option to create synthetic fulls, but only weekly (not monthly) and also there is no retention setting for these.

[JimmyO]

Assuming that the retention for the synthetic fulls are part of the normal retention period, how can I confure the client (with synthetic fulls) to have 28 daily and 12 monthly (or in this case-52 weekly since Its not possible to create synthetic fulls) without saving 365 files?

Or - is setting the "restore points to disk" to 365 my only option, no matter if i use synthetic fulls or not?

[Gostev]

Normally, long retention is achieved using GFS fulls created by Backup Copy job pointing at your secondary backup repository. Our data management architecture is designed around following the 3-2-1 rule, where you have short retention on primary (faster) backup storage, and long retention on secondary (slower and cheaper) backup storage.

[JimmyO]

Thanks Gostev, that gives me only the option to use a backup copy job wich leaves with some crucial questions;

If I use the same backup disk (different repository, but the same logical disk) for the backup copy job as the original data, will I be able to benefit from ReFS Synthetic full space savings?
Or - are the ReFS Synthetic full (fast clone) space savings only efficient within the same backup job?

My plan is to use Backup Copy jobs for the monthly backups (12 months). Am I correct in assuming that with ReFS the only "real" space used on disk are the changed blocks from last month (except for the first backup)? So that in reality I will only need the disk space equivalent to one full backup and 12 monthly diffs?

Lots of questions, but these are crucial for the future of Veeam Agent for Windows. I was really hoping for the possibility to use 2 separate backup jobs from within the client. This would have given me the possibility to have one daily job and one monthly job...