Backup visualisation

[NOC]

Hello everyone,

I would like to plan my backups more precisely. I would like to know if somebody uses some tool for backup mapping. I saw some old topics on this forums:
http://forums.veeam.com/veeam-backup-re ... t1069.html
http://forums.veeam.com/veeam-backup-re ... t6335.html

I know backup windows of my backup jobs and schedule. Is it possible to visualise this data? Except Excel or calendar.

Best regards

[Shestakov]

Hello Igor and welcome to the forums!

There is a Veeam ONE monitoring tool which shows the top jobs duration and backup window.
We are also planning to add a timeline/calendar in next versions to visualize the executed and planned jobs.

Could you specify your demand, what information would you like to see?
Thanks!

[NOC]

Hello and thank you for an answer,

we are using VeeamONE as well. Map or chart of backup windows on the timeline would be very handy. For instance, if we have some backup jobs and want to add one more, we could look at the chart to choose the best time for backup. Currently we have 17 backup jobs, all of them are automated, some of them run everyday. It is difficult to add new jobs and to manage the existing ones, sometimes they overlap.

[foggy]

Igor, what is your concern regarding jobs overlapping? If it is resource consumption, then you can limit the number of concurrent tasks assigned to proxy and repository servers to control the load. So basically you do not need "to choose the best time for backup", you just start all your jobs at the same time and allow automatic resource scheduler spread the load.

[NOC]

Of course we do it, but sometimes it is a bad idea to do it without planning. For example, we have a datastore cluster for customers, 5 datastores. Each datastore should have 3 restore points for a week. If we run all these jobs the same time - some of them just won't start because of timeout. And there are also 12 more automated jobs, and there will be more soon. Backup proxy currently has 8 cores. Few times we had a timeout problem. This is why such a graphical tool could be very handy for us.

[foggy]

Could you please elaborate on what kind of timeout do you mean? Thanks.

[NOC]

This is an example:
Job [...] cannot be started. SessionId: [...], Timeout: [...]
Job has failed unexpectedly

Also, for some machines we have a quite strict backup window, another reason why we should carefully choose time for them.

[Shestakov]

For instance, if we have some backup jobs and want to add one more, we could look at the chart to choose the best time for backup. Currently we have 17 backup jobs, all of them are automated, some of them run everyday. It is difficult to add new jobs and to manage the existing ones, sometimes they overlap.

Thanks for the reply, that`s exactly what we are planning to work on in future versions of Veeam ONE.

[plandata_at]

Veeam B&R has quite some different places were you can schedule things:

- job schedule of different job types like backup to repository, backup snapshot, backup snapmirror/vault, tapejob and so on (i know it's not always necassary to "time" jobs, bether to link them or let them process parallel)
- backup files health check
- full backup file maintanance
- full backup for tape jobs
- configuration backup
- Backup windows of jobs
- and so on

So let's imagine having some linked jobs, some jobs running at the same time, one or two tape jobs, some jobs even processing the same VMs etc. Quite confusing when which one is running?

It would be really nice to have an calendar - like overview of all those shedules
Even better: also take the start end end time of the job logs and present the result with the job name in a calendar like view --> i would LOVE this feature which many other backup vendors have!

[plandata_at]

Thanks for the reply, that`s exactly what we are planning to work on in future versions of Veeam ONE.

Thanks for moving my post, i would support to add at least a small subset of this feature in Veeam B&R. Would be a pitty to destroys veeam goal for simplicity to add this feature only to a second software....

[Shestakov]

Hello,
We are working on the feature now and would like to get more feedback.
As far as I understood you would like to have a calendar with historical information about finished jobs, but what about time range? Would you like to have a daily, weekly or monthly view?
Thanks!

[plandata_at]

Hi!
Thanks, really looking forward for this feauture!!
Time range is difficult: I think in most situations (for us) a daily and weekly week will be helpfull, but when working with tapes a monthly range could be necessary.
Of course, best would be a switchable/scrollable timerange......
Please keep in mind to display start and end job of jobs as well as other shedules i mentioned in my post above!

THX!!

[blithespirit]

Hello Plandata_At,
Another question around your timeouts, what resources have you got for doing the backups?
How many proxies, repositories have you configured (assuming VMware, off-host proxy if Hyper-V), it sounds like the jobs are queueing on the proxys.

You could try to use more Proxies to spread the jobs across more resources or alternatively if your proxies are virtual add more vCPU's and memory to be able to run more jobs in parallel. On each proxy 1 vCPU and 2Gb Ram will run 1 task at a time (VM HDD) the more you add the more you will be able to run, also the repository needs to be able to cope with the same resources your proxies are given. this does not take away what you want to see as a calendar view but it may help you with timeouts on your jobs.

[Shestakov]

Hi!
Thanks, really looking forward for this feauture!!
Time range is difficult: I think in most situations (for us) a daily and weekly week will be helpfull, but when working with tapes a monthly range could be necessary.
Of course, best would be a switchable/scrollable timerange......
Please keep in mind to display start and end job of jobs as well as other shedules i mentioned in my post above!
THX!!

Thanks for the feedback!
Once you have new ideas, please share them with us!

[plandata_at]

Hello Plandata_At,
Another question around your timeouts, what resources have you got for doing the backups?
How many proxies, repositories have you configured (assuming VMware, off-host proxy if Hyper-V), it sounds like the jobs are queueing on the proxys.

You could try to use more Proxies to spread the jobs across more resources or alternatively if your proxies are virtual add more vCPU's and memory to be able to run more jobs in parallel. On each proxy 1 vCPU and 2Gb Ram will run 1 task at a time (VM HDD) the more you add the more you will be able to run, also the repository needs to be able to cope with the same resources your proxies are given. this does not take away what you want to see as a calendar view but it may help you with timeouts on your jobs.

Hi blitthespirit,

a bit confused now, your answer doesn't have anything todo with this topic?

[Shestakov]

I guess blitthespirit wanted to help you deal with tasks and jobs running in parallel.

[plandata_at]

Hello,
We are working on the feature now and would like to get more feedback.
As far as I understood you would like to have a calendar with historical information about finished jobs, but what about time range? Would you like to have a daily, weekly or monthly view?
Thanks!

Just a short question if there is any timeline for this request, vecause you said you are already working on it. Thx!!

[Shestakov]

Hello,
Indeed we have such plans but didn`t have time to implement it in v9.5 because of higher priority of other tasks. It`s still in the road map and I hope we will have in the next major release, but I cannot promise.

[RudiScott]

Hello all,

I have Veeam backup & replication installed at a site that I took over.

Currently we have around 20 VMs that are backing up to a local storage and to tape for offsite storage.

I would like to know is there a way I can export the schedule of all the jobs as I would like to see the schedule and possibly alter it to streamline the backup procedures.

Thanks for your assistance

[DGrinev]

Hi Rudi and welcome to the community!

I can`t you promise, but such feature has been on our road map as far as i know.
Your post has been merged to the existing FR thread. Thanks!

[Shestakov]

Hello Rudi,
For now you can use Veeam ONE report called Job Configuration Dump with filtered schedule options.
Thanks!

[Hauke]

Hello,
We are working on the feature now and would like to get more feedback.

I would love a feature where each job could send out an outlook task item of it's runtime to my mailbox after completion, so I could add this task to a new outlook calendar to see possible free and busy backup windows, overlapping etc.

But one of the biggest issues in job scheduling is that the maintenance tasks like health check or compacting are destroying the planned queue...
It would be better to have this maintenance task separated from the backup jobs (also because they can run over the day, out of the backup window).

[Shestakov]

Hello Hauke,

I would love a feature where each job could send out an outlook task item of it's runtime to my mailbox after completion, so I could add this task to a new outlook calendar to see possible free and busy backup windows, overlapping etc.

You may write a powershell script and set it as post-job activity.

But one of the biggest issues in job scheduling is that the maintenance tasks like health check or compacting are destroying the planned queue...

Job chaining is not considered as best practice job in comparison with parallel processing. So I would recommend to reschedule your jobs.
Thanks!

[Hauke]

I know, but for us there is no alternative because of limited job scheduling of Veeam (for example: no different schedules for weekend).
I already had them scheduled without chaining, that worked well - as long as there was no compacting/health-check/active full....

[Shestakov]

Got it. We do receive requests about different schedules, you may play with backup windows.
What else would you change about scheduling?
Thanks!

[plandata_at]

just short question about the status of this feature?
still just on roadmap for simetime in the next hundred years or anything fixed?

[Shestakov]

There were no major releases since Dec, 2016
It`s under development for the upcoming Veeam ONE v10.