Backing up VMs at same time

[badams]

I am probably not quite at the level I need to be at to use Veeam well. But, I am trying.

Anyway, I have had this question from the beginning. I realize I can backup both VM1 and VM2 as one backup or I can back up VM1 separately and VM2 separately. I see advantages with both. I have read in the user guides that the VM times are synced (if that is the way to put it) so that if you back them up separately, and then restore just one the data will remain as if they were both backed up simultaneously.

I guess I should use an example. If VM1 has an app that is connected to a database or is using information in VM2, if I restore it, it would seem that the application information may not be correlated to the database information in VM2. That would not be as much of an issue, if there were backed up at the same time as one backup.

Sorry so confusing. Any help would be appreciated.

Bert

[Shestakov]

Hello Bert and welcome to the community!
VM restore is implemented to the time when the snapshot was taken. If you have several dependent VMs, indeed it makes sense to backup them together. Plus it may give you better deduplication and easier backup management.
Thanks!

[badams]

Thanks Shestakov,

I guess my question would have been easier if I just asked should I back up each VM individually or together, lol. Although, I wanted to convey my dilemma.

I have a f/u question. If I back up VM1 and VM2 concurrently as one backup, if VM1 becomes corrupted or gets a virus or some other problem where it may need to be restored, if I restore the VM temporarily to the backup server, would I still have the same problem? And, would the temporary restore to the backup server until such time as I may fix the production VM, would it continue to work with the dependent VM. I have noticed in my trial of VM, that unlike other backup programs, VEEAM seems to be able to restore directly to the production VM. (Is this a good idea)? Finally, let's say I restore VM1 and VM2 which were backed up together to the production server, my concern would be that while I needed to restore VM1 (which may have two or three things I need), whereas if I am forced to restore VM2, which may be the domain controller, active directory and have many other important apps, etc. which are working fine could be overwritten unnecessarily. I hope you understand my f/u questions. I am not good at being concise partially because I am not familiar with some of the VEEAM words and concepts.

CAVEAT: I take backing up very seriously, and for my business; VEEAM is probably overkill. But, it fit my needs best and support and customer service, etc. were far superior to other products. So, I apologize that I am having questions, which may make you wonder why I am even attempting to use VEEAM. I have been offered an approximate one hour session with a support engineer. I think that would be helpful? I won't name the four or five or so other companies I trialed, but I will name ShadowProtect in case anyone reads this and is thinking of that product. I was begging to try it and possibly purchase it, and they did everything possible to dissuade me with there awful customer service. Actually, it wasn't so much what they did but what they did not do, i.e. call me back or email to my requests. Just had to say this.

[Shestakov]

Glad you are finally with us, Bert

Answering your question in short: it's better to backup 2 VMs in same job.

As for follow-up question, if VM1 becomes corrupted you can simply restore it from point in time when it was healthy. You may recover VM from a backup file to its original or another location and choose if you want to fix the original VM or keep using the recovered one.
By the way, you may use Surebackup for recovery verification.

If you backup 2 VMs and get 1 of them corrupted, it's not required to recover both VMs.
Thanks!

[badams]

Thanks for the help. The Surebackup link is helpful.

[Shestakov]

You are welcome, Bert.
Once you have a question, don't hesitate asking.

[jochot]

I don't know if I understand your Problem right.
You have 2 VM's, lets say one is the DC and one is a VM with a Service that uses the AD for User Management.
Now if the Service VM is broken, your question is, if you need to restore the VM it is relying on (DC) also, because the VM with the Service (which you restored from a backup 2 weeks ago) is in the state it was 2 weeks ago and the DC needs to be in the same state (from 2 weeks ago) ? [of course in case of DC it's clear, that the DC doesn't need to be restored, but just an example]
If that is the question, the answer isn't that easy I guess, as it depends on the Services which are relying on each other and the data you lost since the last usable backup.

On the backup side: put them in one job.
On the restore side: depends on services.