Backup Health Check schedule

[CaptainPistache]

Hi,

Just a small question regarding Backup Health Check.
In the documentation, there are the following statements that appear to be slightly contradictory :

- Veeam Backup & Replication performs the health check during the first job session on the day when the health check is scheduled
- The health check is not performed during an active full backup job session started manually or automatically by schedule.
- At the end of the backup job session, Veeam Backup & Replication performs the health check.

We're using Forward incremental backup and periodic Full backups,

I'd like to make sure that at least the last full backup and its incremental chain are healthy.
Let's say the full backup occurs on Friday, should I plan the health check on Friday or Saturday ? If I plan it on Friday, will it check the full backup of the day or not ?
And does Veeam perform the health check during or after the backup job session ?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

Cheers

[foggy]

Hi, the statements you quote do not contradict to each other. Phrasing could probably be better, but when it says "during" in the first statement, it means just the session itself, not the particular part of the session - if another job session runs on the same day, health check will not be performed for the second time. For the regular backup job, health check itself is performed at the end of the job session, after data processing (it's different from the backup copy job).

It doesn't make sense to schedule the health check at the same day active full backup is scheduled at, since there's nothing to check - new data has just been written. Do you have active or synthetic fulls configured?

[CaptainPistache]

We use active full backups, generally once a week.
So what would be the best settings, using health check schedule, to make sure our backups are OK ?

[foggy]

With weekly active fulls I'd disable health check at all. But weekly active fulls are typically not necessary, if you switch to monthly, you can perform weekly health check instead. Here's another good thread for review.

[CaptainPistache]

Hmm, ok. So do I have to understand that Health Check does not verify active full backups on standard backup jobs ?
Is it the same with backup copy jobs ?

[PTide]

Health check verifies the latest restore points state. The latest restore point may, or may not require blocks from active full, depending on how intense the data has been changing since the last active full. It's just that the risk of getting the most recent restore point corrupted are getting higher as the chain gets lengthier. With a decent storage and a week-long backup chain the risk is negligible.

Backup Copy - even though Backup Copy does not have scheduled full backup, you can trigger Active Full for backup copy manually, that will also lower the risks of the latest restore point corruption.

Thanks

[CaptainPistache]

OK, understood.
Thanks again for the quick and efficient support you've provided to me !

[foggy]

So do I have to understand that Health Check does not verify active full backups on standard backup jobs ?

Health check isn't performed after active full backup is created.

Is it the same with backup copy jobs ?

Backup copy has a different logic, since health check is performed prior data processing, so doesn't depend on whether it is going to be full or not.

[CloudMSP]

If you set up a health check to happen every Sunday but your backups are only scheduled for Monday-Friday? Will it still run?

[PTide]

Hi,

Health check is performed during the first job session, so it won't run if there is no job scheduled on the day. There is a separate thread where you can leave your feature request for separate health check schedule.

Thanks