Feature Request: moving VM between jobs

[MAA]

Hello,
After upgrade to v10 we got a unpleasant surprise from developers related to Linux guest credentials.
Now we need move all linux VMs into separate job.
But for us a full initial backup is absolutely unacceptable.
We want to move VMs and continue with incremental backup.

[foggy]

Any chance you're using per-VM backup chains on your target repository?

[MAA]

I didn't understand your question.

[foggy]

Do you have the 'Use per-VM backup files' check box enabled in the repository settings?

[MAA]

On Windows repository Yes, on Linux repository No.
(windows repository using for backup jobs, linux repository using for backup copy jobs)

[foggy]

In case of per-VM chains, you could copy the required VM backups to another folder on the repository along with the VBM file, create a new job adding just those VMs and map it to the copied backups. You can remove the rest of the VMs from configuration then.

[MAA]

In any case, my feature request remains valid - meaning moving via GUI. I'm very surprised it wasn't implemented before.

[foggy]

Not every valid request is implemented. We prioritize features based on demand and value to the product and this one is just not at the top of the list. Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

[RoscoT]

Hello everyone.

I'm setting up a new Veeam environment to backup around 250 VMware VMs. Latest version of Veeam B&R.
I've an Enterprise licence so I can enable the "Use per-VM backup files" repository option. My repositories are on a Windows server 2019 ReFS volume.
Backups will be forward incremental with periodic synthetic fulls.

For ease of management I'm keen to put multiple VMs into a smallish number of backup jobs but my main concern is flexibility around the "retention" for each VM.

For example, let's say I had a backup job with 20 VMs which had a retention policy of 31 days and "Keep certain full backups longer for archival purposes" set to 12 monthly and 3 yearly. What happens if one of those VMs suddenly changes to only needing a retention policy of 31 days and full backups set to be retained for just 6 months? Or perhaps suddenly one VM needs to be retained for 7 years.

I would like to remove the affected VM from its current job and put it in a job that had an appropriate retention policy without losing that VM's backup history.

By using the "Use per-VM backup files" option I'm thinking that this should be possible. I know I'll lose the dedupe benefits but I'm not too fussed about that.

Does anyone know if this can be done and if so what would be the high level steps to accomplish the move of one VM from Job A to Job B?

Cheers!

Rosco

[foggy]

Hi Ross, moving VMs into another existing job wouldn't be easy, while for moving to a new one, please see the steps mentioned above. Thanks!

[RoscoT]

Thanks Foggy. Finally got round to testing this and it works a treat. Cheers!

[Zew]

I would second this feature request. Would be amazingly beneficial for cleaning up how backup jobs are structured without having to break the backup chains.