Veeam zip a file share

[vmtech123]

I don't know if this is possible, but if it isn't please consider it to be a feature request.

We have very large file servers and much of the data is sorted by year. I am often requested to archive a year of data to tape/disk as there is a good chance it won't be needed, but we very long retention policies.

It is not feasible to create a bunch of jobs to do a "one time backup" of individual folders. If there was an ability to "VeeamZIP" a directory or share, set a target retention date and forget about it that would be fantastic. Or VeeamZIP a file share/directory to tape would also be good for archiving data without the need to have 100's of jobs.

Thanks

[Gostev]

Thanks Scott. So you want to capture the current state of a set of files or folders from the production storage, correct?

[vmtech123]

Hi Gostev.

You are correct. In my workplace, we have to keep data round a VERY long time, although it is dormant. Production storage is expensive, so a backup SAN, or more specifically, tape, is where old data goes. Quite often, I'll archive folders several years old (arranged by date), but on the chance someone needs to retrieve a file/folder I just bring back the one subfolder when they ask. Example: archive a 2TB folder titled 2015, but user wants a 300MB sub-folder titled "documents" restored to the original location.

TSM works well with this and is the last piece of the puzzle before we can go full Veeam!!!

I don't really need to archive full backups to tape, but more often historical data off of PROD to make room. I just delete the data off of our production storage when I am done, so a scheduled backup job isn't needed for this. This saves me space, as I don't want to keep 60 years of Veeam backups on tape, but I can archive folders one year at a time.

[Gostev]

And you prefer tape as the destination for this operation, correct?

[vmtech123]

Yes, We have several libraries and will be getting new ones soon at a few sites for very long term retention.

[Gostev]

@Dima P. something for you then.

[Dima P.]

Hello Scott,

Should be possible today with Veeam B&R v10. You can register file share in Veeam B&R, then setup a file to tape job with the desired folder as a source and run such file to tape job one time (do not forget to disable the retention in the media pool properties). Cheers!

[vmtech123]

I just tried this and it works, Set the retention to never delete data, but I will have to create many many many jobs going forward.

I know tape is pretty new to Veeam but the Archiving feature in TSM is more along the lines of what I am after I suppose.

Each server(node) has the ability to "archive" data which is different than a backup. When I archive it, it is archived under that node name and sits there until the desired retention. I can go and delete said data comfortably. Now, I can continually go back and select the node, archive data, and delete it. It ends up all within that node(sever).

Something like that would be handy from an organizational sense. I don't really want to end up with 1000 backup jobs searching for a folder. If I could have it per server, that would limit this drastically looking long term. in 20 years, this number could be huge. As long as I continue to increment my server names when I go to restore it would be a smaller search.

So essentially what I would like is a Veeamzip to tape, which is what I am doing in a round about way from your previous post, but then have it organized in a folder structure. It wouldn't even have to be the VM/Server name, just a way to organize the "zips" in the view so in 20-40 years there is some logical layout.

Long term retention that needs to be backed up only one time. It's a huge space saver to not have 1000 copies of your data, especially if it is never changing data (old videos, photos, etc). Most governments have CRAZY retention for old data that will never be used again and requires a 1 time job.

Call it ArchiveZip or VaultZip or something cool . ArchiveZip to cloud even!!! Get that data off prem! This is a big feature to get people moving from TSM.

[vmtech123]

Interesting. I did a test file server backup yesterday. I deleted the job, but obviously the folder was still on tape. So I did another one, and when i looked under "files" I can see both.

So if I create a long retention pool, create a file job, run it, then delete it, it will keep the folder structure for restores?

You essentially have the functionality I am looking for, but packaging this up as an "archive" feature would be great. I'm essentially just having to keep files from deleted backup jobs on tape and hope the database is ok with that.

[Dima P.]

Hello Scott,

Thanks for the update!

So essentially what I would like is a Veeamzip to tape, which is what I am doing in a round about way from your previous post, but then have it organized in a folder structure. It wouldn't even have to be the VM/Server name, just a way to organize the "zips" in the view so in 20-40 years there is some logical layout.

Noted as improvement request!

Interesting. I did a test file server backup yesterday. I deleted the job, but obviously the folder was still on tape. So I did another one, and when i looked under "files" I can see both.

The folder structure is stored within the VBR database (and copied to the tape meta). If you loose entire Veeam B&R database you can load the tape to a new Veeam B&R instance, start tape catalog operation (for huge amount of files on tape that would take some time), once catalog is done you can start to restore files from tape.

So if I create a long retention pool, create a file job, run it, then delete it, it will keep the folder structure for restores?

If you just delete the file to tape job, catalog remains on Veeam B&R and you can restore the data.

[vmtech123]

Well, that defently is a workaround, but I don't know if that will fly as a "production ready" way to get rid of TSM archiving at the moment.

I plan to split our library's so I can start saving jobs to tape, but PLEASE make this happen and we will dump TSM and go all in

This along with replication. I'd love to be able to archive files to tape for safe keeping. delete the files off our production SAN, and have that end up at both sites.

I think you have all the technology already in place, as I can do it, but just not in an ideal way.

keeping my fingers crossed.

[Dima P.]

vmtech123,

Let us know how the setup goes or if you need any assistance. I've added all the notes as feature requests, thanks again!