Moving "Disk (Imported)" from old Veeam jobs to tape

[18436572]

I now have a Quantum Scalar i3 that is working well for current backups to tape. I want to move some imported VB&Rv10 backups to tape that are on a repository due to lack of space. These imported VB&Rv10 backups have mulitple fulls due to monthly retention. I have years of restore points so each RP will take multiple tapes.
Some of them are over 16TB.

Ideally I would like to be able to select one RP in the imported backups ... and tell Veeam to move them to tape but that's not an option. I wish it was!

To achieve my goals, I see two ways to do this:

1. Tape job > "Files to tape" > choose the VBM, VBK and VIB files. Due to the quantity of RP's for each VM, this would be cumbersome to say the least. Also due to the number of files I'll need SQL standard, not SQL express which is doable but not ideal, currently our SQL Express DB is <2GB.

2. Build a copy job and map it to the existing files above. The source VM doesn't matter because this will never run. Keep this job disabled. Then build a tape job > "Backups to Tape". Then I get to choose to keep multiple full backup chains or not. If I choose "All" that seems like I'll get all RP's to tape which is not ideal because each RP should have a different retention need. If I choose "Latest" I can't control the retention by RP, I can give that one up if needed. Check "Archive incremental backups to tape".

It seems like #2 is ideal and I've tested this, but I won't be able to set retention independently for each restore point. That's a minor downside.

We have a full enterprise license but did not open a case. I simply would like some advice from the community. I'll open a case if that's a requirement for a forum discussion.

Any thoughts or advice? Thanks!

[HannesK]

Hello,
I don't know how many million backup files (VBK / VIB / VBM) files you have, but if file-to-tape would overload SQL Express, then it would be the same with backup-to-tape in your situation.

For me #1 sounds easier.

Best regards,
Hannes

[Dima P.]

to be able to select one RP in the imported backups

Unfortunately that's not going to work: to restore from incremental restore point you need all previous incrementals and a full backup, so you should move entire backup chain to tape.

Also due to the number of files I'll need SQL standard, not SQL express which is doable but not ideal, currently our SQL Express DB is <2GB.

Sounds like the entire goal is to archive the backups and not to daily tape those out, so I would not worry about the SQL limit at all.

Due to the quantity of RP's for each VM, this would be cumbersome to say the least

I'd still go with the approach #1. By the way, you can create Backups on Tape report for this job to note the content of the tapes. Cheers!