Retention on Active Backups in Advanced Settings of job

[tclewes]

Environment:
Physical Dell Server
Windows Server 2012
Veeam 9.5 u4

Before I start, I want to mention that we are looking to upgrade from v9.5 to 11 in the coming weeks so please do not recommend I upgrade to the latest version.

We have a 'Daily Backup' job which is configured with the following:

• Backup mode = Incremental (recommended)

• Restore points to keep = 28

• Schedule is Mon-Sun @ 19:00

• Active full backups > Enabled

• Active full backup > On Saturdays

I have a query around what retention is applied to the 'Create Active Full Backups Periodically' setting in the advanced section of a backup job. The reason I ask is because currently this backup job has generated 23 incremental (VIB) files and 6 full (VBK) files. I would have expected there to be no more than 4 full (VBK) files as per the 28 restore point retention (primarily being 28 days is typically 4 weeks, give or take). As you can imagine, these 2 additional full (VBK) files have eaten up the disk space on the server.

I had originally thought that the 28 restore point on the job itself (not in the advanced section) would incorporate the Active Full backups as well. However it would appear that the Active Full Backup setting creates it's own chain, which I presume is 28 restore points, i.e. 28 Full Actives? Can someone confirm this element as I am unable to find any references to this query in the documentation.

Thanks in advance

[foggy]

Hi, please review this KB for a better understanding of how retention works in Veeam B&R. Basically, with your settings I'd expect up to 5 fulls maximum at some point in time, depending on the day of the week, and correspondingly up to 30 increments (6 per each respective full). If you provide a screenshot of the folder contents we would probably be able to advise as the 6th full looks excessive with your settings and the number of incrementals is, on the contrary, lesser than expected, or you can ask support for assistance in identifying whether this full can be safely deleted. And no, active fulls are accounted a part of the specified number of restore points to keep. Thanks!