Extract info from multiple jobs?

[bhagen]

Is there a way to compile a list (to a spreadsheet) of VMs that are being backed up in each of my jobs? The goal: double-check that all my machines (vm and physical) are actually in a backup job by comparing our "server list" spreadsheet to this (hopefully) Veeam spreadsheet.

Is there a way to compile a list (to a spreadsheet) of settings for my jobs? Two goals: 1. Quickly check settings of similar jobs when editing / creating a job, by opening a spreadsheet in a separate window...rather than canceling the creation of the new job, editing the "other" job, canceling the editing of the "other" job, creating a new job, and hoping I remember what I just saw. 2. Easily check other jobs schedules to be sure that the one I'm editing / creating doesn't conflict with those other jobs. Again, to avoid the above run-around.

Thanks!

[Gostev]

Sure, Veeam ONE has such a report (and many more). This is the recommended solution.

You can also create [no-thrills] exports of VMs in jobs to spreadsheets from the Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager.

Finally, you could always simply use PowerShell and get any data you want this way.

However, please note that you don't need to micro-manage schedule overlaps like you're intended to with Veeam in principle, as our scheduler manages this automatically. Most of our customers start all jobs at the beginning of their backup window, and let Veeam manage their concurrent execution in the most optimal manner based on the available backup infrastructure resources.

[bhagen]

Thanks @Gostev! We don't have Veeam ONE (or enterprise manager), so I'll look into those.

I've been using Veeam since 2013, and I don't remember ever thinking about just starting all jobs at once, and letting them manage themselves! I'll have to look into that as well; it may simplify things.

Currently we do onsite backups every evening, then backup copy those jobs to the DR site during the day over a slower pipe, and when those are done we do replications of running VMs to the DR site, and now we're going to throw CDP into the mix. I've had to manually schedule all these because if I don't, lots of jobs (regular and backup copy jobs) will get put on hold and we start missing our backup windows. Seems like starting everything at once would throw things into complete chaos!

[bhagen]

And literally, I guess to prove my point, as I was typing that, I got a "failed" backup copy job email notification: "Source restore point is locked by another job. Incremental copy was not processed during the previous copy interval."

[Gostev]

Considering that the copy interval is 24 hours, overlap micro-management won't really help to solve this issue something is simply off with your setup, if the restore point that needs to be copied stays locked for such a long time.

But as you're looking to simplify, may be also consider switching your Backup Copy jobs to the Immediate Copy mode. This way you won't need to worry about copy intervals either.

Perhaps you should just have a Veeam Architect review your existing deployment. Because scheduling jobs manually not to overlap is really the "stone age" of Veeam. Our scheduler can never be worse than such manual scheduling, and it is almost always better because manual scheduling cannot adjust to some backups completing faster sometimes (due to little changes to transfer), or in other times taking much longer than you expected (for example due to some unexpected external load). This stuff is dynamic by nature, so with manual scheduling you will either have processing gaps (which is sub-optimal) or massive overlap periods (which will just bring everything to the crawl). This is why it really is a bad practice, at least for larger environments.

[bhagen]

First, I just downloaded and installed Veeam One, and found the "Job Configuration Dump" report. Um...yeah...I'm asking our vendor for a quote as soon as I stop typing here. That report alone is probably worth the price of admission; let alone all the other cool stuff this thing looks to be capable of.

Next, I'd have to buy another backup repository in order to switch backup copy jobs to the Immediate Copy mode, since we have to build a new job and stop the old job...then wait for retention policy to fill up before deleting the old job. Not sure I can make a case for that, but we'll see.

Last, it could never hurt to have another set of eyes take a look, so I will also see if I can get some funds for that! (I doubt a Veeam Architect comes bundled with our Enterprise Plus VUL!)

[wishr]

Hi Bhagen,

VM & Computer Protection History report should also make you happy, based on what I'm reading here . And of course, there are lots of other incredible and unique capabilities.

Thanks