How to create incremental Windows 10/11 image backups

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I'm not new to Veeam and been using the products for years, but I can't figure out how to do the following:

We have 10 windows computers that I want to take a full image backup from every 30 days.
I only need one restorepoint so each new backup after the first full backup should be incremental.
The purpose of this setup is to restore a computer quickly in case of a virus/ransomware.

When creating the backup job I get to choose between "Workstation" and "server".
Although the backup purpose is a Workstation I tend to choose for "server" because it says that you should
only choose workstation (managed by agent) if the worksation/server is located in a remote site with poor connectivity. (which is not the case).

So I choose: Server and "managed by backup server" since I want to be able to mange this backup job.
I add the "protection group", select that I want to backup the "entire computer" , select the correct repository
and set the retention policy to one restore point.

However, I don't want the 2nd backup to overwrite the image completely because that would take way to much time.
But I can't find an option anywhere to enable incremental backups.

I dismiss the "guest processing" features since it's not a server but a Windows 10/11 client computer.

In this configuration I can set the backup job to run monthly, but when (in the beginning) I selected "workstation" instead of "server" I couldn't do that
and was suggested to run this job daily, which I do not want obviously.

Am I missing something here?

Your help is much appreciated!

[HannesK]

Hello,
a full backup is not needed for fast restore. That's something that was needed for tape, but not for any backup-to-disk backup software.

The software can only do incremental backups (except you enabled full backups manually) (Monthly) full backups are optional and I would not do them for your scenario.

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agent ... tml?ver=60 (assuming that you don't use object storage as target)

Just create a job that runs monthly and you are done.

You can use workstation to save licenses also if there is enough bandwidth

Best regards,
Hannes

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Thank you Hannes for your reply.

There's one other problem I can't figure out...
When creating a protected group and scanning the credentials all Windows 10 devices report no issues, but all Windows 11 devices give the following error:

Processing LP07.ad.domain.com Error: Host is unreachable
Checking Windows credentials Error: The RPC server is unavailable.
RPC function call failed. Function name: [GetSvcVersion]. Target machine: [local IP:11731].

Is there something I should manually do on these devices to get going?

Also, we still have a paid version for B&R V10 in place.
Is this still useful for image backups for windows 11 devices?

I already installed the community edition because I hoped the above error would go away, but unfortunately it didn't.

Thank you again Hannes!

[HannesK]

Hello,
Windows 11 is only supported with V11 / V12. Support can check for details with support with your valid license (after you upgraded).

The error sounds like a firewall issue.

Best regards,
Hannes

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I don't want to question your expertise, but are you sure that Windows 11 is not supported in version 10 when I only want to make full images?
I don't need file level restore etc.

Thank you!

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Two dditional questions if I may.

1) You said: You can use workstation to save licenses also if there is enough bandwidth
However, when I choose Workstation, I can not set the schedule to run Monthly but only daily.
Is there a workaround or script I could use?

2) In this workstation mode it asks me how long to keep backups for.
How should I configure this if I run it monthly and only want to save one (the latest) version?

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Unfortunately I need to add a 3rd question.

3) When running a Windows 10 backup (workstation mode) I get the error: Error: Backup target is not accessible. Failed to call RPC function 'FcIsExists': The user name or password is incorrect

I first thought it was due the client not having access right to the shared folder on the NAS.
So I configured that and it's accessable through Windows Explorer on the client.

But the same issue appears.

I'm also not sure if giving access to all clients to this shared folder is the right way to go since each computer/user can access that share now and download/delete the images.
Just like a virus/ransomware could...

Looking forward to your help.

Thank you!

[HannesK]

Hello,

1) yes, on the summary page of the job on the client there is a command shown. Something like

Code: Select all

"C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe" "backup" "e68b42b4-009c-4e99-9531-a71aa905efab" 

Alternatively you are right: server edition would be needed for the monthly schedule

2) Did you try setting the retention to 1 already?

3) what you tested is for user user. the software runs as "local system" and connects with the credentials provided (if provided. it's optional, because one could also use the computer account for permissions). If you think, that permissions fit, please double check with support. For sure, there is a problem.

I would avoid NAS shares as repository for performance reasons and the permission challenges you mention. A Veeam Repository with XFS / REFS or object storage would be the way to go in 2023. That solves both problems.

Best regards,
Hannes

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Thank you again for your feedback.

For now I have created a iscsi target and connected this to a drive letter on the Windows server and added it as a repository.
For scheduling I tried the setting: "at the following events" and put a checkmark at "when backup target is connected, and backup no more often than every 30 days.

The downside to this is that I want to shut-down the NAS when there's no backup running but since I can't schedule it any better than this, it's not a hands off solution.
Any idea how to improve this?

Also, I've first started with a "protected group" and put the clients in there, but for some reason this is not really performing.
I'm now thinking of creating 10 different backup-jobs for each client computer.
But again, since I can't schedule these, it's not really a hands-off solution.

No idea what will happen if 2 jobs want to start simultaniously and if the next in line is starting when the previous one is finished.
Also not sure what happens when a computer is offline but needs a backup.
Or if one backup fails, it would still continue to the next one.

So I'm making progress, but not there yet.

Thank you,
Dennis

[HannesK]

Hello,
for an iSCSI scenario, I think pre / post-scripts that shuts down he NAS could work. Overall, the "when backup target is connected" is built for USB drives. Do you really have the "when backup target is connected" when using the server license? Because that option should only be available for Workstation license.

Two jobs don't start at the same time. Try it out

Overall, the setup sounds too complicated to me. Having repositories directly on the agents looks like a hack. If you have a NAS, then there are the following recommended designs
1) use one server that has the iSCSI LUN mounted that acts as repository server
2) use the NAS as S3 repository if the vendor is Veeam Ready listed
3) use an SMB share. Not so great for performance reasons, but still better than doing the iSCSI hack

Best regards,
Hannes