How to copy full backup file to external USB drive (air-gapped)

[CH79]

I am looking to create an air-gapped backup solution which will utilise two external USB drives that will be rotated each week. This is for ransomware protection.

We currently have Veeam Backup and Replication which backs up all of our Hyper-V virtual machines to an on-premise NAS, with a copy job to a cloud partner.

What would be the easiest way to get a copy of the full backup to the external drive each week?

If I were to simply copy the weekly full (.VBK) file to the external drive would Veeam let me restore the virtual machines and/or files from this .VBK file alone?

Is there a more efficient or easier way?

Basically we want to have a weekly copy of the full backup on the USB drive.

Thanks in advance.

[Mildur]

Hi Chris

I recommend to configure the USB drive as a rotated disk repository. And use a periodic copy job which runs once per week. You can connect the usb disk to the HyperV Host in case the backup server is installed in a VM.

For your repository, enable option "Delete backups belonging to the job". During each copying session, the backup server will first remove the current backup files on the connected USB drive. Then, it will copy the most recent restore point from the source to the USB drive as a new full backup.



Best,
Fabian

[CH79]

Mildur,

Thank you for your reply.

This sounds like the perfect option.

Just to clarify, we should first create a rotated disk repository as per your instructions, and then secondly we should create a new backup copy job which points to the rotated disk repository.

In terms of timings would we need to do anything specific to make sure it copies the most recent restore point as a full backup? Currently a full synthetic backup takes place every weekend.

Thanks

[Mildur]

Hi Chris

Just to clarify, we should first create a rotated disk repository as per your instructions, and then secondly we should create a new backup copy job which points to the rotated disk repository.

Correct.

In terms of timings would we need to do anything specific to make sure it copies the most recent restore point as a full backup? Currently a full synthetic backup takes place every weekend.

A periodic copy job will always copy the most recent restore point available. If the most recent available restore point was already copied, the copy job will wait until the source job has created a new restore point to copy. With my suggested setting the copy job will copy it every week to a new full backup file.
If you want to copy your weekly synthetic full backup, you should schedule the weekly copy job to run after the synthetic full backup has finished.

Best,
Fabian

[CH79]

Understood. Thanks Fabian. We'll get the drives and then get this all put in place.

Appreciate your assistance.

[CH79]

Fabian,

On the Storage Compatibility Settings screen it doesn't give me the option "Delete Backup Jobs Belonging to the job". Do you know why?


pic upload

[Mildur]

Hello

We introduced that option in the backup console in version 12 (latest version is now v12.1.1). Please update the backup server to v12.1.1 and check again.

Best,
Fabian

[CH79]

Thanks Fabian,

I've upgraded to version 12 and the dropdown now shows.

I've also configured the rotated drive repository and weekly copy job as per your recommendation.

[CH79]

Just reporting back here on this.

We set up the rotated drives job and this has worked great.

Many thanks

[Mildur]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the feedback.

Best,
Fabian