Tape GFS

[handian.sudianto]

Hello,

Can we make backup copy to the tape with GFS enabled even the backup to disk not have GFS?

[Mildur]

Yes, you can.

Best,
Fabian

[handian.sudianto]

Hi Fabian,
Any reference article? My distributor say for GFS on tape, we need enable GFS first on the tape. When backup copy do the GFS, will the VBR read and merge incremental from source repository (from disk) or VBR will merge only on target repository (from tape)
Actually my disk storage not more than 50TB and i believe i only can store not more than 7 day retention and i will use forever forward incremental.
Then i will purchase a new tape to archive the backup with retention 60 days incremental, 12 full monthly and 5 full yearly.
It's possible?

[handian.sudianto]

Here answer from bard

No, Veeam Tape GFS cannot work entirely without disk GFS. Here's why:

Tape GFS Relies on Disk GFS: Tape GFS uses the disk backups as its source material. It scans the disk repository for backups that meet its own retention criteria (daily, weekly, etc.) on the day the tape job is scheduled.

Matching Restore Points Needed: The Tape GFS job needs to find backups on disk that correspond to its GFS settings (fulls, incrementals) for specific retention periods. If the disk backup job doesn't create these restore points, the Tape GFS job won't have anything to copy.

While Tape GFS has its own scheduling, it depends on the existence of the relevant backups on disk.

Can you confirm if the answer is correct or not @Fabian?

[david.domask]

Hi Handian,

The bard answer is incorrect partially as it's confusing items here.

Tape GFS works on the active chain, not the GFS points:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... e_hiw.html

When you link a source job to a GFS job, the GFS job does not copy old restore points. The GFS job will copy only the restore point created on the day when the GFS job was linked to the source job or new restore points created later.

So to get GFS to tape, all you need to do is create a GFS media pool and point a Tape job at it.

> No, Veeam Tape GFS cannot work entirely without disk GFS. Here's why:

This is the incorrect part, as disk GFS is not required for Tape GFS.