Tape Restore

[OW19]

Hi,

I'm currently exporting a 96TB file to tape job, which only consists of 1 huge file.

I'm curious, if I come to restore these tapes in the future (will be around 45 LTO6 tapes), what will happen if it's a fresh Veeam server without any known backups/restore points or config from when I did the original backup?

I assume the process is inventory/catalogue all 45 tapes, then will it know that it needs to restore from all 45? How does it know there's not a 46th tape, if that makes sense?

It's my first time doing a tape backup so, I'm a little unsure, and couldn't find any documentation that covered what I'm unsure of.

Thanks!

[david.domask]

Hi Olly, welcome to the forums.

Your understanding is correct -- Veeam knows what's on the tape based on the Tape Catalog.

The Configuration Backup maintains the backup and tape catalog as well, so in the event you need to migrate to a new Veeam server, two options:

1. Restore from the Configuration Backup. This will bring in all of the job and backup infrastructure configurations, and you can select if you want to restore the Session History and Backup and Tape Catalog during the Configuration restore process (by default they are selected for restore)
2. Start with a fresh Veeam server, add your Tape Server, and being the Cataloging process. Once complete, then restores will be possible

Give those sections of the User Guide a read, but the process is fairly straightforward; just a bit of patience needed while cataloging tapes as it can take a bit, though given you have one huge file spanning tapes, I suspect it ought be a bit faster for you than if it were millions (billions) of files.

Thanks!

[OW19]

Thanks David, perfect. Just what I'm after!

Cheers,Olly