SQL transaction logs question

[jcofin13]

Im looking at a instance of veeam that is backing up several SQL database servers containing many SQL databases.

Generically speaking, when i go to to "disk" and look at at just one of the jobs for example, I can see the server backs up and i can see the database transaction logs for each db. Some of the transaction logs show really high restore point numbers. For example.....i show one has 267000 restore points for the transaction logs? Is this normal? What controls the number of restore points for these logs and when they are "cleaned up". That number seems excessive....and i show many that have huge numbers like this.

[PetrM]

Hello,

In terms of the transaction log, a new restore point is created after each successful log backup interval. The log backup interval is set in the job settings, for example, 15 minutes. The log backup retention mechanisms are described on this page of our user guide, you may review it. May I ask why the number of restore points you’re seeing is causing you concern?

Thanks!

[jcofin13]

Well i can see one of the DB shows 40000 restore points for the tlogs yet the database server (vm) that is being backed up only shows 22 restore points. That seems nuts.....but maybe its normal. Maybe having 40k tlog backups for ~22 restore points is normal in this case. IT just seems really high and i was curious if that was normal. IF that is normal i wont worry. IT just looks out of place as i was reviewing the server. Im not familiar with SQL tlog backups and this is the first i have reviewed a server that has them set.
Looks like they are set to backup every 15 minutes and trucate after being backed up.
IT is also set to "retain log backups: until the corresponding image-level backup is deleted"

I am not 100% sure what this means. What image level backup and from where? Is this related to active or synthetic fulls and gfs? Can you explain this part a bit better?

Like i said...maybe having this many tlog retention points is normal. I Guess thats all im curious about.

[PetrM]

Hello,

What image level backup and from where?

It concerns the image-level backup of a server where databases are running. Please take a look at this section of our user guide to get a better understanding of how the retention policy for image-level backups works.

After that, please refer to the page I provided in my previous post, there you will find an explanation of the retention mechanisms for transaction log backups.

However, 40000 log backups for 22 image-level restore points seems to be strange: if you retain log backups with image-level backups and run log backups every 15 minutes, then it is: 4 * 24 * 22 = 2112, not 40000. I recommend opening a support case to find out the root cause, please do not forget to share a support case ID with us.

Thanks!