Moving Individual Backup/Backup Copy Job to New Server/Datastore

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

Would love advice on how to handle a backup move. Background: one of our divisions had two offices, each with a physical file server and a physical Veeam server to back it up. Veeam also backed up an app server at one of the offices. One office has now closed and their file/Veeam server was moved to the other location. So we now have 2 file servers, 1 app server, and 2 Veeam servers in one location. We're going to merge the Veeam servers first, then the file servers later.

For now, I need to move *just* the app server backup to the Veeam server we are going to keep [the two file servers will be merged later, so the existing backup job will just pick up the extra contents]. To make it interesting, each job also has an associated Backup Copy job.

I've read Veeam articles on moving backups, but none fully match this scenario. Of course I want jobs to just pick up where they left off once moved to the other system. Here's what I'm thinking I should do - any suggestions or advice? Am I missing anything?

• Disable the Backup and Backup Copy jobs for the app server.

• Add the target Backup and Backup Copy repositories to the source Veeam B&R system.

• Move the backup files for both the Backup and Backup Copy jobs to the target repositories.

• Refresh the contents of the target repositories so they 'see' the new Backup and Backup Copy files.

• Recreate the Backup and Backup Copy jobs on the target system.

• Map the backup files to the two new jobs.

• Run the jobs and verify functionality.

• Remove the jobs from the source Veeam B&R system.

[Mildur]

Hi Tim,

May I ask, did you use remote repositories for the backup server? This would make it easier to migration.

Generally, the procedure you put together looks good to me.
However, instead of disabling only the jobs, I suggest disabling all Veeam services on your backup server. The old backup server should no longer interfere with your repository. You might even consider uninstalling Veeam Backup & Replication before starting the migration, backup files won't be deleted by uninstalling our application.

If you decide to keep the old backup server for some time, please note that adding the exact same repository folder path to more than one backup server is not supported. Even if you disable the jobs, this would put you in an unsupported situation.

Best,
Fabian

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

Interesting, thank you Fabian. I didn't realize that would be unsupported / not recommended. The issue is that I can't disable all Veeam services or uninstall on the source, because it will still be used to back up the file server for some time until they are merged. Here's a summary of what I'm trying to do:

CURRENT
File Server #1 + App Server #1 ---> backed up by Veeam Server #1
File Server #2 ---> backed up by Veeam Server #2

DESIRED OUTCOME
File Server #1 ---> backed up by Veeam Server #1
File Server #2 + App Server #1 ---> backed up by Veeam Server #2

The reason for moving it is Veeam Server #2 will be supported by the vendor for two years longer than Veeam Server #1, so Veeam Server #2 is the one we will keep using moving forward. At *some* point the contents of File Server #1 will be moved to File Server #2. At that point we'll decommission Veeam Server #1.

Each of the two Veeam servers has a local repository, so I'm moving the backup files from one repository to the other. I was going to do it within Veeam B&R, but if adding the target repository to the source isn't supported I'll just use plain Windows file copying to do it.

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

With the realization that I can't add the target to the source's Veeam B&R config, here's my modified idea. Any suggestions / feedback from anyone?

• Disable the Backup and Backup Copy jobs for the app server.

• Move the backup files for both the Backup and Backup Copy jobs to the target repositories [via Windows Explorer].

• Refresh the contents of the target repositories so they 'see' the new Backup and Backup Copy files.

• Recreate the Backup and Backup Copy jobs on the target system.

• Map the backup files to the two new jobs.

• Run the jobs and verify functionality.

• Remove the jobs from the source Veeam B&R system.

[tthomas1@ebsco.com]

In case anyone searches for this . I did indeed follow the 2nd version of my steps for the Backup job and it worked fine. Still have to do the Backup Copy job but expect that it will go the same.

[ftravinsky]

Recreate the Backup and Backup Copy jobs on the target system.

And here we face the long missing export/import Job feature.
Job migrations are painful, when you have them plenty.

I’d love to see PowerShell cmdlets for that some day.

[Mildur]

Hi Ftravinsky,

Please don't hijack this topic. If you want to discuss missing functionality, I'm happy to move your request to an existing topic or create a new one for you.

There is a way to fulfill your request today.
You can use REST API endpoints, which can be called via PowerShell.

Best,
Fabian