Feature Request: Improve Error Handling and Messaging for Missing Backups in Tape Jobs

[Samba222]

Hi Veeam Product Team,

Case # 07761005

I'd like to suggest an improvement regarding how missing backup files during tape jobs are reported and handled.

Current Behavior
When a (large and long) quarterly tape job is executed and a backup file (e.g., a .vbk) that had been marked for copying is missing (in between deleted by retention), the software currently logs an error such as:

"Full backup: Unable to get backup with id 'xxxxxx'"

In these cases, the job itself might complete successfully apart from the missing file, but an error is still displayed. The message itself lacks actionable details and context, making troubleshooting difficult.

Why change is needed
Missing a backup file in this scenario often doesn’t indicate a critical failure – the job performs as expected for the available data.
Generic error status and message create unnecessary alert noise and do not help administrators assess the real impact.

Suggestions
Enhance the corresponding message to provide more context and actionable advice (clarify what happened and its impact).
From my perspective, this would be a nice-to-have information, since the job itself operates as designed and completes successfully.

Thank you for considering this suggestion! If more details or logs are needed to illustrate the scenario, please have a look in the closed case.

Best regards,
Ronald

[david.domask]

Hi Ronald,

Thanks for sharing the case number and the details, and sorry to hear about the challenges.

"Full backup: Unable to get backup with id 'xxxxxx'"

In these cases, the job itself might complete successfully apart from the missing file, but an error is still displayed. The message itself lacks actionable details and context, making troubleshooting difficult.

Understandable, but regrettably in this case such an error should be reviewed by Support. In essence, what's happening here is exactly what the message tells -- the Tape job is aware of a backup that isn't found in the database anymore. In general, this usually means there was an issue elsewhere, e.g., unexpected server termination during a backup delete. I'm not saying that is what happened in your specific case, but this is the most common reason and typically it requires Support to review the situation.

that had been marked for copying is missing (in between deleted by retention)

In my opinion, this part should not be the cause; Veeam is aware of what jobs/resources are using backups and should handle such situations gracefully. Tape jobs in particular have quite a few checks to ensure that the backup chain exists as the Tape job thinks it exists, so I would advise this probably requires further investigation.

As I get it from the case, the tape job runs Quarterly, so you won't be able to check until the next run. I would advise if you get the "unable to get backup with id" with the same ID, open a new support case and update this thread for our review.