Discussions related to using object storage as a backup target.
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BRogers
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Immutable Backups and retention with incremental forward forever

Post by BRogers »

Dear team,

I just set up my first direct S3 backup to Backblaze with object lock.
It is set to incremental forever by default.
Just to be sure:
If I have set 15 days immutable, but keep 30 versions in the backup job (incremental forever), does Veeam still ensure that the required blocks/data for the last 15 versions are kept immutable, even if they are older than that?

Thanks for your help.
sfirmes
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Re: Immutable Backups and retention with incremental forward forever

Post by sfirmes »

Welcome to the forums.

Which version of VBR are you using? Also, are you using a SOBR or a stand-alone repository?
Steve Firmes | Staff Solutions Architect - Object Storage, Product Management - Alliances @ Veeam Software
vitalii.fesh
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Re: Immutable Backups and retention with incremental forward forever

Post by vitalii.fesh »

Veeam reviews and extends immutability (if needed) every 10/30 days. This process is called block generation.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/vbr/u ... tml?ver=13
sfirmes
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Re: Immutable Backups and retention with incremental forward forever

Post by sfirmes »

Vitalii, block generation is used to help reduce I/O operations and associated costs incurred by the customer. It is during subsequent backup jobs where VBR will review and extend the immutability of an object if needed. Block generation shouldn't be used when configuring the duration of immutability.

In the scenario above if you have 30 days of backup retention set and you want to have the backups immutable for the entire backup retention period, you should set the immutability duration to be 30 days as well.
Steve Firmes | Staff Solutions Architect - Object Storage, Product Management - Alliances @ Veeam Software
BRogers
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Re: Immutable Backups and retention with incremental forward forever

Post by BRogers »

Thank you very much for the anwer.

@Steve: Does this mean, I should set the immutability duration always one day higher as my full backup history? So keep history=21 should then have immutable for 22 days?

If I have ummutable settings for 3 days, but 20 days of veeam versions, does that mean in case of s3 deletion veeam could still restore the last 3 days completly(full backup)?

I do backup directly to s3.

Thank you
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