industrial Windows 7 iot machine and long term retention policies requirement

[superbike]

Hi,
I'm taking this topic ( post553355.html#p553355 ) as a starting point to ask for an opinion on a project I'm working on.
We got several windows 7 iot production device. All device are in a isolated vlan and we followed best practices to make them safe.
In the real world the things go in this way and we need to keep the backup data of these machines for 20 years ( automotive policie rules ).
From what I understood Veeam can't and don't want keep the support for windows 7 os on the 13 and newer agent version.
So how suggested from veeam I should freeze my backup server ( who manage the windows 7 agent ) at the v12 version so it will work forever.
The problem is that server put the cold backup on an external s3 compatible object storage repository ( whasabi ). So I sospect that in 2 or max 3 years there will be some whasabi API change or simple some new tls security level evolution and the old 12 backup could no more use that ( but I think all ) external object storage service
We don't want buy onprem object storage device and keep it out data on it. So we are searching for an alternative;
The only one I can immagine is take another MAIN backup server; so we will have a PRODUCTION BACKUP SERVER ( PBS ) and a MAIN BACKUP SERVER (MBS )
PBS manage agent and save backup on a smb repository ( very shot retention ....like 1 week or less ) .....MBS continuisly scan that repository and when see new restore point make a copy backup job to a sorb repository composed of a high-performance local repository ( xfs ) ( for 1 year restore point ) and the whasabi object storage bucket ( for long term 20 years restore point ).
In this way I can keep updated MBS and freeze PBS.
We are using vul eesential at the moment. Two question about thhis : For splitting license on 2 server I need to configure Enterprise Manager ? And a more important question....if the vul is a subrscription I am sure that in the next years I can update my license on v12 server or it's suggested to buy a vul permanent pack for PBS server ?
Last question....if I need to restore some element ( like guest windows file ) I need to use MBS, but if I make a periodic rescan of the copyjob repository I can do that and restore only some Windows 7 file ?

I know that it is a "complicated" solution but I don't see any other way to guarantee a so long retention for unsupporte os. Please let me know what you think about it and if you have beter way.
Thanks

[HannesK]

Hello,
my personal opinion is, that I doubt Wasabi will break APIs soon because that would cause friction in their customer base. I would not do anything.

About your questions: yes, multiple backup servers should use Enterprise Manager for license distribution, but if we talk about 10 years or so, then the Enterprise Manager won't be able to connect to the legacy backup server anymore anyway. Running an "island installation" seems to be the easiest way and you need to manually ensure not violating license consumption.

for the V12: perpetual licenses seem to be the way, but I suggest to consult with your Veeam sales rep / partner because R&D folks are not necessarily license experts

I did not get the part how you do a backup copy job from an SMB share. Can you maybe explain step by step?

I don't know what your "legacy backup server" would be, but if it's a VM, then I would just back it up with the "up-to-date backup server" directly to Wasabi. If single file restore is really needed, then I would mount the backup to see the backup files and then import the backup backup of the machine to copy a single file. Yes, also not great, but if you really want to go that way, then it feels like "it's complicated".

Best regards
Hannes